“My love, come shopping with me today. We have that dinner coming up.” Miliana walks over to the fridge, pulling out a bottle of red wine.
It seems as if that’s their water.
“We can go at noon?” Nina asks while grabbing the wineglasses from the cabinet.
I can’t say I like this better than the Nina I saw the other night. I can only take so much.
Nina smiles at me, with a hint of mocking hidden behind the curves of her lips. “Giovanni.”
“Nina.”
I take a deep breath before taking my computer off the table. I can’t get shit done when she is walking around wearing hardly any clothes.
Go shopping, Nina. Don’t tempt me.
“Giovanni, come with us.” Miliana’s smile stretches from ear to ear.
“Maybe another time.” I’m trying to sound sincere.
I can think of a million other things I would much rather do. “I’ll send a couple of my men with you. Call me if you need me.”
My jaw clenches as I stand up, fixing my posture. I have shit I need to deal with.
9NINA
“Mama, do you mind if I take the car today?” I ask as we pull into the driveway of our house. Shopping with her and Ana has always been fun, but always exhausting for some reason.
“What do you need it for?”
“I want to go to the studio for a little while.”
I’ve been meaning to go for ages, but the new life I’m soon to have keeps changing my plans. Luckily, I was able to paint the other night.
“Who will go with you?”
“I’ll just go by myself,” I ask, even though it’s more of a statement.
Max always drives me. It’s nice, but I don’t need him watching over me all the time. There’s only a little bit of time left of my freedom, and I want to make the most of it. Plus, all I’ll be doing is organizing the studio; I don’t need Max waiting in his car for me, bored out of his mind.
“What about your father’s rules? You are the one who agreed to them, my love.”
She’s talking about rule number one, and that’s apparently the most important rule: always have someone with me.
Papa said that people know who I am and know my last name, but over the past two years, no one has blinked an eye at me or even questioned my last name.
The people I spend time with are not bad, nor do they show any interest in the terrible things that go on in this town.
“Just let this one time slide. Please?”
“Fine. But take the car soon if you don’t want anyone stopping you.”
We both exit the car. She opens the trunk to take the bags out, but Giovanni’s men grab them from her instantly.
I wait for them to walk inside before entering the car on the driver’s side.
I have my license, but I almost never drive.
I buckle my seat belt and put the car in reverse.