Pretty Girl

Chapter 10

Hi everybody..Well, its been a minute, that is for sure. First off, I just need to say how sorry I am that I have been gone for so long. I have been going through something I never thought I would have to go through and its created and immense amount of trauma for me. Yes, for awhile I was able to write for you guys but lately, new things have come up creating another brick wall of a writing block for me. Things have been horrible. But writing is my passion and I need to start again. Move past the fear. So with that being said, here is the 10th chapter of Pretty Girl. I am almost done with Chapter 11. I cannot wait for you guys to see what is to come. Just know that you are important, you matter. I love you. 

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CHAPTER 10:  The dress Sydney wore was a black lace V-neck wrap dress, falling to her knees. It had a long black silk ribbon sash that wrapped around her waist. 

Her hair was pulled up in a chignon at the nape of her neck, a black ribbon tied around to hold it in place. She wore a simple pearl necklace that emphasized her long neck and collarbone. Simple makeup made her features stand out, light powder to show the porcelain ivory of her skin, blush, nude lipstick and a black mascara that made her eyelashes look long and feathery. 

The pearl necklace she wore belonged to her mother, something she never wanted to take for granted. 

She reached up to run her fingers along them just as the bathroom door swung open after a knock. Giovanni stuck his head in, asking if she was ready. She looked back into the mirror nodding.

 At her sad expression, he sighed and walked in. "Are you okay?" he asked quietly, a hand on her shoulder, his gaze fatherly.

 She looked at him in the reflection, throat tight as she forced herself to nod and then respond in a soft, "I'm fine." 

It took everything in her to push out the lie.

 Giovanni's jaw tightened. "Can I please tell Alice why you were gone...why you left? She deserves to know that you didn't just up and leave on a whim."

 Sydney spun around to face him—she was grateful rather than irritated at the sparking flare of anger in her chest. It was better than the bone deep sadness and heartbreak that hadn't left her since the news of her mother and stepfathers passing broke. "I would rather have her think of me as the biggest bitch on the face of the planet as long as it keeps her SAFE. I'd rather have all of them—Natalie, Hazel, Layla, Ethan, Julian, Antony and Marcello. I'm pissed off enough as it is that you have to know and that I had to come back. I want them all to be safe, even if it means that...they hate me." 

The words out-loud hurt her more than she thought it would. But it was true. She wanted them to be safe at all costs.

 Giovanni stepped forward. "I know you want everyone to think that you are invincible, but you aren't, Syd. You bleed. You break. Do you know how upset they would be if you just kept something so big from them? Even with as much as you want to think it, Sydney, regardless, you HAVE to tell them some time and some time SOON. Wouldn't you rather them be safe and knowing rather than not know at all and be oblivious to the danger that's out there?"

 Sydney felt her lips thin as she looked down and away.

 He was right.

 She knew it, but she didn't have it in her to tell them right now.

 Giovanni's eyes grew sympathetic as he leaned down to engulf her in a hug that was more familiar to her than most things in life. He had always been the dad she had never had. Releasing her, he turned to go open the door when Natalie came in with a sad heartbroken look on her face as she reached out to hug Sydney.