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T he Duomo, though not as pretty in daylight as it was at night, was fun to visit again. Nolan and I joined a small group of tourists and toured the cathedral with them. It was a grand awe inspiring building. Our guide regaled us with the myths and legends associated with the cathedral. We reached all the building's heights, taking in the breathtaking views of the city.

"Where to next?" I asked Nolan when the tour was over. He had stayed up late last night planning today. It made me want to chuckle. He had been adamant that he was just as spontaneous as the next person, but a few hours later into the night, he was planning the next day.

"Ever seen The Last Supper ?" He got worried for a second and said, "You must have, since you're literally an artist."

I shook my head. "Never seen it before."

He beamed. "Good! Because I bribed the concierge to get us tickets yesterday. Apparently, they sell really fast."

"You managed to get us tickets so late?" A coworker of mine who visited Milan had to book her tickets before she came here because they sold out so quickly.

He shrugged. "Perks of being me, I guess."

"You mean a billionaire ?"

He chuckled and took my hand in his.

The Last Supper was beautiful to look at, albeit a little hard to take in while everyone around you was snapping a photo. I was happy to be in the presence of such a wonderful painting. My feast for the arts did not end there, however, because after that, Nolan whisked me to thePalazzo Citterio, an art gallery that was on my bucket list for a long time. There he had planned a private tour for us, since the building was closed to the public that day. Perks of being a billionaire . And I wasn't complaining. I was enjoying every minute of it.

After that, we strolled around the city like regular tourists, taking in all the sights and wonders. We did so much that by the afternoon; we were hungry and eager to take a break and eat. Nolan took me to a restaurant with tables outside along the canal. It wasn't as fancy as the last place we went to, but it was cool and had a scenic view of the city. It was comfortable, and the food was good besides it being a touristy place. Eating outside on such a sunny day felt like I was in a commune with the city.

Nolan said as he twirled pasta around his fork and absentmindedly said, "We should do more of this."

"Eat pasta?" I said, being deliberately obtuse. "Yes, I agree. But I am not sure your mother would agree."

He flicked a cherry tomato at me that landed next to my plate. "I mean all of this." He waved his fork full of pasta around before putting it into his mouth. "Do what we just did. See the city as a person visiting. Cities like this—Milan, Paris, Dubai, you name it, have always been a blur seen through office windows and business hotels. I don't think I've ever seen the real city until you."

"Are you always busy whenever you go on business trips?"

"More or less. Deals have to be signed. Things have to be agreed to in a timely fashion or the markets react terribly. But It's only until now that I realized that I don't have to be... "

I waited for him to finish the sentence, but his gaze went to a spot beyond me. I thought he was avoiding me at first until his eyes narrowed and he waved his hand at something or someone behind me. Nolan's mouth widened as I felt someone behind me approach. His face beamed, and he stood up. A man about the same age as Nolan approached us. He had about the same build, although this man was developing a slight pouch around the stomach and his jet black hair was balding in the middle.

"Luca!" Nolan got up and hugged him. I followed Nolan by standing up as well and watched as the two men tapped each other's backs. "How long has it been?" Nolan said when they broke apart.

"Ten years at least. I last saw you at Chester's wedding. How is he, by the way? Has he truly sworn off women?" His Italian accent was thick, but his English was very good.

"Well, you know the guy. Loved women then. Still loves them now."

Luca shrugged, as though that was the answer he expected to hear. "I don't know why I expected more out of the guy, to be honest. And you?" He turned to me for the first time, took my hand in his and kissed it. "If I had to guess, I would say this is the new Mrs. Hawthorne."

Nolan pulled me to his side and said, "Aelin, meet Luca, an old friend from college. Luca, this is my wife, Aelin."

"Nice to meet you," I said.

Luca's eyes flashed with something I could not quite recognize. "Oh, the pleasure is all mine. We all thought he would never do it. And yet here you are, the only woman to make Notorious Nolan tie the knot."

Nolan cringed. "Please don't resurrect that nickname."

Luca chuckled, drew a chair close by, and placed it between our chairs. We all sat down in our respective chairs before Luca asked."So, what brings you here?"

"I came on business, but my weekend is now free and we were doing some sightseeing."

"Fantastic!" He clapped his hands. "That means you can't say no to a party at my villa."

Nolan was about to launch into a protest, but Luca cut him off. "How many times have you been in this city, but you've never visited an old friend? Like you said, you have nothing else to do for the rest of the weekend. I've just renovated it, and I was throwing a little house party." He pinched his index and thumb finger. "Very little. Tiny." He turned to me. "I'm sure your wife would love to see it."

