Seeing me standing there picking up my coat, my brother turned to look at me.
"Bianca, where are you going?"
"Just the restroom."
Luca visibly relaxed.
My brother didn't notice a thing. He just waved me off.
"Always stalling at the worst time. Hurry back, we're cutting the cake soon."
The room's attention had already drifted back to Luca and Adriana, the golden couple. I smiled and slipped out the door.
The moment I locked myself inside the restroom, I couldn't hold it in anymore. Tears spilled down my face.
By the time I'd pulled myself together and made it back to the private room:
"Bianca, how does it take you that long in the bathroom?"
"We were starting to think you fell in."
Matteo teased me with a grin and pushed a plate toward me.
"Eat up. Strawberry cake, your favorite. I saved you a piece."
I looked at the slice of cake, and my eyes stung all over again.
Strawberries and cream, arranged in a delicate little pattern.
Every year on my birthday, Luca would order strawberry cake from the same pasticceria on Mulberry Street and deliver it himself to the gate of the compound.
Then, when my brother wasn't around, he'd steal a kiss on my forehead.
He used to say, "Once I name you at the table, I'm ordering you the biggest strawberry cake in the whole city."
But today wasn't my birthday.
It was Luca's.
This cake had been ordered for him.
"Thanks, Matteo." I took the plate and settled back into my corner seat.
The girl next to me leaned over, buzzing with gossip.
"Bianca, you missed it. After you left, Luca and Adriana drank like three more toasts together, arms linked and everything. The way they were looking at each other? Gave me actual chills."
"You think they're really getting back together?"
I bit into the cake. The strawberry was sour.
"Maybe."
"Weren't you always saying you had a crush on Luca? How are you not jealous right now?"
I froze for a second, unsure how to answer that.
Eight years ago.
Everyone thought I was just a puppy trailing after Luca wherever he went.
Even though he'd agreed to be with me only two months into my pursuit.
But the affair had stayed hidden from the very start. No one in either Family ever knew.
That one comment steered the whole conversation toward me.
Someone spoke up. "Bianca, you're twenty-seven this year, right? That's not exactly young. How come you still don't have anyone?"
"I mean, your brother's the Moretti heir. You've got the same blood. There's no way you're short on men lining up."
"Just don't end up like Luca over here, perfectly good capo and still supposedly unattached, haha..."
Every pair of eyes in the room landed on me.
Including Adriana's. She pressed her tongue once against the inside of her cheek, watching me with a look that was just a little too thoughtful.
My fingers drifted to the hollow at my throat. I held them there for a breath, then let my hand drop.
I shook my head with a smile. "I'm not single."
Luca's head snapped up. His brow furrowed, and he shot me a look.
A warning.
Telling me not to say anything stupid.
On my way to the restroom earlier, I had already called my Hart's personal line and told him yes. I'd agreed to the alliance marriage.
He and the Valente patriarch had been arranging introductions for weeks now.
That was why I'd been pressing Luca so hard lately.
I'd wanted him to acknowledge me before the Family, but every answer I got was impatient.
"Just wait a little longer. The timing isn't right."
But I didn't want to wait anymore.
If waiting to the very end still wouldn't give me what I wanted, then it didn't matter who I married.
"Oh? You're not single?"
Someone glanced curiously at my brother, then back at me.
"Little Bianca, you're the youngest one here. Don't go pulling our legs now."
"I bet she's bluffing. If she really had someone, why not bring him along so we can check him out?"
