I had been sitting on the lounge couch for the past half an hour, staring at the painting above the fireplace. I wasn't so sure why I was so immersed in it but something told me it had everything to do with the encounter I had this morning.
Honestly, what a way to begin my day.
By ruining it completely.
I kept staring at how perfect he looked. My inner demons were mocking me over and over for this. Why was I so interested in him all of a sudden? I went two years without a proper thought of him and then he barges into my life unannounced and as a result left a permanent mark.
Pathetic.
"Hey," I flinched at the sound of a soft female voice. I looked at the entrance and smiled once I saw Verona. She was one of the younger people from this family I still hadn't had the chance to have a proper conversation with. As well as haven't seen her all throughout the days I'd already spent here. "I hope you don't mind if I join you," she spoke with a rich Italian accent.
"Not at all," she smiled as she made her way to the opposite couch and sat down. She had hair almost as dark as black that was tied in a low ponytail. Her face resembled Vittoria's yet she had thicker eyebrows which looked very similar to the man's that sat next to her in the portrait. She seemed to be similar in height to me and was truly beautiful. All of these people seemed to have won with their genes.
Verona wore a navy-blue cashmere sweater with high-waisted, loose, black pants and black flats. A golden charm necklace was wrapped around her neck with what looked like a small golden rose.
"I'm Verona. We haven't properly met yet," I smiled.
"A pleasure to meet you. I'm Brielle."
"Oh, I know you." I was slightly taken aback. "You've made quite the impression among the family members."
"Not something I'm proud of," she chuckled.
"Oh, please be. It's the small bit of entertainment I've been waiting for in here," she leaned back on the couch as she gazed at the many potted green plans behind me and in front of the windows. "It gets dull here after a while," she said.
"I can imagine. Being confined to such an estate and then all of the danger that comes with whatever your family is involved with-"
"You know all of that?"
"Was I not supposed to?" She met my eyes, struggling to find the words to answer me.
"I... I'm assuming Nicolas told you," I opened my mouth to answer but she continued. "The only reason why I'm slightly surprised is that Kassian told all of us to keep the businesses away from his fiancé. And since you are only related to the bride-to-be, you are the last person any of us would've wanted to reveal anything to. Not that I have anything against you," I swallowed hard before smiling.
"It's fine. I guess I've heard some things from your cousin then. Have you met Ada yet?" She nodded.
"Just this morning. We're having early brunch with just the ladies of the family and I was sent to invite you," not going to lie, I was very pleased with the invitation. Any moment that I could spend away from him was priceless. "But it is not happening for another half an hour, so I'm taking the time to get to know you."
"Alright."
"So, I'll just cut the crap."
Here we go.
"Do you or do you not meet Nico way before arriving in Italy?" I smiled.
"I appreciate your hospitality and kindness but I don't feel like this is relevant."
"It is," she stated, sounding serious which made me frown. "I don't like the girl he's supposed to marry."
"Laura?" She nodded.
"I don't think anyone likes her and especially Nicolas. You seem like a good fit," I started laughing but it wore off when I saw that her face had stayed completely serious.
"You're not serious, Verona. I'm not interested in him and in fact, I have a boyfriend," she seemed slightly disappointed yet didn't bother to react in any other way.
"Oh." was all she said. "I'm sorry," she shook her head. "I got carried away. No one asked me to be a matchmaker and I should've known better than-"
"It's fine," I said, interrupting her. "Honestly, I have bigger problems to deal with than some people assuming I'm about to marry a don," she stilled for a second before smiling.
"I forgot you knew." I smiled. "But seriously, don't be too tough on him. Even if he's that big of a pain in the ass," I was about to comment on that when Ada walked into the room, looking extra livelier than ever. Her long hair was straightened as usual and she wore a beige sweater with dark jeans.
"Hey you two," she said as she made her way towards me and hugged me as she sat down.
"How have you been holding up?" I asked, glancing at her gentle face and noticing the unusual happiness surrounding her eyes. It made me very content to know my sister was happy.