I smiled, not knowing what to say.

"What do you think?" Nolan glanced at me. I was surprised that he wanted my input. It took me a while to respond.I was still in the mood to see the city, and the thought of going somewhere different was appealing. And something in me wanted to see more of Nolan's side that he was allowing me to see. I wanted to see more of it. What his friends are like and who hangs out with. Or to hear Luca and Nolan talk, who he used to be friends with in college.

"I don't mind going to a party." I said.

Nolan seemed slightly disappointed, but he said, "Text me the directions and we will be there."

Luca slapped his back. "That's more like it! You still have your old number?"

"Same one."

Luca got up and put the chair back where he took it. "It's been a pleasure to see you both and I can't wait to see you again," he said.

"I made a mistake in saying yes, didn't I?" I said after Luca was a few feet away.

"It's not your fault. Luca can be a little hard to say no to. Once we're there, we're probably going to spend the rest of the week. He loves nonstop parties. Or at least that's how he was in college and doesn't seem to have changed much."

"That sounds stressful."

He chuckled. "Don't worry. I will get us out any way we can. But pack your overnight bag."

** *

Luca's Villa was just outside Milan. Nolan had hired a car and drove us there. By the time we arrived, it was late afternoon, the sky shades of purple and orange as the sun set. I don't know what I expected when Luca said Villa. Maybe a small mansion. It certainly wasn't a grand seventeenth century home that looked like something Mr. Darcy would own if Pride & Prejudice was set in Italy. Nolan drove into a driveway of a sprawling six or maybe seven acre garden. A few people in smart casual were roaming about in the courtyard. Luca was waiting for us at the entrance of two grand white ornately carved doors.

He had a glass of brandy in his hand and a cigar lazily hanging on his lips. The white pants, pink shirt and gold waistcoat only added to the aristocratic look. "Is your friend like a count or something?" I asked Nolan, as we got out of the car.

"His lineage is long and his blood is as blue as the sky. This house has been in his family for centuries, according to what he told me some time ago."

Luca opened his arms wide as we drew near. He gave Nolan a bear hug, sloshing the drink in his glass and almost ruining Nolan's shirt before turning to me and kissing me on the cheek. "You made it!" He turned around to face the Villa, "What do you think? We gave the old geezer a fresh coat of paint."

"It looks magnificent," Nolan said.

"You're going to love what I did inside."

We entered the house into a central hall adorned withintricate decorations, frescoes, and stuccoes from the late 17th century. Luca spoke nonstop about the restorations he had made, the money he forked out to turn this place back into its original glory as he led Nolan and me down a wide corridor. After a few turns, and passing through empty rooms, climbing some steps, he led us to a balcony that overlooked a back garden.

The rest of the party was here and, unlike how I had imagined, it wasn't as big. There were less than twenty people excluding us and most looked to be couples in their thirties and forties. I was probably the youngest person there. Gentle music trilled from the speakers as the partiers chatted in small groups on the balcony and the garden.

"You see, it's not so bad. It doesn't look like this crowd is going to party day and night throughout the week," I whispered to Nolan.

A server passed us by, and Nolan grabbed two wineglasses from the tray. He gave me one saying, "It seems like he has finally grown up. "

I took a sip of the wine. Prosecco. It was the best prosecco I've ever tasted, but what else should I expect from a literal aristocrat? "So, how did you two become friends?"

Nolan, distracted by a group of women laughing, turned back to face me.

"Club, like a secret club?"

Nolan rolled his eyes. "Typical over-hyped stuff, but yeah, it was your run-of-the-mill fraternity."

And I suspected Nolan's Yale college fraternity had very little in common with regular fraternities. "Only yours had aristocrats and sons of billionaires."

Nolan raised his hands in mock surrender. "Hey, I didn't make the rules. I was forced to join."

I frowned. "I thought one applies in order to get into those types of things?"

"Not me though. I was tapped without knowing. I didn't even want to join. I made sure to fail every test they gave and still I ended up getting in."

"Wow. They must have wanted you real bad."

His mouth twisted. "That's what I thought at first until I found out that my father had paid a hefty sum to the club to make sure they accepted me."

"Why?"

"Like you said, it's a club full of aristocrats, sons of billionaires, and of course, soon to become politicians. He did the same for my brother Carey too, but at least Carey was eager to join. He wanted the best for his sons, even though it was against their will." He spoke the last sentence with unmistakable bitterness. I didn't need more evidence that Nolan and his father didn't have a good relationship. It was clear in the way he spoke about him. And in the ways he didn't.

