CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE: WINTER
“Youlooklikeyou’ve seen a ghost.” Amarie peers at me closely, nearly pressing her face right up against mine.
I flinch away from her.
For once, I didn’t want to come to work. Like I don’t even see the fucking point anymore. Giovanni’s little charade is over. I was never here to truly be his mistress. Everyone has to know that in the midst of this was Sheffield.
I used to get excited about being able to come to work and get out of my room, but when a guard I’d never met before had come to my room to tell me to get ready for work, I’d nearly cried. Instead, I’d pulled my covers over my head and tried to act like I didn’t hear the man.
He hadn’t been entertained.
He’d let out a long sigh and muttered something in Italian before I heard him on the phone.
She put the cover on her head and is trying to ignore me. I was told I can not harm her, so what am I supposed to do?
A second later the covers were roughly snatched away from my head. I’d glared up at the big brute with blonde hair.
What fucking Italian has blonde hair?
And actually makes it look good?
I hadn’t been given a long time to look at his odd, fair features before a phone had been roughly forced to my ear.
“Winter?” Vito’s voice rumbled over the phone.
I hadn’t seen him since I’d watched him kill his cousin.
I couldn’t and didn’t want to form words, only letting out a grunt to acknowledge that I was on the phone.
“Winter,” he’d said a little softer. “You’re going to go to work tonight, Amadeo is going to be your guard for the night. He’s one of best trained soldiers and he’d lay down his life in a second to keep you safe… but if you don’t get out of the bed and get ready, he’ll have no choice but to report it back to Giovanni. I think we both know how that will go down.”
We did.
And for a while, I’d considered tempting fate, considered risking my life and staying in bed, because fuck if those suicidal thoughts hadn’t tipped back in. I didn’t even know what I was fighting to live for anymore. Hell, Richard was probably already dead and that’s why I’d come here in the first place.
But I’d dragged myself out of bed, aiming a glare at Amadeo the entire time.
He’d been unfazed, even when I snapped at him that he needed to get out of my room so that I could get dressed.
Like a zombie, I’d pulled the silky blue dress over my body and slipped my feet into black heels. If I cared enough, I’d bet that the uncomfortable ass outfit had been picked out by Giovanni. I’d almost tripped on the stairs in the heels and Amadeo had watched me as if I was the most pathetic thing he’d ever seen.
I don’t know where they’ve been hiding this little bundle of sunshine for months, but I wish they’d put him back in his hiding spot.
I’m already ready to claw his eyes out and if he rolls said eyes at me again, I just may do it.
“Helloooo,” Amarie draws out, waving her hands in my face. “Earth to Winter.” She snaps her fingers at me this time and I jump slightly.
Her eyes narrow.
“What the fuck happened to you? I’ve seen corpses look better.”
I rub my throat, the back of my neck tingling. “I was drowned, shot at, watched Maximo nearly kill Enzo, and then Vito cut his cousins through in front of me as a warning not to step out of line again.” The words spill from my mouth and frankly I don’t care who else hears them.
Amarie’s face doesn’t show a lick of surprise, instead she seems to look thoughtful. “Drowned? You can’t swim?”
Of course that’s what she wants to focus on right now.
“No, I can’t fucking swim,” I grit out. My hands clench against one of the stools by the bar and I have to take a deep breath.