"Hey Nadia." Christian smiled at me, gesturing me to come inside.

"Hi Christian." I spoke softly. I was at his house again to speak with him and his parents about Maia and Danny's death.

Christian closed the front door as I nervously stood still in the foyer. My fingers fiddled with one of the buttons on my black blazer. Christian walked over to me, placing a hand on my back. "Hey, you okay?"

I quickly nodded, faintly smiling. "Yeah, I'm just nervous." I anxiously laughed. I wasn't so worried about Christian and Danny's father. It was their mother who made me uneasy. Christian soothingly rubbed my upper back. "Don't be it'll be fine; I'll be by your side the whole time." He assured.

He looked down at me. "I'll deal with my mom if anything uncomfortable comes up." I guess he knew she was the reason I was so anxious. We walked towards the living room and I listened to the sound of my heels clicking against the floor with each step I took.

We passed the kitchen and I saw Mr. Brivio sitting at the dining table waiting for us. I warmly smiled at him as we approached the table. "Hi Mr. Brivio." I waved, taking a seat as Christian took the seat next to me, across from his father. "Hello Nadia," he smiled back at me. "How are you? You look lovely as always."

I shyly smiled, tucking a loose curl behind my ear. "Thank you. I'm good, thanks for asking. How are you?" I could see the hint of sadness in his brown eyes. "Good," He slowly nodded. "Though I could be better." My shoulders relaxed as I sympathetically gazed at him. I couldn't imagine the heartbreak of losing a child.

"Hey, Papà where's Mamma?" Christian whispered over to his father.

Mrs. Brivio suddenly emerged from a nearby hallway, silently walking over to the dining table. My anxiety shot up my spine. She took a seat at the head of the table, farthest away from me but I wasn't complaining.

Christian glared at her, internally scoffing at her immediate standoffish behavior.

"Um, hi Mrs. Brivio." I smiled, hoping she'd reciprocate the gesture. Her eyes coldly landed on me. "Hello, Nadia."

"You've got to be fucking kidding me." Christian mumbled under his breath. "Mamma can you just drop the act of pretending you hate Nadia? You know she came here to help your favorite son."

"Christian." His father scowled at him.

Oh, this was getting awkward real fast.

Mr. Brivio sighed. "Aurora, please. Just listen to what Nadia has to say. She's here with good intent. For Danny." He warmly smiled at her, taking ahold of her hand.

I kept my left hand under the table, hoping Mrs. Brivio wouldn't make another scene about my engagement.

Mr. Brivio turned to look at me. "Whenever you're ready Nadia." He nodded.

I smiled at him, taking a deep breath as I collected my thoughts. "So, I know at Danny's funeral I spontaneously mentioned that I may have known who killed Danny – which I probably shouldn't have done as it was a bit inappropriate." I sheepishly chuckled. I saw Christian lightly smile at my nervousness from the corner of my eye.

"Um," My leg started to bounce as I felt a wave of emotion try to overcome me. I knew I had to tell them about Maia and though Christian had told me many times not to blame myself, I just struggled to strip away the burden of Danny's death being my fault.

I felt Christian put a comforting hand on my knee under the table.

I shakily exhaled, briefly tilting my head up blinking my tears away. Mrs. Brivio's face softened a bit.

"Now this is just an allegation at this point, but I believe one of my old best friends is the one who killed Danny."

Mr. Brivio rose his eyebrows in astonishment but he urged me to continue.

"She didn't want Danny to be with me in the long run. So," I felt my body lightly tremble as my eyes welled up again. I let my tears slide down my cheeks.

Mrs. Brivio got up for a moment and we all glanced at her. She rushed over into the living room, grabbing a tissue box. "Here you go darling." She whispered to me as she handed me a couple tissues. "Thank you." I mumbled. I noticed her eyes glistened with tears before she walked back to her seat.

"Are you okay?" Christian asked softly, gliding his thumb over my knee.

I nodded, sadly smiling at him as I quickly wiped my tears away. I cleared my throat. "So," I continued. "I think she killed him, out of spite and that was it." I shrugged, clenching my jaw to prevent myself from crying as I spoke.

"What was her name? The girl who killed Danny?" Mr. Brivio asked.

"Uh, Maia. Maia Roche-Cruz." God, her name sounded so distasteful coming out of my mouth.

"Um, I know she lives in Scottsdale, Arizona now," I glanced at Christian. "And Christian offered to accompany me in finding her." I fixed my gaze on Mrs. Brivio who was just as teary-eyed as me. "We're planning on getting help from the detectives that were in charge of my missing person case." I quickly buried dark memories that tried to escape my mind.

"Mrs. Brivio I'm on your side. I just want Maia to face the consequences for killing Danny. I know you do too." I knew she wanted nothing more than to find out who murdered her 'golden child'.

I wish I could tell them how much Danny was still in my heart, even though he scared the shit out of me in my mind.

Mr. Brivio reassuringly smiled at his wife before turning to look at me. "Nadia I really appreciate you going this far to help Danny's case. I look forward to seeing whoever killed our son behind bars."

I smiled back at him. "Me too. I'm glad we're on the same page." Christian lightly squeezed my knee, flashing me an endearing grin. "See that wasn't too bad." He whispered as I softly chuckled. "Yeah."

"Nadia?"

I glanced up at Mrs. Brivio as she called me.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?"

...

Christian and I softly laughed as he walked with me to the foyer. "Aw oh my god look at you two." I faintly gasped, picking up a framed picture of Danny and Christian that was placed on a console table. They had the cutest smiles on their faces as Danny tightly hugged him.

I smiled to myself, seeing how innocent Danny looked. "How old were you guys?" I asked, looking up at Christian. He chuckled. "I was 8 and Danny was 6."

"Awww!" I giggled and Christian bashfully laughed as a soft blush crept onto his cheeks. "Okay, okay that's enough." He took the photo from my hand, placing it back on the table. "C'mon." He playfully pushed me over to the front door as I laughed.

We stepped outside, standing at the doorstep as Christian closed the front door behind him. I cleared my throat. "Tell your mom I said thank you again for letting me stay for dinner."

"I will." Christian quickly nudged my shoulder. "I told you she doesn't hate you."

I playfully rolled my eyes. "Yeah, yeah whatever." I still remember she victim blamed me and that honestly still stung.

"So, when are we going to Arizona? If that's the plan?" Christian asked.

I shrugged. "I'm not really sure, but we'll figure it out though."

"Tomorrow? Over dinner? I was thinking we could go to Perry's" He sheepishly suggested.

My face lit up. Perry's? How'd he know about Perry's already? It was a pretty fancy steakhouse.

"Um, Christian, I-,"

He chuckled softly, shoving his hands in his pant pockets. "Strictly just for discussing our plans. I'm completely aware of the ring on your finger."

I awkwardly laughed along with him, quickly nodding. "Okay, sure." I gazed up at him. "Tomorrow sounds good." I warmly smiled.

He grinned with that adorable smile of his that made my heart skip a beat. "Great, I'll see you tomorrow then."

There was that rush of butterflies in my stomach again.

...
So, Christian and Nadia have a "not" dinner date planned lol how do y'all feel about that?
Think she'll tell Leo about it? 😬
Until next time! Thanks for reading! :)