Although my exit would probably be logged on the security system’s electronic log, the gate guards hopefully would think it was just one of Lorenzo’s soldiers leaving the property since the soldiers seemed to come and go throughout the day.
As I drove away from the mansion, I couldn’t help thinking about the days since my wedding.
I’d been trying hard with the children, but Lorenzo was never happy with anything I did.
Coming into this marriage, I’d thought that the children would probably be the most challenging aspect of my new marriage—I’d heard so many times that the stepmom-stepchild relationship was a really hard one to navigate. And although the kids did have issues I needed to deal with, they were really lovely children.
The problems I was having were mainly with Lorenzo and his constant disapproval of anything I did.
Okay, so we hadn’t exactly gotten off on the right foot, but I’d apologized to him for that on the day of the engagement party. And I knew that I still hadn’t managed to get Clara to wear something other than her old blue dress, but at least I’d bought her some new clothes in case she ever decided that she wanted to wear something different.
Given that Lorenzo hadn’t had much luck with Clara’s clothing situation, it was pretty unreasonable of him to think that I could instantly solve the problem in the few days we’d been married.
Maybe he was comparing me to his first wife? Although since he never actually mentioned her to me, I didn’t really know if this was the case.
But I was the children’s new stepmom, which meant that I had to first build up a relationship with the kids before they would, hopefully in time, trust me.
I headed to a nearby strip mall we had passed yesterday when Giuseppe had been driving. I’d seen a grocery store there and that would be the best place to get the things I needed for dinner.
Leaving the SUV in the parking lot out front, I made my way into the store and took my time browsing the aisles.
After collecting some of the ingredients I needed for dinner, I stopped in front of the magazine stand and flicked through a couple of magazines. One was a women’s magazine which had an article titled ‘How To Show Your Partner That You Appreciate Them’. I thought that perhaps I should buy it and shove it under Lorenzo’s nose.
It was really nice to be out of the mansion and just doing something without having someone looking over my shoulder all the time like Giuseppe had been doing yesterday. I was sure that Lorenzo would have asked him for a full report yesterday of what I’d done and how the children had been with me.
The store had a toy aisle and, walking past it, I saw a white toy cat among the stuffed animals for sale. I’d noticed that Clara had loved stroking Wilbur yesterday and had also spent a lot of time this morning running her hands over his soft fur. Picking up the toy cat, I also selected a stuffed tiger for Clemente.
“What are you doing here?” a deep voice demanded from over my shoulder.
I spun around, my hand flying to my chest.
Standing behind me was Lorenzo’s brother, Aloysius. “Oh my God, you scared the living daylights out of me! What are you doing here?”
“That wasmyquestion.” His dark eyes were fixed on me. “I came to get some groceries.” I tried to divert his attention away from me. “Er, are you shopping for groceries too?” Which was a really a stupid question given that he looked completely out of place here. In his black suit, black shirt, black tie, and with a black scowl on his face, he looked every inch a bad man—not to mention that he had waves of danger practically rolling off him.
He silently stared at me. “Does Lorenzo know you’re here?”
“I’m, um, not sure.”
“I’ll take that as a ‘no’ then—especially as you are out unaccompanied. You know you need a bodyguard when you go out, right?”
“I just wanted to get some space,” I said quietly.
He glanced down at my shopping cart, and after a few moments, he said more gently, “You need to be careful, Anni. This isn’t Venetiville.”
I nodded.
“Have you got much more shopping to do?”
“I just need to get some chicken and parmesan cheese, and then I’m done.”
“I thought food shopping was Adelina’s job?”
“It is, but I thought I’d make chicken cutlets tonight in the hope of tempting Clara to eat more.”
“She’s still not eating enough, huh?”
“Yeah. I asked my ma for her recipe, but we didn’t have all the ingredients, so that’s how I ended up here.”