The applause that followed was thunderous. I stood in the middle of it, unable to move, unable to process what I'd just witnessed.
Everything Dante had said was true. They'd been planning this for a week. He'd been planning to humiliate me in the most public way possible.
Our eyes met again across the crowd. And I saw pity in his eyes for me. Lorenzo Vitale pitied me. I'd been played, and used.
I turned and walked towards the exit. I did not want to give them the satisfaction of seeing me break. Behind me, I heard Lorenzo's voice.
"Thank you all for sharing this moment with us."
I needed to get out of here to think, to figure out what to do next. I made it halfway down the palazzo steps before his voice stopped me.
"Sera!"
I walked faster.
"Sera, stop."
His hand caught my arm, spinning me around with enough force to make me stumble. My hand flew up before I could think, and I slapped him. The sound echoed in that empty space like a gunshot.
Lorenzo's head snapped to the side. Everything went silent.
Oh God. What had I just done?
I'd slapped Lorenzo Vitale. The Viper.
Every instinct I had screamed at me to run but I was frozen.
Lorenzo turned his head back slowly. A red handprint was already forming on his cheek, His eyes were looking dangerously at me.
My hands were shaking. I took a step back, calculating escape routes, chances of survival…
"Lorenzo, I didn't mean…" The apology stuck in my throat.
"Yes, you did." He ran his hand through his hair. "Tonight was…I need to explain what happened with Yuki."
"I don't want to hear it."
"Sera.."
"No! I don't want your explanations or your excuses or your lies. I'm done."
"They're not lies…"
"Then what was that in there?" I gestured back towards the party. "You promised me an announcement. You said you wanted to publicly acknowledge me. Instead, your ex-girlfriend kisses you on stage in front of everyone while I stand there like an idiot. So either you planned it, or you're so incompetent you couldn't stop it. Which is it?"
His jaw tightened.
"Neither. It's complicated."
"Everything with you is complicated. I can't do this anymore. Whatever game we've been playing. I'm out."
"This isn't a game…"
"Isn't it?" I looked at him directly. "Because from where I'm standing, it feels like I'm the only one who didn't know the rules."
"Go home, Sera. We're both too angry to have this conversation right now."
I didn't respond. Just turned and walked down the remaining steps, waiting for a taxi, refusing to look back at him.
I made it home by midnight, my mascara streaked down my face, the perfect dress wrinkled.
My phone had been buzzing non stop. There were messages from Lorenzo, Matteo, even one from an unknown number I didn't recognize. I ignored them all until Matteo called for the tenth time.
I couldn't avoid him. He'd just show up at my apartment.
"Hello." I answered.
"Finally!" I could sense relief in his voice. "Where have you been? I've been trying to reach you for hours. Are you safe?"
"I'm home. I'm fine."
"You're not fine. I can hear it in your voice." There was a pause. "I saw the photos online. Yuki Tanaka kissing Lorenzo on stage at the party while you were there."
"It doesn't matter."
"It clearly does matter. What happened? Did Lorenzo…"
"I slapped him, Matteo."
"You what?"
"Outside the palazzo. He tried to explain and I slapped him on the face." I closed my eyes. "I lost control. And now he'll definitely k*ll me."
"Sera, breathe. What did Lorenzo do after you hit him?"
"Nothing. That's what's terrifying. He just tried to explain and then told me to go home politely."
"That doesn't sound like a man planning retaliation."
"Doesn't it or is he just waiting? Planning? Matteo, I don't know what to do. The mission is falling apart. Lorenzo might come for me. My father is going to hear about tonight and think I've been compromised…"
"You have been compromised." He said. "Sera, I'm going to ask you a question and I need you to answer honestly. Are you in love with Lorenzo Vitale?"
"No." I replied immediately.
"Don't lie to me. I've watched you seduce a dozen targets without flinching. But tonight, the way you reacted to seeing him with someone else that wasn't professional jealousy. That was personal."
"It's not like that."
"Fine. If you say so. Giovanni called me an hour ago. He saw the photos from the party. He said you're no longer useful as an operative, and he's considering pulling you out and sending Bianca in to finish the job."