"I guess I was lucky my parents weren't like that. I mean, they died before I went to college—"

"Ay, I am sorry."

"It's okay, it's been years. But even the only other person who could have exerted such pressure on me seemed to not notice that I exist."

"I get it. I can see why you'd rebel."

I didn't understand him until I remembered who I was pretending to be. Aelin's life story was like mine. Even though I didn't know her father, her mother had died young and our grandfather had taken the responsibility of raising her. With the little I knew of Kenneth, he probably did not have the time to raise her and she probably had to resort to attention seeking methods just to be seen. The realization made me look at her in a new light and empathize with her.

"We have our own ways of coping with our parents, I guess. But why didn't you rebel?"

Nolan frowned. He looked like he had never considered it before. "It was good for me not to in the long run. I got a lot of lifelong contacts from that club."

"Yeah, but you didn't know it then. Why didn't you refuse to join?"

"We all can't do whatever we want, Aelin."

It was the first time he had used Aelin's full name in a long time when speaking to me. The warning in his voice was unmistakable and made me stop my probing as much as I wanted to know more about him. He clearly didn't want to go there, even though my question was harmless. And even if I wanted to, I could not because Luca soon interrupted us, announcing that dinner was ready.

A long white table was set at the center of the garden and everyone strolled to it. Apart from the food being good, the dinner was lovely in other ways. I did not expect what I had originally assumed to be a haughty crowd, to be a fun and welcoming group. The warmest people were the trio of laughing women from earlier, and since we sat closest to them, Nolan and I talked to them most of the dinner.

After dinner, Luca and people split again into smaller groups and some people took to dancing on the makeshift white dance floor placed where the table was. Nolan had been captured by the trio of women who wanted to pick his retail fashion brain, leaving me to wander the gardens alone. They were beautiful and perfectly illuminated by the ground lights, but after strolling aimlessly for a few minutes, I went to the bar to get a cocktail and sat down on a small concrete arch shaped bench.

"Hey! What are you doing all alone?" Luca was staggering towards me with his waist around an older man's arm. Their faces were bright, and I couldn't tell if Luca's unsteadiness was because of his own intoxication, his friend's, or both.

I gestured to Nolan and the group. The women were now showing him something on one of their phones and he had a cute scowl on his face as he read whatever was on it. "He has been captured, unfortunately."

Luca disentangled himself from his friend, stumbling in the process. He chuckled as his friend tried to steady him. I guess now I know who's drunk. Luca gave him a French Kiss, before saying, "I need to talk to her darling."

The friend, or should I say boyfriend, mumbled something I couldn't quite catch and waved at Luca as he staggered off to the dancefloor. Loca flopped onto the bench beside me. "How do you like my house?"

"It's lovely."

"I sank a lot of money into it. And I'm hoping to sell it off soon."

"Oh?" Hadn't Nolan said it had been in his family for generations?

"It's an expensive house to live in. The upkeep is immense." He waved his hand to gesture the size. "It's practically a money pit, and the money is... there's very little left in my family." His words slurred as he spoke.

"It would be sad to sell a home as beautiful as this."

"That's why I want it to go into the hands of someone I know will take good care of it." His gaze went to Nolan. Is that why he invited us here?

"Have you been friends with Nolan for long?"

"Yes! Has he never told you of me?"

"Nolan is a silent man who keeps to himself."

Luca nodded. "He's not a talker, your man, but don't let that dissuade you. This is the first time I've seen him like this."

My interest piqued. "Like what?"

He jerked his head to Nolan and the women. "Talking to people. Nolan would have never been this social, and it's all thanks to you." He bumped my shoulder.

I shook my head and took a sip of my cocktail. The idea that I had changed Nolan Hawthorne in some way was preposterous.

"It's true!" Luca exclaimed, his eyes wide. "I've never seen him like this. So open. You know, this is the first time he's visited my place, even though I've invited him numerous times."

"That's because he's always busy. "

"He uses work to hide from the world. He takes on too many responsibilities and thinks he should be the head of the family like his father taught him."

I thought of all the comments I heard the other Hawthorne siblings make. Even Gemma had been surprised to see Nolan attend one of her events. Maybe he had changed, but I had nothing to do with it. "It's not because of me."

"Then what else explains the change?"He wasn't taking no for an answer. "Nolan and I haven't been close friends for a long time, but I would love for him to be with someone like you. Someone he loves and loves him back." Luca smiled. "It's so obvious when you two look at each other that you're in love."