Chapter 10

Another week passed with another party in the midst of it. I couldn’t believe how busy I was each day, but it was enough to keep Cristo off my mind. By the time the weekends came around, I was drowning in paperwork, pinning up pages on a corkboard and working out their personality types, setting them in categories, studying their attachments styles and love languages. It was just five suitors so far but Italians were really particular about the kind of families they would be intermingling with on a regular basis. Out of those five, two were crossed out simply because of the personal interviews I had with them. One of them wasn’t interested in Guasparre at all. The other two girls were interested, but Guasparre couldn’t connect with them after I’d set them up for a small meet-up.
While monitoring their interactions on a screen from another room, I started to realize in the next week that maybe there was more to Guasparre’s celibacy. I couldn’t hear what they were talking about to ensure some privacy and comfort for them, but his very body language gave away so much guarded demeanor that it was odd. Assessing my memory from the past three weeks I had spent in the house and around Guasparre, I realized that he didn’t completely trust his parents either. I thought of approaching Bellona, hoping she would hear me out. Knocking on her bedroom door I hoped it wasn’t too late in the night to be bothering her.
“Come in.”
“Hi.” I said meekly, “Were you busy?”
“Ah, Lilith, come in.” she smiled and patted the spot next to her on her bed. “is everything okay?”
“Well…” I started carefully, holding up Guasparre’s folder, “I kind of realized that Guasparre hasn’t extensively been in therapy long enough to recuperate from any suppressed traumas. It’s possible that could be holding him back from socializing with people deeply.”
Bellona’s face dropped, and she nodded lightly in concern, “Oh, well…I guess that makes sense, yes.”
Studying her carefully, the discreet wringing of her fingers, the flitting of her eyes, and the small bite of her lip, I realized she was hiding something.
“Bellona?”
She beckoned me inside quickly, “Close the door.”
I did as told and went over to sit next to her. She looked at me seriously, “Will this go on into his records? It’s something he wishes not to talk about. I know he should be the one to tell you about this but…ah, maybe it should be him.”
“I won’t force it out of anyone,” I assured her, “but to be clear, there is something that I’m definitely missing in the files which could help?”
“Yeah, and perhaps I could talk to him later tomorrow. Hopefully convince him to tell you about what’s caused him to become so reserved.”
“That will help.” I nodded, “Just one more question. The accident…was it caused by someone he trusted?”
Bellona nodded. Having understood exactly where this was going, I bid her a goodnight and decided to stop working until Guasparre could tell me what had happened to him.

