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I shrug. “I mean, even if we were nothing to each other but friends, you wouldn’t just leave someone that you spent the entire weekend with in prison, would you?”

“I wouldn’t have thought so, and especially not him. His loyalty is his strongest trait.” He thinks for a moment. “So, you hadn’t spoken to him since?”

“Not until I ran into him when I was on my Tinder date and he went feral.”

Giorgio’s fascinated eyes hold mine. “What did he say about all of this? How did he explain this?”

I shrug. “He said that he was dealing with the deaths and he just couldn’t handle me and drugs. He said he was in the grieving crisis.”

He frowns. “In all fairness, he was.”

“Did you see him back then?”

He nods. “He was very angry for a long time. He disappeared from the social scene altogether. His brothers both moved back home to help him.”

“Help him with what?”

“As the oldest child, he had to take over the family business.

This would have been traumatizing for him.”

I frown. “What do you mean?”

He sits up and straightens in his chair. “Nothing, really, just a lot to get his head around, I imagine.”

“I guess. Anyway, we had a big fight, and then he came to work and waited outside. I don’t know. We’re seeing how things go.”

“Oh, I love this story.” He claps his hands together. “It’s like Cinderella going to the ball.”

I roll my eyes.

“So, what now?”

“He’s away for work for the week. He wants to go away for the weekend.”

“Oh.” He stands. “I’m fitting you out with a new wardrobe. You must look incredible for Mr. Ferrara. You are now officially my hobby.”

I smirk and turn back to my computer. “Actually, his favorite outfit for me is my birthday suit. He prefers me naked.”

Giorgio presses the back of his hand to his forehead and pretends to faint. “Dear God, darling, I can’t even imagine what he would be like in bed. His intensity is on another level. You can feel it from across a room.”

I giggle. “Giorgio, you have no idea.”

________

It’s late on Thursday night. I scroll through my phone, flicking from Facebook to Instagram and back again. Earlier tonight, I went to the gym with Natalie and noticed two men in a car across the road.

I think that maybe they were his men.

Rico hasn’t called me, and to be honest, I thought he would. I mean, if he cares enough to have me watched over like I think he did, I would have at least thought he would check in once in a while.

Stop it. Stop being so needy.

I hate that he brings out this side of my personality. For two years, I’ve blissfully hated him from afar. Now, after one weekend with him, I’m whisked back to the beginning, waiting for him to call.

I scroll through the numbers on my phone and smile when I come to his name.

ENRICO FERRARA