Page 38 of Frayed Bonds

“Engagement ring? Valerie was engaged?” I ask

“Married, actually. To some guy in Paris. She doesn’t want to tell me anything more just that he was some asshole that lied to her…” he trails off.

“But you think there's more to the situation?”

“Something about the way she acted was so weird. She was almost–I don't know, jumpy. Paranoid in a way.” He shrugs.

I can’t help but feel the concern for her burn up my throat. “If it's worrying you, have Adriano look into it.”

My ringtone breaks the moment. “Speak of the devil.”

“I’m just going to grab some water and then we can head back,” Antonio says before jogging to a nearby café.

I watch him jog away and I shake my head, what a lovesick fool.

“To what do I owe the privilege of getting to speak to your lazy ass before midday?” I answer the call. “Antonio and I are on a run,” I warn, before he decides to mention anything I may have told him in confidence.

Adriano may be younger than me, but there are many times I feel he has more maturity than I’ll ever possess in this lifetime. Hence, the choice to confide in him.

“Augustus is here with me,” Adriano croaks, clearly still asleep. It's a subtle warning to not say anything I wouldn't want both of the twins hearing.

“Wow, all the Vitale brothers awake before 11 a.m. Papá must be turning in his grave,” Antonio says as he rejoins me and I click the call over to speaker, a chill runs down my spine. It may be from the cold, but a part of me knows it’s the mention of my father. Things have been touchy around the subject since the funeral, even my mamá and I have been walking on eggshells around each other since then.

She still believes the scene I caused at my father’s funeral was uncalled for, and I still believe she’s babying Augustus.

There was a brief time when I too was held under the warm shelter of my mamá's arms, but at sixteen, after one conversation with my father, we both knew there was nothing she could do for me anymore.

I would have to fill his shoes. By any means necessary. One of those means, was evidently to grow up very fucking quickly and learn the ropes. I don’t have any regrets about what I did to get where I am today. But I do wish I had more time to enjoy my youth, to party with my friends, to have had the chance to just enjoy high school and not work another job on the side just because my father wanted me to, without having to prepare for all of this.

“Why are the two of you out running in the middle of a storm?” Adriano’s gruff voice asks.

“Is he trying to outrun his problems again?” Gus quips

“Watch it,” I snap. Snickers run through my phone's speaker.

“What do you idiots want?” I bite out.

“We wanted to check in and see how the date search is going?” Augustus asks.

“It’s going fine,” I answer vaguely.

In all honesty, it hasn't even been going. Between trying to avoid Valerie, dealing with Enzo's four hundred questions and ensuring Diego is pleased, the stupid dinner slipped my mind again.

“Ehhhhhh,” Antonio mimics a buzzer sound. “Wrong answer.”

“It’s so idiotic that we still have to be concerned with finding a date for this dinner, when we all know it should be more focused on us trying to clear up Vitale Holdings' image.”

Silence, that lasts for all of thirty seconds, before they all burst out laughing at me again.

“Sure, Ambrose. If you want us to be the talk of the industry for the second time this year, you go ahead with that,” Antonio says.

“Maybe he’s right, maybe after all the media attention he’s been getting, coming alone may be for the best,” Adriano says.

That's why he's my favourite brother, even though I’ll never admit it.

“You heard Diego. We need stability. Him re-establishing himself as the most wanted bachelor is not a good idea,” Augustus buts in.

My enjoyment of the conversation is cut short as my brothers continue to discuss my dating life like a bunch of twelve-year-old girls.

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