I took in a slow and steady breath, the hit of the asthma inhaler I’d just taken aiding my efforts. When I woke up to find Angelo gone, I assumed he’d done just what expected.

To fuck and run.

I wasn’t supposed to be disappointed. I tried telling myself maybe it was for the best if things between us didn’t go beyond one night of passion. Sophia’s warning rung in my head before I even opened my eyes. He was bad news for me, she claimed. Not the guy I needed to get involved with.

Still, I had hope. Not just because I’d been without the touch of a man for two years and had started to get addled in the head thanks to such a lengthy dry spell.

There was something else between me and Angelo. Something that went deeper than just physical lust.

Was I crazy to believe in that?

Maybe. Or maybe I was just suicidal. A man like Angelo had hordes of women swarming around him. He also had a past, some kind of connection to Sophia that she hadn’t really explained to me.

I figured things might be more complicated than I actually knew about, but I never could have imagined the level the words wafting from the living room hinted at.

After realizing Angelo wasn’t next to me in bed, the talking grabbed my attention. My chest clenched. Someone was angry. Really angry.

I choked in a breath. After a beat, I sat up straighter, looking for my inhaler. After finding it in my purse on the floor and taking a hit, I softly rolled out of bed and pulled on my bathrobe.

“I won’t disrespect you in your home,” came Angelo’s voice through my cracked bedroom door. “But Paige is an adult. She deserves the truth.”

I tip toed up to the sliver of space at the door and peeked out. The couch and Angelo’s back were visible, but not much else.

“If I were you I’d take the back stairs,” countered my twin sister. “Moretti’s guys are out front. Where is she?”

Moretti? His guys?

What the heck was Sophia even talking about?

Unable to take any more of the secrets, I pushed the door open the rest of the way and stormed into the living room. Sophia and Angelo both stood at the open front door, the former wearing her clothes and makeup from the night before and the latter looking even more delicious than he had when we fell into bed hours ago. His dark hair was ruffled, betraying our romp in the sheets. I swallowed hard and tried not to let Angelo’s appearance get to me.

“I’m right here,” I yelled, the words coming out a bit higher than intended. “What do I deserve to know, who is Moretti, and why the hell do you have a problem with Angelo, Soph?”

“Paige,” Angelo began.

I waved my hand dismissively at him, half of my irritation due to it seeming he truly was halfway through sneaking out my front door. I hadn’t expected him to stay and cook breakfast with me, but a simple goodbye would have been nice. Was he only still here because of running into Sophia? Likely.

“Soph,” I demanded, crossing my arms. The inhaler still in my hand pressed into my side, oddly comforting me. I probably wouldn’t need another hit, but at least the inhaler was there for me whenever I needed it. Unlike some actual people.

Sophia’s jaw tightened. “There’s more going on than you… know.”

“Obviously.”

My eyes flicked over at Angelo. Guilt washed over his face. His lips tightened.

“You should go Angelo,” Sophia told him, the cutting tone she’d been directing at him not letting up.

I nodded, doing everything I could to keep myself together. The combination of the hurt over being kept in the dark, my physical lust for Angelo, my disappointment over him trying to duck out, and my consequential effort to not be disappointed, had me reeling.

And forget the asthma inhaler. I felt so sick to my stomach I was in danger of throwing up.

“You should go,” I agreed, hollowly echoing Sophia’s words.

I wanted him to stay, but not if he didn’t want to. I wasn’t that pathetic.

Angelo gave one terse nod before meeting my eyes. “I’ll be around if you need me.”

His gaze lingered on me, giving me the impression he didn’t want to go. Which was strange, considering it looked like that had been his plan just a few minutes before.

I didn’t respond, instead just watched him turn and shut the door behind him.

Sophia took a few steps towards me. “Paige, I just want you to know that I’m trying to protect you.”

I blinked fast, my vision swimming. I needed to sit down, get my bearings, but I also felt frozen to the spot. Something big was coming, and I didn’t know just what it was, but it was about to hit and take me under tidal wave style.

“Tell me,” I commanded, in a way I never talked to her. “Who is this Moretti guy?”

Sophia’s shoulders dropped. “He’s head of a big mafia family.”

“And? What exactly does he have to do with us?”

“And… He’s betrothed to you… You’ve been promised to him,” she feebly added, like the first part of the statement hadn’t been explanation enough. The way she averted my eyes said a hell of a lot.

Betrothed. Promised. The words rung in my head. Antiquated words no one used any more.

Sophia looked back up at me. “His full name is Alfredo ‘The Pistol’ Moretti. And you’ve been promised to him for years.”