"All good. I'm swamped with all of the wedding preparations, which is making me exhausted." Being the good sister I was, I knew I'd have to take matters into my own hands and make sure she was happy and taken care of. The stress had no place in her head right now even with the wedding date looming over her.
I glanced at Verona who sat calmly in front of us with a smile on her face. "Do you know any good spots to have some fun?" A devious smile touched her lips.
"I know every spot there is. Oh, Vic is going to be happy about this." I chuckled.
"Like a girl's night?" Ada asked me. I looked back over at her and nodded.
"All of us. Amelia, Victoria, Verona, Olessia and you and me," I detailed. "It won't be your bachelorette party just yet but you need some fun," she smiled and looked over at Verona.
"Who is in charge of the wedding festivities?" She wondered, making me smile.
"Me," I said. "And Olessia," I looked at Verona in front of me. "Vittoria and you could help us out if you want," she smiled and nodded.
"Would be my pleasure."
———
Sitting in the greenhouse with small biscuits, sandwiches, tea and bottles of champagne was an experience of a lifetime. It felt like I was from some kind of posh movie with all of this greenery surrounding me.
I couldn't stop looking around and admiring the beautiful flowers and plants. It was, however, difficult to keep myself from remembering Nico and me in this room, but having so many people in the room helped with that. I wouldn't want Aurora to know I was lusting over her gorgeous son.
"Have the two of you thought of a possible place for the honeymoon?" I heard Aurora ask. The table was big and round and fit all of us comfortably. It was decorated with dark red roses which I assumed were the ones that were grown in this very greenhouse. I could just imagine the beauty of the ones growing outside, yet it was still too cold to see any proper blossoms.
Aurora happened to sit right across from me with her mother-in-law Caterina to her left and my sister to her right. Olessia sat to my right and beside Verona while Vittoria sat on my other side beside Amelia.
There were four other women around the table that happened to be some kind of important members of the family. One was sitting on the other side of my sister and looked similar to Aurora. She had blond hair that was cut so short and looked rather older than Aurora. I assumed she had to be a sister of hers. Another woman was Giulia, Verona's mother who she introduced me to once we walked into the greenhouse.
The other two were much younger. I'd say somewhere near my age or even younger. They didn't seem to talk to anyone else other than between themselves and only bothered to look at someone else when the questions were directed at me.
I was getting the sense that they probably didn't like me. For what? I had no clue. But when Laura appeared and made them squeal in such a high-pitched voice, I had what I needed to understand why they were so against me. Laura already saw me as a "potential" threat that was walking around her fiancé and probably turned her friends against me. Couldn't judge her very much on that but it was annoying.
"We haven't thought about it much. Although I'd love to go somewhere warm. Maybe the Maldives," I took a sip of my peppermint tea.
"Well, I'm sure that wherever you go, you'll have the best time away from this chaos of a family," Caterina said with a rich Italian accent.
"Grandmother, why do you have to be so cruel?" Vittoria asked annoyingly from my side before taking a bite of a biscuit.
"Your brother is causing all of this and you know it," she turned her eyes onto Laura and smiled, making more wrinkles appear on her face that before looked rather fueled with Botox. The next words she said were in Italian and were impossible for me to understand but before I had to ask, Vittoria whispered to me the translation.
"She asked her how are the wedding preparations," I smiled appreciatively at her before she continued. "Grandma actually likes the girl and wants Nico to marry her. Why, I have no clue but I guess Laura has charmed her in some way."
"It's going well," Laura said in English probably to see how the rest of us would react. I slowly sipped on my tea, trying to look completely uninterested in the conversation. "We spent the night yesterday talking about what we'd like to see," she took a sip of her champagne. "It took all night," she added, making me frown.
Nicolas looked very tired this morning but knowing him, I highly doubted he was even remotely entertained by the idea of spending the night with the fiancé he seemed to hate more than anything. Well, not more than his father apparently, but that's a story for another time.
