Page 15 of The Sexy Billionaire

“Me too,” Giada adds.

“Fuck you both,” Natalia says, pointing her finger at the two of them.

“This has gotten fucking complicated,” Luca adds.

It certainly has.

“Guessing we should probably tell everyone the engagement party is over,” Luca suggests.

“No,” Giada exclaims as does Allegra.

“This is going to be a huge scandal if we do,” Giada explains.

Yep, it sure is—one you created.

“Think of our father’s heart,” Allegra adds.

I still, my own heart constricting at the thought that this news could do something to his heart.

“You are a disgusting piece of shit. How dare you say that to him. You should have thought about our father when you hooked up with Gio’s fiancée,” Natalia yells at her.

“I know, Nat. Okay. I get it. I’m the devil. You hate me. You all hate me. But please don’t do this to father, his heart won’t be able to take it. I fucked up badly. I fell in love with someone I shouldn’t have. But please, I can’t hurt, Papà. I know you owe me nothing, Gio, but please, can we keep this a secret until we can sort it out?” Allegra begs.

The room falls silent at her request.

“You want Gio to pretend none of this happened? That he didn’t catch the two of you together during his engagement party?” Luca asks.

Allegra nods. “Yes, until we work out a solution.”

“What do you meana solution?” Luca questions.

“I don’t know. All I know is I can’t be responsible for killing our father.” Allegra cries.

She’s right. We all know she’s right.

“Fine. I won’t say a word about tonight. But we are done, both of you.” I point to them both as I turn and walk out of the room.

“Fuck,” Luca says as he follows out after me.

“This is a shit show,” Natalia adds as we stand in the middle hallway, shell-shocked.

“I need to get out of here. I can’t be here. How the hell am I going to get out of this place without being detected?” I ask my siblings.

The palace is swamped with partygoers, paparazzi, and a film crew.

“Follow me,” Luca says as he weaves his way through the back passages of the palace that we grew up in—the easiest way to move around the home as kids, especially as teens when we wanted to head out to a party without getting caught. It’s a maze behind here; you could get lost and be missing for days if you didn’t know your way around.

The three of us head along the last tunnel, which brings us out into the garages and my car. We pause as my adrenaline starts to subside. “What do I do? Where should I go?” I turn and ask my siblings. For the first time in my life, I don’t know what to do.

“Go home. I’ll call you once we’ve cut the event short,” Luca tells me.

“People are going to wonder what happened. Why I’m not there.”

Luca shakes his head. “I promise you, I’ll work it out. Just get out of here.”

“It’s going to be a shit show, Luca. He should get out of town, get out of the country even,” Natalia states.

She’s right. This entire event has eyes on it. Every major paper, magazine, and online site is following it, the melding ofroyalty and celebrity, it’s a huge money spinner for everyone. They are going to notice when the groom doesn’t come back.

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