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. There were too many questions and nowhere seemed like the right place to begin.

Sophia’s words came out faster, spinning all around me, their whirling speed making me dizzy. “I don’t know how much you remember, Paige, about the past. About before Mom and Dad died. I’ve been trying to protect you. I’ve been trying to keep you safe. This engagement, it’s to keep the peace.”

I finally found some breath. “Keep the peace between who?”

Sophia gulped. “Between the Moretti’s and the Salvatore’s.”

My heart contracted. “Angelo’s family?”

“Yes,” she softly whispered.

My head pathetically shook from side to side. “But why me? How can I be a part of this? And why do you know about all of this?”

“Dad worked for the Salvatore’s, Paige. He was kind of their personal tailor. We practically grew up with his kids. You just don’t remember it.”

“Are you saying Dad knew about this?”

She shook her head. “No. I don’t think so. He wouldn’t have agreed.”

I tried to speak but choked instead. A lifelong engagement. Yet another thing I didn’t remember, just like people and events from years ago.

“You should have told me all of this!” I yelled. “You say that you want to protect me. Why the Hell didn’t you tell me about this?” My fingers curled, even the ones around my inhaler digging into my palms. “And why me, huh?! Why not you?”

“I-I don’t know,” she garbled, the flustered person standing in front of me a far cry from the cool, collected, and confident girl I’d known for the last nearly twenty-five years. “I was going to tell you soon.”

“What, on the way to the chapel?”

Her nostrils flared and she reached up to grab at her short red hair in frustration. “It’s not that simple, Paige. It’s not that simple with you! You can’t handle all of this information at one time. You’re...”

“What? Delicate? Is that what you were planning to say?”

Her lips twisted.

I scoffed. “Just how much do you hide from me?”

“I already told you I did it to protect you.”

Tears filled my eyes. I blinked them away. I wanted to feel empathetic for her, but in that moment, was just too pissed.

“You’re supposed to meet Moretti in three weeks,” she said. “Around our birthday.”

“How does this guy even know he wants me? He’s never met me.”

Sophia bit her lip. “Maybe he has. For all we know he’s been watching you for years.”

“His guys. You told Angelo Moretti’s guys are outside.”

“I see them sometimes… around. I recognize them.”

“Jesus,” I said. “This is sick. And what? You just weren’t going to do anything about any of this?”

“There’s nothing I can do. It’s one of those deals that’s made between all of the families. There’s nothing that you or I can do.”

“So, that’s it? You’re going to let me ride off into the Italian sunset and start a life with some mafia stranger?”

Sophia just shook her head. She didn’t have all the answers.

I spun around. “I have to get out of here.”

“Paige!”

I slammed my bedroom door, the act of shutting her out the first satisfying thing that had happened that morning. Frantic, I pulled my cell phone from its charger, nearly yanking the other end out of the wall in the process.

Pick me up, I texted Angelo.

Not waiting for a response, I tossed my bathrobe on the floor and yanked open a dresser drawer.

Jeans. White t-shirt. I pulled them on so fast they sat crooked on my limbs. My long dark brown hair slipped underneath the back of the shirt collar, pressing against the space where a bra strap would go if I bothered to put a bra on.

I yanked on mismatched socks and some sneakers, and dropped onto my hands and knees to retrieve the duffel bag from under the bed.

Betrothed.

Seriously?

Who the hell even talked like that anymore?

I didn’t know just how long the arrangement had been in place, but there had to have been thousands of times when Sophia could have clued me in to it. And yet she hadn’t. She let me go on, thinking I was free to live my life and marry whoever I wanted.

Protection. I scoffed as I jammed a handful of underwear into my bag. A life of arranged marriage was just about one of the worse ones I could imagine, ranking only above sex slavery and pre-labor laws factory work. It didn’t seem Sophia had been protecting me at all. It seemed more like she’d been letting me blindly head towards my own dismal destiny.

A couple hot tears ran down my cheeks. She was my best friend. My only family.

Without her to trust and count on, what did I have left?

Finished packing, I zipped up the duffel bag and checked my phone.

I’m downstairs, Angelo’s text said. Right out front.

I pocketed the phone and swung the bag over my shoulder. On second thought, I grabbed a bra from my underwear drawer and took a moment to put it on. No use in letting the entire city see my nipples.

The living room sat empty, my twin nowhere in sight. Either she’d retreated to her bedroom to feel sorry for herself or fled the apartment. I didn’t care.

Snatching my keys from the rack, I flew out of the living room and took the stairs two at a time. I didn’t know where I was going, but I knew it would be a long time before I came back to what I used to think was home.