Page 10 of The Last Vendetta

Mother huffed, shaking her head as she resumed pacing. As she whirled around quickly, she locked her glare on me.

“Where were you when this happened?” she demanded. I heard every note of disdain in her ugly tone. She loathed having to ask me about where I was when Luka was killed, like I shouldn’t ever dare to set a foot outside the boundaries of her expectations for me. Like a chained pet, a thing to be placed and ordered about.

She stalked back to me, and I refused to cave at all. I remained perfectly still, not betraying a single hint of emotions as she got in my face.

“Where were you, Giulia?” She pointed her finger at my face.

“Your father and I had just come in from searching for you when this all happened. Where were you?”

I blinked, shaking my head slightly as though suggesting she was being ridiculous to snap at me like this. “Me? Why does it matter where I was?”

Her upper lip curled. She slitted her eyes and tried to force such a stiff expression of loathing that she resembled a frigid dragon about to roar at me.

Talking back was not permitted in this house. Before she could slap me or try to punish me, though, I kept going.

“Are you trying to imply that my whereabouts matter? That I could have anything to do with Luka’s death?” She couldn’t sound any more ridiculous.

“Where were you?” She wouldn’t let up, ignoring anything I replied with. “Huh? Where the hell were you hiding?”

I didn’t bother to say that I wasn’t hiding. I was and we both knew it. This wasn’t the first wedding or Family gathering I’d tried to sneak away from and have a moment of peace. At home, she was constantly nagging me and on my ass. She harassed me or my sisters. Or my father. All of us. She spared no one her judgment and criticism.

I couldn’t tell her. I would never. She could put me on the spot as much as she wanted, and I would never tell her where I was.

“Who were you talking to?” she shouted, growing more frustrated when I stared her down.

I’ll never say. I wasn’t that stupid.

Remaining a virgin was expected. I had to stay clean, untouched for whatever marriage she would arrange for me. My own body wasn’t mine to do with as I pleased, and already, I broke that rule so much. When Renzo helped me hide from my parents on the patio, he showed me so much pleasure—or got me so damn close to it. I hadn’t been able to come. He’d pushed me close, fingering me like that, but Cecilia’s screams had cut it too short.

No way could I ever tell her the truth. He hadn’t fucked me. I remained intact. It wasn’t as though he’d penetrated me to change my true virginal status. My pussy throbbed as I thought back to the thrill of his touch there, deeper than my own fingers could ever explore, but with far more force, and somehow, more skill.

In that one-time, unexpected meeting, he showed me that he knew how to master my body much more than I ever could.

“Giulia!” I almost flinched at her shout, lost to the thoughts of Renzo.

He’d be suffering. His anger about Luka’s death wouldn’t fade anytime soon. It almost felt wrong to lust for him, but with how we’d been interrupted, I couldn’t help it. I was lingering, unfinished, and it aggravated me to no end.

“Where were you when Luka was killed?” she demanded.

Others would ask. Everyone would want to know who was where and what happened when. The law enforcement wouldn’t be contacted. We were all our own judges and executioners. But I had to be prepared.

My mother could demand answers until she turned blue in the face. I didn’t care. If anyone else asked…

I held my breath, stunned and anxious about what Renzo would say when he might be asked the same questions as everyone tried to piece together who was where up until the minute Cecilia realized that Luka was dead.

I have to get ahold of him. Renzo and I had to talk. If I could get word to him, I could beg him to lie. He couldn’t be spreading around that he was with me. That I could back up his alibi.

Reaching out to him wouldn’t be easy. Not in the aftermath of his brother’s death. It was no minor matter.

I have to.

And as soon as I spoke to him to clarify that we had to have our lies in sync, I’d need to forget all about that torrid moment we’d shared. It was cut far too short. It had happened so suddenly, out of nowhere, but that was all we could ever have.

I knew it.

But I loathed that a private moment with him could never happen again.

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