“You look awful,” I say with a disarming smile.
“Yeah, well...” she says, trailing off. As she slumps into the chair across from me, she seems kind of out of it.
“Hey, are you okay?” I ask. She looks a little green around the edges and her hair and skin are dull.
“I feel better today, but Friday... I spent yesterday recovering. I had a little too much to drink trying to forget.”
“Why's that?”
She shudders a little, as if she doesn't want to remember the details. “I got a call from a photographer, night before last. Some girl got sick and had to cancel on him, so he was desperate. The amount he offered was more than I usually get for a modeling gig, so I took it.”
“Doesn't sound so bad,” I say. Sara often did modeling work not through her agency. It was an easy way to get some extra money on free nights.
She laughs, but it's a hollow laugh. “Not yet. I thought the extra money was just because it was last minute. It was an escort job. And not the willing kind.”
“Are you okay?” I ask, worried.
“I called Ethan when things got rough. He rescued me.” She wraps her arms around herself. “He was the only person I could think of.”
“What part of town where you in?” I ask, thinking of my family business. We don't condone this kind of thing.
“North. On the edge of Savio territory. That's why I thought I was safe.” Sara sniffles.
North is Russo territory.
This isn't good for our two families. We are trying to make an alliance, but I won't join with people who force women into sex.
“I'll get to the bottom of this,” I tell Sara.
Sara looks at me with big, scared eyes. The Russos let this happen. I've been thinking all this time of just the normal repercussions of marriage. I haven't stop to consider the political ramifications. There are things that need to be discussed.
If this is business as usual, then I don't know if I can marry him.
“Let's get some food in you,” I say. I know I think better on a full stomach.
Sara nods. We both stare at our menus, not really looking at the food options. I need to find out exactly what the Russos are doing before I sign on the dotted line.
My mind is going a million miles per minute. I can't seem to focus for more than a couple of seconds on anything. Too much anger. Too much anxiety. Too much responsibility.
I sit down at the piano and start to play. As I begin to play the song, I think of how great it sounds. Stick with the plan, the voice in my head says, and everything will turn out just fine.
Then I think of how much better it sounded when Dante was sitting there in the piano bar, playing just a few notes that intersected with mine. I think of when we made love, how our bodies seemed to play off of one another to make beautiful music.
It doesn't match with Sara's experience.
For now, I decide to just wait. When I see him again, I can decide what my feelings actually are. I don't have to decide right this second. I can just live in the moment for a little while and see where things take me. I'll see him soon enough. I'm just meeting him tomorrow. It's not like the wedding is planned yet.
When my intercom buzzes, I think about not answering it, but only for a moment. Almost no one knows where I live. It's probably just a lost visitor for someone else. I sigh and press the button.
“Hello?”
“Vesper.”
Dante's voice sends warm shivers down my spine. I'm suddenly giddy at seeing him again. It's at complete odds with what I was just feeling, but I don't care. “Come up.”
I buzz him in, and find myself nervous the entire time that he's on his way up.
He shows up at my door looking like a rebel without a cause. Leather jacket, sexy jeans, and a windblown look to his hair that screams that he just doesn't care.