Page 66 of Vows of Blood

If this is a test, I’m failing pretty spectacularly.

Maybe it’s for the best that Luca sees it now. I’m not the kind of person who can hide their feelings or lie particularly well, something I imagine Luca has to do all the time.

Finally ready to go back out there and smile, letting the humiliation wash over me with grace and poise before begging Luca to send me home, I glance up and see her, watching me from the double doors. Blonde and model thin, she's beautiful in a polished way that makes other women feel inadequate.

She smiles, but it’s not genuine. And I now recognize her as that bitch from Bellini’s whose Krug wasn’t cold enough. "So, you're Luca’s companion for the evening."

Of course, she doesn’t recognize me.

Smiling just as fake, I note how she reduces my place at his side to just this one event, like she’s already decided I won’t be invited again. She moves to the stone wall beside me, leaning her hip against it, and pulls out lipstick before applying it with ease.

"I have to admit, I'm surprised.” She drags her disdainful gaze over me slowly. “You're not his usual type."

Digging my nails into my palm, I try to channel my inner elegant party guest, but it turns out, I don’t have one.

"And what type is that?" I ask mildly, pretending I don’t already know Luca has a penchant for brunettes, especially curvy ones.

"Oh, you know. Someone like me." She slides her lipstick back into her clutch. "One of us, someone who’s grown up in this world. Someone who knows what Luca needs." Her wicked smile is meant to intimidate me, to make me think I can never give him what he wants, but all she’s doing is pissing me off.

A couple joins us on the balcony, followed by two men with cigars, and suddenly, it’s feeling a little crowded.

“If you’ll excuse me, I'd better get back. Luca will be looking for me,” I say, but she steps to the side, blocking my path.

"Luca and I have known each other a long time. Our families are close. We’re very, very close."

The implication hangs in the air between us. She seems to think this would come as some kind of shock to me.

"Oh, very, very close," I say flatly. “I’ll just leave now then, shall I?”

Her smile falters when I step forward, no fucks given anymore, and Tony moves a little closer, sensing the tension.

“Except, actually, I don’t think I will.”

This cloak-and-dagger, accosting me on the balcony, bullshit is all very Mean Girls, and I’m too jaded to get caught up in whatever cruel point she’s trying to make.

"Alfonso told me who you are. You should leave before he gets here,” she hisses, not happy that her attempts at intimidation aren’t making me more upset. “Alfonso wanted me to marry his son before Luca made that stupid pact, and he still does. You, he’ll squash like a fly if you get in the way.”

He’ll try. But this time, I’m already at rock bottom. There’s nothing else he can take from me.

When I don’t scurry away like she’d hoped, she tries another tactic.

“Did you know Luca was sleeping with me even when he was engaged to Kate?" That she thinks this is something to boast about, makes her even more vile.

“And you’re proud of this fact because…?”

She comes closer, close enough that I can smell her perfume, cloying and expensive.

I hold up a finger, letting Tony know I want him to stay back. Even though I can’t see him, I know he’s still behind me, somewhere in the shadows.

"He cheated on Kate with me. He's got you on his arm before Kate's even in the ground. How long do you really think it'll be before he replaces you?" She tilts her head, studying me like I'm nothing more than dirt she found on the bottom of her shoe, confident as hell that Alfonso’s going to install her as the next Calvano bride, whether Luca wants her or not.

My heart is pounding, but I refuse to let her see how much her words bother me.

I’m supposed to be the future wife of the future don. I don’t think getting into a hair-pulling, claws-out cat fight is the look I should be going for.

In a way, I feel sorry for her. Alfonso appears to be promising her things he can’t deliver, toying with her as he seems to do to everyone without remorse.

So instead of scratching her eyeballs out, I straighten my spine and meet her frosty stare head-on, aware we have the attention of everyone around us.