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“Alright, spill. What’s going on?” I asked as Robin looked anywhere else but at me.

“Nothing. Lorenzo just thought it would be nice if we all had a girls day,” Tay said, but I knew it was a lie. She always had been shit at not telling the truth.

“You two are fooling no one, especially not me.” I scoffed with an eye roll.

“Listen, we’ve been sworn to secrecy, alright! Lorenzo trusts us enough, and I, for one, am not about to ruin it.” Robin smiled as if she was completing some secret mission.

“Fine, but we always promised we’d have no secrets.” I sighed.

“I know, but it’ll just be this one.” Tay winked. “It’s worth it. I promise.”

“We’ll see, then.” I had no idea what Lorenzo was planning for the evening, but I was excited to find out. I let my mind wander to him, unable to stop myself as I realised just how much we changed together in a short space of time. Though neither ofus had uttered the wordsI love you, I felt it in every gesture, every touch. And I knew I was ready to say it, to let him know how deeply I cared.

“Earth to Ana,” Robin teased, snapping her fingers in front of my face. “You’ve been staring at that steak like it’s going to confess its secrets. You completely spaced out on us.”

I blinked, shaking myself from my reverie. “Sorry,” I murmured, forcing a smile. “Just thinking about…”

Tay raised an eyebrow, her fork pausing mid air. “Lorenzo?”

Heat crept into my cheeks, but I nodded. “Maybe. We’ve been in a good place ever since Sicily. He makes me feel…things. Real, crazy things.”

Robin grinned, her dimples deepening. “Girl, you’re glowing. Just tell him you love him already, because if we can see it, I’m damn sure he can, too. What’s the worst that could happen if you tell him anyway?”

Before I could respond, a commotion near the entrance caught my attention. A man strode into the restaurant, his presence commanding the room’s attention. But once I noticed who it was, my heart sank. It was my brother, Miles. His arm was draped around a woman who looked like she stepped straight out of a reality TV show—her hair was long, and poker straight. It was obvious that the relentless bleach treatments had sapped it of anything natural, and left it with a bright, almost artificial yellow tint that glimmered under the light, resembling sunlit straw. Her lips were double the size, if not triple, to what they should have been, and her dress was so far up around her ass it practically screamed,I’m here to be noticed. She clung to Miles like a second skin, her laughter shrill and forced.

My grip tightened on my fork. I hadn’t seen Miles in months. He hadn’t even bothered to check how I was with everything that happened with Chad.Fucking dick. I turned back to the girls, hoping to ignore him, but it was too bloody late. His eyes lockedonto our table as Tay let out an annoyed groan. And of course, he didn’t just wave or smile. Oh no. He made his way over.

“Anastacia.” He grinned as he stopped beside our table, his cologne overpowering the three of us as Tay wrinkled her nose. “What a surprise. Lorenzo finally let you out without his protection?” he teased.

“What do you want, Miles?” I scoffed, my eyes drifting over to his date who was practically licking his face.

“Hi,” she said, her voice high-pitched and grating on me. “I’m Lozza. It’s nice to meet ya.” She held out her hand, which I ignored.

“That’s nice.” I turned back to Miles who currently looked as if he was about to explode. “Oh, I’m sorry. Did you want me to greet your flavour of the week? You’ve had so many, I stopped bothering. They aren’t usually around long.” I rolled my eyes before focusing my attention on my plate. “You can go now.”

“You can’t avoid us all forever. They want to talk to you. Papa’s worried about you,” he replied, his voice so damn patronising.

“Worried?” I snorted, finally meeting his gaze once more. “Or feeling guilty? They need to leave me alone and worry about their golden boy, since he’s the one running around with gold diggers instead of doing what he should be.” I laughed.

Lozza’s smile faltered, but she recovered quickly, her green eyes narrowing. “I don’t think that’s any of your business, sweetheart.”

“You know what, it’s not. It never was and never will be but good luck with him. Just a heads up—he’ll be bored of you before the end of your meal,” I shot back.

“That’s enough. You’re just jealous that they favoured me over you. What, didn’t Daddy give you enough attention? Didn’t Mommy take you shopping enough?” he teased as I shoved mychair back and stood. Miles’s voice dropped to a low whisper. “Sit down, Sis. You don’t want to cause a scene.”

I leaned in towards him, my voice audible to only him. “Or, what? You’ll report back to your owners? Do you really think I care what they think of me anymore? I’ve known for years why Papa didn’t mind having a girl. He just about tolerated me, knowing he could use me for an alliance,” I seethed. “You always did, and will continue to get away with everything. You’ll run his mafia into the ground, and I can’t wait to watch it burn when you take the reins.”

“You’re just a bitter bitch.” He scoffed. “Jealous that you were nothing but a spare part.”

As if a switch had flipped, I saw red. I grabbed the steak knife from behind me, instantly pressing the tip into his stomach in one swift movement. He swallowed hard as his eyes widened with shock and pure fright. He knew I could gut him with this shitty knife if I wanted to. Despite his size, I was always able to get the better of him, but of course, that didn’t matter. It was never enough to please my father.

“I suggest if you don’t want your guts to be spread across this restaurant, you take whatever she is and leave,” I hissed, shoving him away. He let out a grunt. “The three of you cease to exist to me. You have since my wedding day. I have my friends, my husband, and a mother-in-law that makes my own look worse than the devil.”

“Oh, yeah, a husband who wanted you as part of his revenge plot, game, whatever the fuck it was,” he spat, anger radiating off him in waves. “He doesn’t want you. Nobody will ever fucking want you. You’re just there.”

“I could stand here and explain my relationship to you, but I won’t, because you aren’t worth a second more of my time.”

“And you can forgive him, just like that?” He laughed, sarcasm dripping from every word.