My eyes fluttered open, and I was confused to see frescoes from Mrs. Beaumont’s ballroom on the ceiling. The ceiling from Barry’s wedding was still, and the moonlight fell in glaringly from the window beside me. Like last time, all I saw was Cristo’s silhouette on the window sill.
In all honesty, these dreams were starting to feel like a horror story.
I turned my head away and closed my eyes. When I opened them again, I was in Central park, the same moon shining down on me as I sat on the bench by the pond. Someone sat next to me. Someone unfamiliar. I looked beside me to see the person was already looking at me, and my breath caught in my throat when the marred and bloody face of my dead ex-boyfriend, Mark, stared back at me with vengeance.
Fear erupted in the pit of my stomach like a volcano. I tried to scream, but my voice was caught in my throat and Mark reached out to me, hands around my neck. I felt the sticky blood cling to my skin. His fingers tightened around my throat and I couldn’t breathe. My hands finally shot up to try and pry his fingers off, but they had no strength or effect. I looked into his eyes crazed with bloodlust, angry and…evil.
Pure evil.
I wasn’t sure how the incessant ringing of the phone pulled me out of my nightmare, but it did. I shot up in bed with my heart hammering in my throat, breathing hard and covered in cold sweat, so much so that the sheets were completely drenched. The haze of sleep still persisted in my eyes, rendering my vision blurry. It didn’t help that it was already really dark.
My hands flailed around towards the source of the ringing, finally getting a feel of my phone and picking it up.
“Hello?”
“It’s Emily.” Came a curt response. I froze momentarily, thinking she was calling to tell me that Mark had died in the crossfire. It wasn’t until I turned in bed towards the windows did I realize that I was in the Ricci’s house. Breathing a sigh of relief, I hardened my voice.
“What do you want now?”
“Did you tell him?” she demanded softly. Her voice sounded shaky.
“Tell him what?”
“Don’t fuck with me, Lilith, you know what I mean.”
“A’right, I’m just going to hang up then.” I sighed, “Have a good…whatever part of the day it is there.”
“About my son!”
“Mark’s dead, Emily.” I reminded her scathingly. I guess the dream was foreshadowing her call, “He’s dead and I couldn’t even get a proper revenge on him for what he did to me. So what, may I ask, could I do now that he’s dead?”
“I know you were the one who told him that he’s not Mark’s father. I’ll sue you!”
“For what? Existing files of child support you tried to get from Mark’s actual dad? You’re going to sue me for him accessing them?”
“You think I don’t know how he managed that?”
“Jesus Christ,” I groaned and fell back into bed, “Take me to court for invading your privacy or whatever the hell, your lawyers won’t have anything to go on simply because I did no such thing.”
“We’ll see about th–”
I hung up on her and blocked her number promptly. Wondering what on Earth Mr. Boulevard did after making that discovery to rile Emily up like that, I pushed myself out of bed and decided on a bath. I knew I wasn’t going back to sleep anytime soon. Especially after that horrible nightmare.
The warm soak was ready in no time, thanks to the waterfall. I picked out some essential oils and a bath bomb from the cabinet, got cozy, and flipped my book open to read. I hoped this would calm me down enough to take on the day ahead. There was an engagement party at the Moretti summerhouse. The founder of Moretti Mechatronix, Giovanni Moretti, was had popped the question to his long-term girlfriend, Maria Russo. Giovanni had a wife before, but she died early on in their marriage. The man was devastated ever since. After twenty years of grieving, at the age of fifty-one, he’d finally found his new love.
Long story short, the party was going to be extravagant to the nines and I could only imagine what their wedding would look like when the time came. Which reminded me that I needed to go shopping for a dress. I would need to get something that wouldn’t weigh me down. This party was crucial, since everyone I’d narrowed down as a good potential suitor would be there. I’d have a lot of walking to do.
Feeling the tips of my fingers starting to wrinkle, I pushed myself out of the water and pushed down on the sink’s button to let it pop up and drain the tub. Allowing myself a light shower to wash off the soap, the droplets of water reminded me of the sea spray against my face when I rode the jet ski with Rio.
I wonder how he’s doing.
Realizing that I never took his number, I felt a little regretful. He seemed like a fun person to be around, but I was still trying to keep my distance. Marcus’s actions had made me so paranoid to befriend another man. There was no trusting them.
I draped myself in a bathrobe and got into the room to get into a pair of sweats yet again. It was so much colder than before, and the only pair I had to wear were the black ones. I’d been avoiding them this whole time because of its memories associated with Cristo. Now that it was all I had to wear until tomorrow, I’d have to go with it.
Groaning as the memories from the night attacked me, I pulled on the sweats and made sure to start the laundry immediately. It didn’t help that I was going to start my period soon, so my emotions and feelings were all over the place.
I gazed out the window and into the garden. The sky was starting to light up. The sunrise would happen soon, so I got started on some coffee. Before coming to the Ricci house, I never would’ve thought microwaves with in-built coffee machines could exist. Carrying out my steaming mug and book, I sat on the grass and waited for morning.
The quietness soon faded into soft twittering of birds. Leaves occasionally rustled with the breeze, filling in the silence. The rush of the waterfalls started as the automated pathways opened to let them fall onto the house.
Calm.
This was peace.

The rest of day passed by so quietly that evening was upon us in no time. I stared at myself in awe, wondering if I was even myself anymore.
“What do you think?” Bellona asked. I couldn’t speak.
The assistant beside us twisted the intricate light gold bands of metal into my hair to keep it in place. I didn’t know Italian billionaire had such royal-like parties. I stood on a slightly raised platform, dressed in a fitted layers of silver chiffon that hugged my body, embroidered with velvet around the bodice that flowed downwards and faded out into peppered crystals. The assistant held up an overcoat just as magnificent as the dress, and it reached all the way to the ground. She helped me put it on, the lapels only going a little past my chest. Much of the overcoat stayed to the sides and the back of the dress to not cover it up. She secured it in place with a thick jeweled belt that went with the choker necklace I was given.
“A-are you sure I can wear this?” I breathed.
“You need to blend in,” Bellona reminded, “so you must dress like us.”
“This is insane.”
Bellona only laughed as the assistant helped her into a pale pink quartz dress that was just as fancy as mine.
“You look like a queen, Lilith.” Bellona said, “Hold your head high. There is nothing you need to hide.”
Tears pricked at my eyes, and I tried my best to hold back. I’d become so self-conscious and insecure after what Blair had done to my image back in America. To be betrayed and have my past revealed like that…it was humiliating. But Bellona was helping me second guess that.
I had nothing to be humiliated about. I didn’t choose to suffer, and yet I’m the highest paid matchmaker who is amongst the richest of families, trusted and appreciated by them.
Blair couldn’t ever come close to where I was.
Standing up straighter, I looked the beautiful winged heels Ariana had just placed on the ground. She and the assistant held my hands as I stepped into them. I twirled in the dress to get a sense of its weight, and it was surprisingly light.
Giving myself another onceover for admiration, I knew I could take on the party today.