Kiss de La Notte - Book III (Mafia Romance)

Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Bitter Pill to Swallow

BONJOUR! Oh, wrong book. CIAO!!!!!!

HOW'S EVERYONE DOING? WHAT'S NEW? ANY SONG SUGGESTIONS FOR THIS CHAPTER?????

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Disclaimer: There is very brief violence in this chapter that may be triggering.

            I submitted my online exam and clicked off, my thumb anxiously moving Lucius' ring back and forth along the chain around my throat.

The weekend was here. College was out of the way for now, and the night I'd dreaded all week was finally here. If my encounter with Lucius had done anything good, it'd successfully distracted me for some time, but what was about to happen was inevitable.

I looked back at the cocktail dress in a dry cleaner back hanging from my closet door of my shoulder. The dress I would be wearing tonight. I unwrapped two more puntini fruitti assortiti candies, aka my pr- and post-exam special treat, and stuffed them into my mouth to suck on, before arranging everything perfectly organized on my desk.

There was a knock on my door.

"One second." I shuffled to the door and unlocked it, to find Gemma standing with a mug in her hand. "Hey. What's up?"

"Done with your exam?"

"Yep, just finished." I held the door open wider and let her in, chewing on my lip.

"I made you some hot cocoa. They had those little Christmas marshmallows you like."

Gemma folded her arms over her chest. "How was the test?"

"I think I did okay, it was crazy hard though." The highest grade I'd gotten was probably a C, which was devastating to think about. I was an A student, and my last two quizzes hadn't been up to par with that.

Gemma hung around like she wanted to say something more, and I realized she had come in here for another reason other than bringing me hot cocoa. "Is something the matter with Mia?"

"What? Oh, no, Mia's doing great. She's close friends now with Lucius' niece, Alice. They play on her Nintendo switch all the time." She waggled a finger. "But only after all her schoolwork is done."

I laughed. "Aw, I'm glad. They're like twins..." I immediately had a trail of negative thoughts, how once this was all over Mia probably wouldn't have her new best friend anymore. And how I didn't have as strong as a relationship with my sister as I used to.

Gemma sat down on my bed, looking around my room like she didn't know what to say, before turning back to me. "Are you okay?"'

I sat up a little. "Yeah, why?"

"I noticed you've been very quiet this week. I figured I'd ask."

"No, I'm totally good." I plopped down on my bed, squeezing my stuffed duck to my chest. "I've just been really stressed, and you know with all this studying. I can't stop thinking ahead with the two classes I'm taking during winter break..."

Gemma nodded as I spoke, but I could tell her mind was elsewhere. "Your father mentioned your mom called?"

I tried to act as nonchalant as possible, but she'd caught me off guard. "She wants to be involved in the wedding. Dad said something about her coming back to America."

By Gemma's shocked expression, my father hadn't mentioned any of that to her. "Is she...coming here? To the house?"

"At this point, I have no idea," I told her. "I don't even know why my father still takes her calls. Doesn't he see that she's manipulative and trying to have the best of both worlds? It's going to hurt Mia."