Page 4 of Stefano
My thumbs hover before I type.
Me:Soon.
I set the phone down, guilt warring with relief.For once, I feel like I’m not invisible.But deep down, I know it’s a lie I’m telling myself.
Because no matter what Luca says ...the only man I want is Stefano.
Chapter Three
The Escape
Stefano
I don’t like change.
Routine keeps me sharp and steady.I wake before dawn, train until sweat burns my eyes, and then I handle business—meetings, shipments, debts collected in blood.I drink my whiskey neat, smoke only when the noise in my head gets too loud, and fuck only when I need to bleed off the edge.
Change is weakness.Change gets men killed.
But Andrea’s changing, and it’s driving me insane.
At first, it’s small.She spends more time on her phone.Everyone does, so I tell myself it’s nothing.But there’s a difference in the way she does it.The way her lips curl into secret smiles, soft and private.The way her thumbs fly over the screen like she’s desperate to keep up.The way her eyes glow like whatever she’s reading belongs only to her.
She’s talking to someone.
And the thought makes my gut twist.
I’m stretched out in the lounge, one leg hooked over the arm of a chair, a cigarette between my fingers.The others are around me, Alceu and Guilia murmuring quietly, Severu pouring drinks while Lira reads, and Mancuso bragging about something Callie pretends to care about.
And Andrea.
She’s curled up on the couch, a blanket over her lap, that fucking phone glowing in her hand.Guilia tries to talk to her, but she nods distractedly, eyes never leaving the screen.Her lips twitch into a smile and her cheeks pink.
That blush should be for me.But I know I am the reason it’s not.
I drag hard on the cigarette, exhaling slow, but the smoke doesn’t dull the heat crawling through my chest.I hate the way she looks at that phone.I hate that I’m not the one making her blush.
