Tessa and Ilaria get in the front, a big bag that I know is full of money on Ilaria’s lap.

“Good night?” I tease, getting a smile from my friend.

We had started doing this to get Becca to smile but it seems that Ilaria is the one that needs to now.

She nods her head, her thumb running absently over the empty ring finger. Her engagement ring is locked up at her fathers house because she was afraid someone would try and start something if they saw it.

Really she is attached to it and refuses to admit that she might GASP have actual feelings.

Ilaria is the only one in the car that hasn’t been in love before.

There’s something beautiful in the idea that she can fall in love with someone for the first time in her life now that she is a bit older and has the space for it.

I wasn’t ready for it. The intensity of it. The flames of it. The poison. The pain.

Love is a lot of things but mostly it’s not for me.

For my friends I’d love to see them in love.

Sure, we love each other and that fulfills me enough in some ways but each of my girls deserves that nauseating happily ever after that you see in books.

Maddie deserves someone that isn’t afraid of how smart she is. Who sees that she is beautiful but also sharp, deadly in her knowledge. Someone that isn’t afraid of being with a woman who is always going to have an edge on them.

Tessa deserves a man who uses his hands to hold and cherish her. There have been too many men who had touched her and ripped her apart with their rage. She deserves a man with patience and laughter in his eyes to bring out the laughter in hers.

Becca deserves someone who won’t back down from a fight. Someone with spine who can protect her and cherish her. Her ex had just gotten them in trouble and almost killed because he was greedy. She needs someone who is only greedy in the way that they love her. She deserves a second chance at that forever love.

Ilaria deserves a love that understands her world. Someone who gets that her family and friends are taking up so much of her heart but they’re happy to share that with her. She deserves someone who will give her passion and a lifetime of joy.

And me?

I deserve a drink after tonight.

As we pull up to the house I can see the way my friends are looking at me and I know we’re about to have a very wild girls night.

18DANTE

Ilaria had been gone for over twenty four hours. And I had felt every single minute she had been gone like a bad taste in my mouth.

Not a text of where she was, nothing letting me know she was safe, or even an answer from her to let me know she was alive.

After she had answered and told me to leave her alone there had been radio silence from her

And I hated that.

It was close to five in the morning now. I had stayed late at Inferno until 3:30AM, trying to prolong coming back to an empty place.

Ilaria’s stuff was all put away, thanks to my inability to sleep and need to do something.

I had made room in the closet, filling it with her sweet smelling things. Rearranging the bathroom so that all her body washes, shampoos, and potions were in the shower.

A vanity set up for her makeup was organized and her jewels all put away in a locked case.

Even her shoe collection had been organized by color.

I was making space for her, preparing the penthouse for her to walk into and feel at home here. Showing her with my actions that she was what I wanted. This was going to be our home and I had put all the pieces together.

Even her damn car was now given a parking space in the building so she didn’t have to use one of the garages, which I would now have to use.

But Ilaria’s safety and comfort came first.

My phone pinged, causing me to turn as I saw her photo app handle ‘AlwaysIlaria’ pop up on the screen saying there was a new story alert.

My phone was in my hand when a second alert came in.

And a third.

She had posted on social media before texting me back.

That was a slap in the face.

Pulling the app open and I blinked, shocked to see her friends had also started posting about their trip now. This had all been coordinated to keep me away.

Well played, ladies.

My finger touched the story and I saw her, dark hair pulled up in a ponytail, a green dress hugging her body in a sinfully good looking way. Her hand was wrapped around a glass of champagne and she…She wasn’t wearing her engagement ring.

Red.

All I could see was red.

Ilaria knew better.

Taking off her ring after we had an event where we went out as a couple, after each of us has posted about it, after the paper had run a whole spread about it, and after everything was a slap in the face.

The next picture was her and her friends, all posing by a pool. There was a beach in the background, somewhere tropical from the looks of it. All the girls looked so happy to be together that it made me jealous of their friendship. Jealous that they got this side of her that I wouldn’t ever get.

The third picture made me want to smash my phone.

Ilaria had a white bath towel wrapped around her hair, sitting in a bubble bath as she laughed, drinking with a glass of what looked like champagne in her hands.

You couldn’t see anything but she was naked in there, I knew she was naked. Everyone would know that she was naked in the-

I froze, pulling the picture closer and blinking as I saw a poker chip on the counter of the bathroom.

Old City Casino San Juan.