Page 31 of Dreadful
“Seriously, I can manage.”
“Oh, I have no doubt. I saw you going for those scissors when I grabbed your hand. Thatidiotamight’ve thought you were at his mercy, but we both know you were ready for him if he’d made another move.”
A wide grin brightens her face. “You saw that, did you? Well, I—”
She startles in the middle of her sentence and retrieves her phone from the pocket of her sweater dress to read the screen.
“Merda. Gio’s actually here to pick me up. The man will have a field day if he sees you. He’ll draw up the design for a three-tiered Italian buttercream wedding cake before I wake up tomorrow. Especially once he realizes you’re ‘un bravo ragazzo italiano,’ a nice Italian boy.”
A dark chuckle falls from my lips. “Oh, I can assure you, I’m as far from ‘nice’ as a man can get.”
Her breath hitches, and her eyes widen. They capture me until my gaze roams to her parted lips. I’m ready to finally taste them when my own phone buzzes again. She jolts back and away from me, filling the space between us with cool air.
“Y-you better get that.”
She ducks her head to focus intently on cleaning up the final touches on the room. Her moves are so quiet that if I wasn't looking right at her, I might not even know she was there.
It seems almost like a ritual for her, so I leave her to it and read my screen to see my mother asking me once again where I am. I’d hoped the cast and crew would be enough to entertain her while I was gone. Once people realize who she is and the influence she has due to her husband’s power, she’s usually the life of her own party.
“I’ve got to go, too.” I stuff my phone back in my pocket and lift my head. “Let me walk you…out…”
She’s gone.
The room is barely larger than a walk-in closet, but I glance around anyway.
I’m tempted to follow her, but while I love the chase, I’ll let her flee from me this time. Besides, she knows this place better than I do, and there’s someone I need to chat with at the afterparty.
Before I leave the dressing room, I pause, waiting to see if she’ll come back. Knowing her, which I’m beginning to quite quickly, she’s either long gone or just around the corner, waiting to strike.
But just the sounds of the party greet me.
I chuckle and whisper under my breath.
“Fai la brava,vipera.”
Scene 9
THE PROMISE WAS A PROPHECY
Sever
There’s no sign of Talia on my way back to the party. My head is on a swivel, though, searching for her. Did she leave like she said she would? Or is she watching me from the shadows, like I suspect? I don’t know her very well yet, but one thing is becoming clear.
Tallie is a viper waiting to strike, and fuck, do I want to be bitten.
Pursuing her should be the last thing on my mind. I can’t let my present obsession interfere with the vendetta from my past. My interest in her could derail everything, but I’m too enthralled to care about the warning signs. The way she leaned into my touch sealed both our fates, whether we like it or not.
I can't have her yet, but I’ll sure as fuck protect her. I’ve been watching her all week, and it’s only strengthened my possessive need for her. What happened in the dressing room with Percy is a mere papercut compared to what I’ll do to him when the time is right.
The afterparty is in full swing when I emerge onto the stage behind the drawn curtains. Those with backstage passes mill about with the cast and crew. The talented schmooze and mingle with the rich, and vice versa. My mother is among them, in her element as she chats with a gaggle of actors and actresses surrounding her.
You’d never know that she is twice my age, but it’s obvious from our looks that we’re related. I get my dark hazel eyes from her, and she dyes her wavy gray hair back to its original jet-black hue. She’s the finest dressed in the room with her red dress and silver shawl. No doubt she’s already “hinted” at how prominent her husband is, and everyone is dying to leech off of her. Gertrude Luciano-Vincelli may have wondered where I was at one point, but she’s sated well enough now.
I grab a bottled water and twist the cap open with one hand before taking a swig. The untouched dessert table on the other side of the room calls to me, and I make my way over. It’s much quieter and easier to people-watch here, and I quickly find who I’m looking for. The tallstronzois doing just as I asked, enjoying himself and already drunk off his ass. He hasn’t seen me yet, but once he does—
“Severino, there you are. I was looking everywhere for you.” My mother actually sounds worried, but when I tear my eyes away from the crowd to greet her, she’s all smiles. “I have some people I’d like for you to meet.”
She introduces the flock of wannabes one by one, but it’s all for show. She knows I don’t give a shit about any of these people. I give them a cursory nod anyway, playing her game so she won’t pout later about me “ruining her fun.”
