Page 29 of Masked Hearts

He grins as the bartender places the shots in front of us, and he slips the man a crisp 500 Euro note. “Make sure she always has a drink in her hand.” The bartender nods enthusiastically.

“Just came over to make sure my new sister-in-law is having a good time.”

He raises his shot glass. “Salute.”

“À ta santé,” I respond, throwing the shot back.

“So, how does it feel?”

“What? Being forced to get married?”

“I was talking about the tequila, but okay.” He chuckles.

“Sorry, it was good, really smooth. Sorry, today is just a lot.” Another shot arrives in front of me seconds later, and I eye Adriano and the bartender.

“Make it an Aperol Spritz after this,” I say, and he nods.

“Whimp,” Adriano says as he turns to face the room.

I take the shot and allow my eyes to travel along the bar, where I catch a glimpse of Antonio talking to someone. “Who’s that with Antonio? He looks familiar.”

“I should ask you that since we didn’t invite him.”

I raise a brow and look at him. “Well, I didn’t. I don’t want to be here. Obviously, I didn’t have a say in the guest list.”

Adriano nods carefully as he observes his brother and the man. “It’s our cousin, Mattia’s older brother. There’s some beef, so we find it weird that he’s here since we didn’t invite him.”

“So that’s the reason you’re here,” I scoff. “To figure out if my father has something planned. I already—”

“Theá, I told you why I am here. Not everyone is trying to use you to get to your dad.”

I clamp my mouth shut at his sharp words. Instead of responding, I focus my attention on Antonio again. He looks drained, and the night has just begun. The man who was next to him is quickly replaced by a beautiful blonde in the most adorable pink dress I’ve ever seen. Antonio looks physically uncomfortable in her presence, and I’m itching to know more. “And who’s that?”

Adriano faces his brother again, and this time, even he raises a brow. “That’s Valerie.”

“Ambrose’s fiancée?”

“Sure, let’s go with that.” He cringes. “The two of them were best friends first.”

“What happened?” I ask, watching the two of them. The discussion seems more heated than it should be for two friends, and I can tell it must be an argument from the way Antonio’s body grows in size, and Valerie seems to want to shrink into a hole.

“Ambrose happened.” My head whips to Adriano, and I furrow my brows. “That’s all I’m at liberty to say, so ask Antonio if you want to know more.”

“I’ve gotten that answer twice tonight. Does my husband really have this many secrets?”

“We’ve all got our demons.”

My mother’s screams ring through my ears.

“Yeah, I guess we do.”

“Uh-oh,” Adriano says, and I follow his gaze over to Antonio and Valerie, who are now joined by what looks like a pissed-off Ambrose. Then again, Ambrose always looks pissed off.

“That can’t be good,” another voice says as it joins us, and I look over my shoulder and see Adriano’s twin, Augustus.

“It’s not,” Adriano says.

“I’m assuming there’s some tension,” I say.

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