Page 18 of Masked Hearts

“Almost bigger than the villa,” I respond.

The only main difference is the layout. All of the rooms in the villa are relatively spread out, giving each of us our own area—except for the twins, who opt to be close together. Here, all the bedrooms are on the second and third floors, and are practically next to each other. I learnt that the hard way when I could hear Theresa’s younger sister, Noelle, on the phone all night with her boyfriend from Paris.

I’m convinced Gabriel has no idea what any of his daughters do behind his back. Thin walls mean I’ve heard all kinds of lies. Like how she’s heading back to ‘study’, but it’s an excuse for her to be around her boyfriend more.

“IsMamácoming up for the wedding?” I find myself asking. Even though this wedding isn’t exactly what I envisioned, nor is it entirely real, I can’t imagine her not being here.

“Yeah, she and Ariella are flying up tomorrow night,” Mattia answers.

“How many people are coming?” I ask.

I know Gabriel said we could invite anyone, but we had to give him numbers by today to ensure we have enough catering.

“Every Vitale we could get here,” Ambrose says from behind us. I’m not sure what their plan is, whether it’s to intimidate Gabriel or to simply be an inconvenience, but they’re up to something.

“Don’t worry, only us and Mamá know it’s not real,” Adriano says, patting my back.

“And Val,” Mattia adds, which I’m so glad he did, because it opens the perfect route for my next question.

“Where is Valerie?”

I know there’s no way Ambrose would leave her unattended, so I’m surprised she’s not here.

“At the hotel. No way I was bringing her anywhere near here after what happened.”

“Oh, but you’ll let me rot here peacefully,” I fire back, and the tension bubbles up again.

“Anywaaayyyyy, show us around,” Gus says, grabbing both my shoulders and turning me away from Ambrose.

We walk through the main hall, dining room, kitchen, and large living room, which allows them to get a better glimpse of the backyard.

“It’s tight,” Adriano whispers next to me.

Don’t I know it.

It may not seem like it to the naked eye, but Gabriel has the perfect view of everything everyone does. Cameras both hidden and visible, men constantly walking around—he’s got eyes and ears everywhere.

“What do you mean you don’t have a dress yet?” a female’s voice shrieks as we take the turn to head back towards the main hall. We are in search of Gabriel since we’re all supposed to be meeting about the final negotiations.

“I don’t even want to get married why would I have a…” Her voice trails off as she reaches the bottom of the stairs and comes face to face with us. “Dress…” she finishes.

“Well, I don’t think you can walk down the aisle in Dr. Martens and a black dress,” I say as we both observe each other for a second. We both know a secret about the other that no one surrounding us knows, and a part of me wonders just how long she’ll keep mine before she decides to run to her daddy—especially since the weight of mine is a lot heavier than hers.

His daughter reading sexy romance books is probably last on the list of things Gabriel Auclair has to worry about, but my midnight trip to sneak into his office in the hopes of finding something to help me get out of this mess might raise some red flags.

“I should. It’s the death of my freedom, only fair I look the part,” she fires back as her eyes bounce between us.

Each of us easily towers over her and her little friend, who I’ve seen in glimpses around the manor this last week.

“This is Theresa, my soon-to-be wife,” I say, catching my brothers’ surprised faces out of the corner of my eye.

“Theá,” she corrects.

“Theá,” I repeat, my eyes locking onto hers. They’re dark and venomous as she glares at me.

“And Eleanor,” her friend chimes in. “You must be Antonio’s brothers, although I thought there were only four Vitale brothers.” Her eyes shift, trying to figure out what’s going on.

“This is Mattia, our cousin. That’s Ambrose, my eldest brother, and then Adriano and Augustus,” I explain.

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