And Felice threw his head back and laughed.

CHAPTER THIRTY

PLEA

Ikissed her because I’m in love with her.

I kissed her because I’m in love with her.

I kissed her because I’m in love with her.

I was trying very hard to keep the smile from my lips, to keep my eyes downcast. My heart felt like it had swollen to twice its size, and all I could do was stand there and try not to get lost in the commotion.

Luca loved me. Luca was in love with me.

Nic was gaping at him, like he was trying to assemble a puzzle on his brother’s forehead. Dom and Gino had fallen still – even Dom had shut his mouth. They were waiting for Luca to break, for the joke to be revealed.

After a few more loaded breaths, Nic spluttered into life again. ‘No,’ he said. ‘I don’t believe you.’

‘It’s true,’ Luca said.

‘Since when?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘How?’ said Nic.

Luca’s smile was rueful, the guilt of the revelation tinged in his words. ‘You of all people should be able to answer that, brother.’

Nic screwed his face up. ‘But you used to find her so annoying.’

‘I still find her annoying.’

Nic narrowed his eyes. ‘You don’t deserve her.’

‘I know.’ Luca tilted his head, just a little, and it was as though I could read the rest of his response in the careful lift of his brow. Neither do you.

‘Bravissimo, boys.’ Felice clapped his hands together. ‘The blood of betrayal runs deep here at Evelina. I can’t say I’m surprised, given the DNA you all share. Now, a word from our female protagonist, Persephone, perhaps?’ He swivelled around to me, his face a mask of glee. ‘Do you, Persephone, in fact, love Gianluca or will you remain loyal to our beloved Nicoli, the one who has been so selflessly training you for your revenge, probably under the impression that he was winning you back? Just how deep does your deception run in this little charade?’

Felice was threading a line of guilt right into my soul. I had known my feelings for Luca would hurt Nic if they ever got out, but I hadn’t thought about it so starkly – at least not like that. I hadn’t really been thinking at all, just searching for that solace that I could get from Luca’s kiss, from his skin against mine, his breath against my ear … I looked to Luca, searchingly, but he was facing away, grinding his jaw. He would not play into Felice’s spectacle.

‘Can you show some respect?’ I hissed at Felice. ‘Clearly this isn’t funny, and it’s got nothing to do with you either.’

I was losing my footing – caught between wanting to respond directly to Luca, and wanting to run a million miles from the roomful of Falcone spectators.

‘What’s that, Persephone?’ said, Felice, wearing his classic expression of faux surprise. ‘Or should I start calling you Marilyn?’

‘What?’

‘Marilyn Monroe.’ He licked his lips. ‘I believe she slept with both Kennedy brothers, yes? And what happened to her then … ?’ He trailed off, tapping his chin.

‘She committed suicide,’ Gino said.

‘Nah. That’s what they want you to think. She was definitely murdered,’ Dom supplied.

‘Was she?’ Felice leered at me.

‘Enough!’ snapped Valentino.

‘Valentino!’ said Felice, shocked.

‘You cannot end a soap opera midway through. I want to watch the finale.’

‘Shut up,’ said Valentino, his weariness transforming into a biting cruelty. ‘Stop getting in their heads. It’s counterproductive.’

‘I am merely expressing curiosity,’ Felice pointed out.

‘Stronzate!’ Valentino levelled his uncle with a dark look, his finger raised in accusation. ‘You’re so full of shit, if you ever had an enema you’d evaporate into thin air.’

The laugh burst out of me before I could stop it. It joined a spate of other sounds of uneasy amusement. Suddenly everyone was clearing their throats.

Felice looked like he had been stabbed.

He curled his lip, his words now thick with rage. ‘How dare you speak to me like that, you insolent, incompetent, ill-prepared—’

‘Basta!’ Luca shouted, his demeanour as feral as it had been with Nic. ‘One more word and you’ll lose your tongue.’

Valentino seemed unaffected by his uncle’s tirade. Then again, he always wore the best mask. ‘You have work to do, Felice, and I have a family to run. Nic and Luca, I suggest you take some time apart from each other before this gets any more out of hand. Dom and Gino, you’re on security. CJ has been manning it alone long enough. Sophie, I want to see you in my office right now.’

I wasn’t sure whether I should have been grateful or terrified, but Valentino was plucking me out of this impending shitstorm, and I didn’t have any choice but to follow him. He was the boss after all, and the last person I wanted to piss off. I traced a wide arc around the others, trying to catch Luca’s eye, to say something, anything, to make him feel like he wasn’t in this alone.

He glanced at me, his face awash with confusion – with regret. I did the only thing I could think to do without stirring up more dissension. I smiled at him; it was shy, tentative almost, but I watched him exhale heavily, a kernel of relief caught in his expression.

I shut the door to Valentino’s office behind us. Instead of rounding the desk and leaning across it, Valentino placed himself just opposite the leather armchair, and gestured for me to sit. It was almost like we were two old friends, about to have a catch-up. You know, if you disregarded the massive implosion and my starring role in it.