Page 67 of A Game So Reckless

“Sorry,” I say again, pushing my sunglasses further up my nose.

“No worries. But seriously. What is going on in there?” Giulia trades poking my shoulder for poking me square in the middle of my forehead. “Usually, you’re the one on top of all this shit. You got a man on the mind or something?”

I’ve got a monster on my mind.

“Where were we?” I say, ignoring Giulia’s question and glancing at the stack of papers we’ve got fanned out on a low glass table between us.

“Now that we’re two weeks out from the event, the venue wants the second half of the deposit tomorrow,” Lucia says from her place beside her sister.

“Right,” I say with a firm nod. “Tell them we’ve got it covered.”

“Elio’s paying for it,” Deirdre explains, tucking her bare feet daintily up beneath her bum.

“Thankfully,” I add.

Papà has been distracted and much busier than usual. I’m sure it has to do with the snippets of conversation I heard at the cottage. The bit about the bikers and the Port of Montréal. Between that and all the bratva shit I heard about after Dario’s death, Papà’s got no patience for any of our usual whims.

I was surprised he even agreed to let us get back to our usual social calendar at all. I think a part of him wants to project strength right now. And having his wife and daughter and their friends prancing around in pretty dresses and making big donations to various causes around town makes it look like everything is running along just as it should.

Even if he doesn’t have the time to write the big cheques.

Elio, though? No matter what’s going on, he’s apparently always got the time – and funds – to give his wife Deirdre anything her pretty little heart desires. She’s helping plan our upcoming event, and she even chose the recipient of the funds we’ll raise. We’ll be donating toHearts and Notes, a local charity that gets kids into music lessons when they otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford it.

“God,” Giulia groans, picking up some of the papers and fanning herself with them. “How does it feel to be able to just be all, like, ‘My husband’s paying for it?’” She flops dramatically against the back of her chaise longue. “You are living my freaking dream right now.”

Deirdre blushes, redness spreading beneath her vivid freckles. She shakes her head and smiles, pleased but just a little shy about it. I find myself staring at her face intently. She and Elio didn’t have an easy beginning. Elio kidnapped her, for Christ’s sake.

And then he killed her father. Right in front of her.

And somehow, the two of them are stronger than ever. It’s actually insane, how stupidly in love those two are.

Even though I’ve known Giulia and Lucia since I was a kid, these days I actually feel closer to Deirdre than them. Because she knows what it’s like to get trapped in the sights of a powerful man who seems hellbent on either having you….

Or destroying you.

And somehow she came out on the other side OK.

“Alright. So I’ll tell the venue the deposit is taken care of,” Lucia says, getting back to business in contrast with her twin’s antics. “They also wanted to know if we’re still sticking with the masquerade theme.”

“Yeah, that’s the plan,” I tell her.

Who doesn’t want to put on a mask and forget who they are for a night?

“Alright. Cool.” Lucia glances at the time on her phone. “We’d better get going.”

Giulia moans in complaint, but gets up anyway. They gather their things and say their goodbyes before walking around the side of the house to where they’ve parked their jeep out front.

“I better go, too,” Deirdre says. “I told Elio I’d try making him dinner again tonight.”

“Try?” I raise my eyebrows above the lenses of my big sunglasses.

She laughs and rolls her eyes.

“I ruined thepasta puttanescalast night. I accidentally dumped the whole big jar of olives and all the brine in the little pot of sauce. It was awful. I literally only ate three bites before I gave up.”

Olives. My throat is too tight.

I clear my throat and force down the feeling.

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