Page 78 of Double Trouble for the Mafia Prince
Arietta barrels forward first, mouth full of questions.
Alessia follows, slower, eyes sharp and steady.
She watches everything I do like she’s measuring me against some metric I’ll never see.
Arietta grabs my hand, tugging hard enough that I almost stumble.
"You said we could see the horses today."
I raise an eyebrow.
"Did I?"
"You promised," she says, though I know I didn’t.
"Then I must have been drugged. Only way I’d agree to something so early."
Arietta’s mouth twitches. They begin chattering over each other, explaining their plans for the day, the games they’ve invented, the flowers they’ve named.
Somewhere in that stream of words is a mention of school.
A quiet, half-thought sentence that sticks.
I kneel down, brushing hair from Arietta ’s forehead.
"What school?"
"Miss Marina’s. Our nanny showed us the pictures. The one with the purple gate and the turtle fountain."
It takes me a minute to place it.
A small, private school just outside the villa district, attached to the convent but run independently now.
Luca had it cleared years ago for associates’ children.
Quiet. Safe. Untraceable.
"You like it?"
Both nod, a little too fast.
That automatic eagerness kids get when they think a wrong answer might get something taken away.
"It’s close," Arietta says, "but far enough that we get to ride in the big car."
I nod, my voice softer now.
"Then you’ll go. I’ll make sure of it."
It is such a small thing.
A few minutes of conversation, a handful of reassurances.
But the look Gianna gives me when she finds us later, my sleeves rolled up and Arietta playing in my lap, is not small.
She watches for longer than she needs to, saying nothing.
I don't move.