Not Bianca.
"He can't…"
"He can and he will, unless you fix this fast. You have one day to deliver actionable intelligence on Lorenzo Vitale. Real evidence that Giovanni can use. If you can't deliver, he'll replace you with Bianca."
"That's impossible. Even if I still have access to Lorenzo after tonight, there's no way…"
"Then make it possible! Sera, I'm trying to help you. I'm trying to give you a way out of this that doesn't end with you dead. Giovanni also said…" He stopped.
"What? What did he say?"
"That if you're truly compromised, if you're protecting Lorenzo instead of gathering intelligence, he'll k*ll you and Bianca himself to send a message about betrayal."
"I understand. I'll fix it. I'll get the intelligence."
"How?"
"I don't know yet. But I will." I said. "I have to go, Matteo. I need to think, to plan."
"Call me tomorrow. Update me on your next move."
"I will."
I hung up and sat in the dark, processing.
One day to get intelligence or my father will k*ll us both.
I sat on my couch until 3AM, staring at my phone, trying to figure out my next move.
Lorenzo had stopped texting now.
What was he thinking? Was he angry about the slap? Planning retaliation or had he moved on entirely, back to Yuki?
I needed to get back into his life, needed access to search for intelligence.
But how?
The portrait. The commission.
He'd hired me to paint him, they gave me a legitimate reason to see him. My hands shook as I typed.
What about the commissioned painting? When do you want me to continue working on it?
The response came within two minutes.
Tomorrow afternoon at 2. Come to my office.
I'll be there.
I woke up in morning , gritty eyed and exhausted. I dressed professionally. The cab picked me up at 1:15, I sat back and tried to calm my racing heart.
We hit traffic downtown, stopped at a light near a café. I stared out the window, and saw Luciano sitting on the driver seat in his car.
But he wasn't alone. A woman sat in the passenger seat. She was beautiful. They were laughing about something, looking comfortable and intimate.
Luciano had a girlfriend? When had that happened? And why hadn't he mentioned it?
Luciano deserved happiness, deserved someone who made him smile like that.
The light changed. My car moved forward, and I refocused on Lorenzo.
Exactly at 2, I reached his office. I took the elevator to the executive level, and gave my name to the receptionist.
"Ms. Moretti. Mr. Vitale is expecting you."
I smiled in response. Lorenzo's office door was open. I knocked anyway.
"Come in."
I stepped inside. He was sitting behind his desk, looking up at me with unreadable eyes.
"You came." He said in a professional tone.
"Of course. About the portrait…"
"Sit."
I sat on the chair across from his desk.
"I'm sorry." I said before he could say something. "For slapping you. That was unprofessional and inappropriate. I was upset, but that's no excuse for violence. It won't happen again."
"You…" His phone buzzed on the desk.
"I'm sorry. I need to take this. It's…" He looked at the screen. "It's Yuki. She's downstairs."
Of course she was.
"I should go.."
"No. Stay." He was already moving toward the door. "This will only take a few minutes. I need to handle this."
"Lorenzo…"
"Twenty minutes. Give me twenty minutes to and then we'll discuss the portrait, and everything else." Then he was gone.
And I was left alone in his office with twenty minutes to find anything I could give to my father. I stood slowly.
This was it. My chance.
The office had no visible cameras, I'd already checked. Lorenzo was paranoid about many things, but apparently not paranoid enough to film his own private space.
Or maybe he had hidden cameras I couldn't see but I'd have to risk it.
I moved to his desk, tried to open the drawers but most were locked except for one. There were papers, contracts, business correspondences.
And beneath it was a photograph, a family picture of the Vitales. I recognized Lorenzo, his father, and his brother, Dante. But there was also a girl in the photo, someone I didn't recognize.
I looked at the girl closely, and was shocked as I realized she was the same girl I had seen earlier with Luciano, probably his girlfriend.
So, if this was the Vitale's family picture, then the girl must be Lorenzo's sister, which means:
MY BROTHER LUCIANO ROSSI IS DATING VITALE DAUGHTER?????