Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 98583 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98583 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
“Can’t wait to get a pair,” I say, smiling politely while imagining how easy it would be to jab a knife into her eye.
“You’ll look so good with them.” She slips her arm into mine. “Come on, why don’t we go try them together?” Before I can stop it, Marcy drags me to a display table nearby and starts picking up the various shapes and colors. “You’d look so good in these,” she says, handing me the ugliest pair I’ve ever seen in my life. “I mean, you’ve got the big cheeks for it, you know? Really round? God, Lucy, I’m so amazed at how natural you are. Like, all those flaws. You don’t even mind it. Good for you.”
I boil inside. This is high school shit all over again. When my family fell on hard times and my parents blew their lives up into smithereens thanks to their drug addictions, all the popular and wealthy girls turned on me. I thought Marcy was a friend, at least until she stopped returning calls and texts and acted like we’d never seen each other before at school. I hated her then. And I still do now.
“No thanks.” I shove them back at her. “I think you need the biggest pair you can find, actually. Better to hide all your bullshit.”
Her eyes widen. “Excuse me?”
“We both know you’re the fakest bitch I’ve ever met in my life. Don’t you remember the way you treated me back in the day?”
“That was high school.” She has the nerve to look shocked. “Don’t tell me you’re still holding on to a grudge?”
“No, I’m not. I’m just remembering what kind of person you are. And it’s clear you haven’t grown up yet.” I toss the sunglasses onto the table. “Great seeing you again, Marcy. I hope your dickhead husband finally has a heart attack and you lose all your money in the stock market.”
She gapes as I turn away. And run right into Adriano.
He’s grinning like an absolute maniac. Before I know what to do, he sweeps me into his arms and plants a massive kiss right on my stunned mouth. Marcy gets a little show before she storms off in a huff.
“Good for you,” he murmurs, pulling me away from her.
“You’re not mad? I’m making enemies. Her husband is kind of a big deal.”
“Fuck that girl. Richard DeLuca’s nothing to me. I don’t care how well connected he might be. I’ll burn a thousand bridges if it makes you happy.” He hugs me against him as we move deeper into the large banquet room. There must be a few hundred people here, and I feel incredibly overwhelmed all of a sudden. I’m flushed and my heart’s racing. I can’t believe I just told Marcy off back there.
But I’m happy that Adriano’s proud of me.
“I need to hit the bathroom. Do you mind mingling alone a little bit more?”
“Just don’t be long,” he says as another group of men beckons him over. “God, fucking rich leeches.” He kisses my cheek. “Present company excluded.”
“Don’t worry, darling. You’re the rich one in our relationship.” I extract myself from his arm and hurry off down the hall.
I lock myself in a bathroom stall and lean against the wall. There’s nobody else in here, and for a moment I can breathe. I must’ve lost my mind back there. I never talk to people that way. Grandmother basically burned the idea of being meek and polite at all times directly onto my brain folds. But it’s like now I’m married to vicious Adriano, and a little bit of that strength is wearing off on me.
And I like it.
My hands shake as I open my clutch. The plastic stick is at the bottom. I’m feeling strong and running on adrenaline, and I want to ride this wave while I can.
I rip open the pregnancy test and stare at it.
This isn’t the right venue. I should do this at home, in privacy, where I can react properly. But I’ve been putting this off for a couple of weeks now, and it’s way past the point where I find out the truth.
There have been signs. Some morning sickness. A missed period. My breasts are tender and swollen. Little things, but hard to ignore. I keep thinking there’s no way, there’s no way, but of course it happened.
Adriano’s been coming inside of me without protection from the moment we met.
The guy’s been trying to breed me. The freaking psycho.
With a deep breath, I sit down and pee on the stupid stick. It’s not easy and not ideal, but once it’s done, I clean it off, put the cap on, and wait.
The bathroom door opens. Multiple women come inside and go straight to the mirror. I hear them, my heart racing when I recognize Marcy’s voice. “Seriously, the stupid little peasant bitch married that Italian mobster scumbag and now she thinks she’s all tough. I wanted to smack that look off her dumb face. God, what a pathetic loser.”