"She's bluffing," Vittoria whispered, catching Olessia's attention. "He might have looked tired but he's been having nightmares ever since he was fifteen," that made my heart sting. "It's the reason he sleeps only three to four hours every night if lucky. If not, he wakes up drenched in sweat and comes close to killing himself," I looked at her, my lips parting. "You have no idea how many times I've seen him look the way he did this morning."
I knew Nico had problems sleeping owing to the night we had two years ago when he did mention it vaguely, but I didn't think it was this bad.
"Has he tried seeking help?" Olessia whispered. Vittoria just shook her head.
"You know him well enough to know he doesn't open up to anyone. Even me," she grabbed a glass of champagne and drank it then looked around for the server for a refill.
"Brielle, how are you finding this country?" Aurora asked me, catching me slightly off guard. Now everyone's eyes were on me and especially Caterina's, which happened to terrify me.
"It's beautiful. And it would be an understatement to say that your estate is too because the word would do an injustice," she smiled.
"What do you do for a living?" The grandmother asked me, seeming too annoyed even to have to ask such things.
"Currently I'm a student but I'm planning to work at the Matrix after I'm finished. I've already passed the interview with the committee," I explained, making Ada grin from the corner of my eye. I loved how proud she was of me.
"So, you know Nathanial?" I nodded.
"I practically grew up with him," she seemed to be caught off guard. "Ada and I were taken under Natalia's wing after our parents passed. Nate is like a brother to us," it was strange to not have Natalia around right now since Nate decided to take her on a little trip.
"So, you've been given the position because of Nate?" I couldn't hide my surprise she asked me this question. I should've expected it but hoped anyone would refrain from acting upon it.
"No. I earned the position. I was assessed by other people, none of whom were Nathanial. And I had to go through the typical waiting list just like every other candidate. I had no special treatment and thus achieved it all myself," I explained.
"Interesting." It was the last word she said to me before she looked at Laura and engaged in some topic with her. But the latter was not done with assessing me.
"So, it means you've known Nicolas, right?" Laura asked, taking a cupcake with pastel green frosting. Sighing, I answered.
"No. Neither did Nate ever introduce me to him."
"But you did meet some time ago."
"About a month ago when he visited New York with Kassian to meet Ada and me," I bit back. I was quite proud of myself for the ability to fire back some remarks even if they were complete lies. But at least I was able to cover up the truth.
"Interesting."
"What's so interesting?" Caterina asked as she took a biscuit in her hand.
"There have been rumours that they've known each other for the past two years yet-"
"Rumours are just that. They're rumours. They're based on assumptions, not facts. And I think it is highly disrespectful of you to start making assumptions and worse than that rumours about my personal life. It has nothing to do with you, Laura." I interrupted her. The table went quiet as Caterina stared wide-eyed at me. Laura was basically speechless and everyone else was just enjoying the show.
"At least she's interesting, unlike you," Vittoria mumbled, humouring me. I heard Amelia chuckle as Caterina's brows rose.
"What did you just say?" Laura's voice got louder.
"I said at least Brielle is interesting. You're just some gold-digging bitch who never has anything good to say and uses Nicolas for your own perks. If there's even a slight chance that he's into her, I'd take her any day of the week," I glanced at Aurora, now sitting with her mouth open. Ada was uncomfortably looking at me as the entire atmosphere in the glass room shifted once again.
"Vittoria, that is highly disrespectful," Caterina said, making Vic laugh.
"Come on, grandmother. I have said what everyone thinks. It's just that the truth might be a little hard to swallow sometimes," she said, making me smile. "And besides," she stood up from her chair. "This shouldn't be about Nicolas and whoever he sleeps with. I want to celebrate Kassian and Ada's relationship not get dragged into some drama-fest because of an immature bitch that can't take no for an answer." Now my mouth was open as Vittoria stormed out of the room, leaving us in complete silence.
"Now I know that that plan to go party is not anoption," Olessia whispered to me. "It's a necessity," I slowly nodded, stilleyeing the rest of the table.