Twisted Hearts (The Camorra Chronicles 5)

I stepped back with a smirk. “Don’t you need to head home to prepare for your confession this Sunday?”

“You should consider confessing.”

“I don’t want to give the pastor a heart attack.”

Diego came to pick me up. He’d only dropped me off at the gym, claiming he had something to do. I suspected that something was Toni. I’d ask her later. He’d avoided me since I’d caught him with Toni yesterday, had spent our entire drive talking to Dad on the phone as if their conversation about the new opening hours of the Capri couldn’t wait until we were home.

Diego nodded a greeting at Savio who returned it. I used the chance to step away from him and grabbed my gym bag before I followed my brother outside without another look at Savio. “Anything I need to know?” Diego asked when we were in the car.

“No. Anything I need to know about Toni and you?”

His mouth tightened as he started the car and pulled on the street. “There’s no Antonia and me.”

“Really? It didn’t sound that way when she told me about you two.”

He slanted me a wary look. “You talked about me?”

“She’s my best friend, Diego. So, are you two dating?”

Diego made a small noise that could have been confirmation or denial, I couldn’t tell. When I didn’t stop staring, he sighed. “No, we’re not dating, Gemma, and we won’t.”

“But you took Toni’s virginity!”

Diego looked as if he considered jumping out of the driving car. I couldn’t take his comfort into consideration when Toni’s heart was on the line.

“She talked to you about that?” he growled.

“Of course, she did.”

“We’re just having fun, Gemma. Antonia hasn’t been brought up with our values. Her virginity doesn’t have the same importance in her life.”

“Are you serious?” I hissed. “That doesn’t mean it didn’t mean anything. My God, Diego, can you be any more of an asshole?”

“Don’t stick your nose in my business, especially my sex life.”

“I couldn’t care less about your sex life if it didn’t involve my best friend!” I paused. “And ditto, by the way, concerning my sex life with Savio.”

Diego jerked. After a glance at me, he relaxed. “You don’t have a sex life.”

“Yet,” I said, enjoying the tortured look on my brother’s face.

Savio didn’t try to initiate anything in the months that followed. No word about marriage either. He kept visiting Diego like he’d done in the past, but he’d returned to treating me with a distant respect and the occasional teasing. It wasn’t really what I’d hoped for. I’d thought he’d make an effort, not pull back entirely.

It was the beginning of April—Savio’s twenty-second birthday, and I baked a cake for him. Even if things between us were currently more distant, I wanted to surprise him with it. One of us had to make an effort, at least.

My phone rang when I was about to pull the cake out of the oven. Nonna frowned, still not happy with me having my own cell phone, but she removed the cake for me. I sent her a smile before I picked up.

“Hey Toni, what’s up?”

“Nothing.”

She didn’t sound like nothing. “Toni?”

Nonna watched me closely. Her feelings toward Toni hadn’t changed, and she didn’t even know about her and Diego. No one did, except for me.

I headed into the living room, away from Nonna’s watchful eyes. Mom was playing on the floor with Carlotta, who had been getting worse. She’d need a heart transplant soon, if we found a heart for her and if Dad got the money we needed for her treatment.

I touched Carlotta’s head in passing.

Toni sniffled and my insides tightened. She, unlike me, wasn’t a crier. “Diego broke things off today.”

I froze. Diego had refused to talk to me about Toni, and she had kept seeing him despite my veiled warning that he might not be serious about her. “What happened?”

“I don’t know. He didn’t say much. He didn’t have much time. Apparently, he’s helping Savio with his birthday party.”

“Party?” I echoed. I hadn’t been invited to a party. A suspicion wormed its way into my head.

“Yeah,” Toni said, already sounding more like herself. I wished I could stop crying this quickly. “I asked around a bit. It seems Savio is throwing a big party for friends and fellow Camorrista in a mansion he bought for that purpose. The house party of the year.”

Mom regarded me in concern, probably because my face showed my anger. I turned around. “I’m going to kick his ass.”

Toni huffed. “I bet Diego broke it off so he could have a blast at the party and fuck as many girls as he can.”

“When does the thing begin?”

“Around eight, I think. Why?”

“Because we’re going to crash a party tonight.”

Silence. “Are you an impostor?”

I choked on a laugh. “I mean it, Toni. Diego’s been an absolute ass to you, and Savio hasn’t exactly been a model fiancé. I’m so sick of it.”