Page 71 of Frayed Bonds

“Good to see you again, Natalia,” I say as I join them.

“Sorry to interrupt, but I need Antonio to take care of something upstairs for me,” I say to the girls.

“Horatio is here, go play nice,” I whisper in his ear and he nods, but looks at me with annoyance. I know I’ve cut his time with Valerie short and I’m sure he hates me for it.

“What’s upstairs?” Natalia asks.

“The VIP area,” Antonio says. “You guys should join us.”

The urge to punch him resurfaces. I wanted to be the one to invite them up, but of course, he’d beat me to it.

The ever-perfect Vitale brother.

“We’d love to,” Natalia says.

Antonio heads up and I stand back gesturing for the girls to follow him up. “Valerie,” I call after her and she stops a few steps above me and I’m sure if my head could double in size and my eyes turn into literal hearts, they would.

“Did you get my note?”

“I did. Got the flowers, too. How’d you know they were my favourite?”

“You told my mamá at the funeral when you brought her a bunch,” I answer honestly and she nods. Silence settles between us, well as much silence as possible considering we’re standing in the centre of a club.

“I’m sorry,” I practically whisper, my eyes dropping to my feet.

All I do see is her small hand reaching forward. I look up to see that her eyes are soft again, possibly even softer than earlier. Apprehensively, I raise my hand and place it in hers and then she does the last thing I expected—she smiles before pulling me until I’m next to her on the stairs.

“I know you are. C'mon.”

“I should probably mention that Horatio is here, and a few of his men, so…” I trail off but I hope she understands the hidden message behind my words. “I know I’m asking for a lot, especially after what happened, but he doesn't know it was all pretend,” I say.

“Let’s go,” is all she says and we walk up the stairs hand in hand, fingers interlocked. When we reach the top, it’s as if every single eye in the section is on us, and as much as I’d love to think I’m over-exaggerating, every single eye is truly on us.

She drops my hand in panic, and the way my head snaps to her probably doesn't help how bad this looks. She must realise what she’s done because she looks up at me apologetically.

I place my hand on the small of her back and guide her inside.

”You don't have to stay if you don't want to, we’re probably going to talk business most of the time,” I whisper, and she nods as we get closer to Horatio.

“I’m the one who should be nervous, not you.” She leans back against my chest and looks up at me.

“Valerie!” he exclaims, and the need to stab someone is back. “I didn't know you'd be joining us.”

“How could I miss this?” she says as he pulls her in for a hug. Gently, I touch her back and they break apart. I can almost sense how uncomfortable it made her.

“You should stay and have a few drinks with us,” he says.

“Valerie came with some friends-”

“I’d love to,” she cuts me off with a hand on my chest, and I’m so consumed with the feeling of her warm hand against the thin fabric of my shirt, that I completely forget why I wanted to keep her so far out of Horatio’s reach because now all I want to do is pull her into mine.

I meet Adriano's eye and he raises a brow at me. On cue, it sends a surge of panic through me as I search the room for Gus or Antonio.

Adriano is amazing at keeping secrets when needed to, but Gus not so much, and Antonio is higher on his favourite brother list than me. Both of them are nowhere to be seen, so I count my blessings and guide Val over to a pair of seats opposite where Horatio sits.

I take my seat and instead of taking her own, she sits awkwardly on my knee. A small chuckle leaves my lips.

“You doing okay, sweetheart?” I stretch up to her.

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