VALENTINA

"Ya yo necesito otro beso, uno de esos que tú me da'. Estar lejos de ti e' el Infernio, tar cerca de ti es mi paz."

. . .

"What the fuck?" I breathe as I look at the screen. A part of me considers telling Alessandro to pretend that no one is home, but I can't get it over my lips.

That's my best friend out there, and his twin brother.

"I'll make sure he leaves quickly," Alessandro says and puts a hand on my waist. "You go hide in my room. Lock the door just in case."

I find myself wanting to stay here by his side because Dante has to know eventually.

And Alessandro insisting on me hiding makes me feel like he just wants to keep me hidden.

Like a dirty secret.

Alessandro buzzes Dante in, and I take that as my cue to go into his room and close the door behind me.

After a few seconds, I hear voices in the living room and I press my ear against the wood of Alessandro's voice.

"I decided to pay you a surprise visit as well," I hear Dante's amused voice through the door.

"Funny," Alessandro replies, though there's no humor in his voice.

I hear someone walking around, and I figure that must be Dante.

"What were you doing?" Dante asks.

I wish I could see them, but I'm not going to risk opening the door to get a peek at them.

"Just chilling," comes Alessandro's casual response.

And then they start to have a conversation. I don't know how many minutes I spend here, standing by the door and listening to them talking.

Dante is doing most of the talking, and my heart squeezes together at the effort he's putting into talking to his twin brother.

But when the intercom rings again it grows silent. That's the takeout we ordered. The buzzing sound is the sign that Alessandro let him in, and the front door is opened.

Not much later, the front door is slammed shut again.

"You ordered pizza?" Dante asks, his voice astonished. "You ordered takeout pizza?"

"Get over yourself," Alessandro tells him. "But don't tell Dad."

"You're sure you have Italian blood?"

"Pretty sure," Alessandro retorts dryly.

"And two boxes? Why... ooh, do you have company?"

"Glad you caught on."

"Why didn't you say anything? Where are they? Can I meet them?"

"Dante, slow down," Alessandro says. "You'll meet her soon enough."

"It's not Amber, is it?" Dante asks with dread in his voice.

Alessandro chuckles. "Fuck no."

It's then silent for a few more seconds before Dante speaks up again.

"So you're really seeing someone right now? Is it serious?"

I hold my breath as I wait for Alessandro's answer.

"You could say that," he answers.

There's a smile in Dante's voice when he speaks again. "Alright. I'll leave you to it, then. Enjoy the pizza, Sandro."

"Thank you, Dante," he replies, and there's a soft edge to his voice.

The door closes again and I don't waste more time, opening the door.

Alessandro meets me in the hallway and sends me a sheepish grin.

"I couldn't get him to leave," he chuckles and presses a kiss on my forehead.

"It's fine," I smile and glance down at the pizza boxes in his hands. "I'm hungry as fuck, though."

We get comfortable on the couch in the living room, where Alessandro lights up a few candles.

A message pings on my phone and when I look down, I see it's from my mom.

Mami: Don't forget to pick up that dress I ordered for you at the store. I want you to wear it at my birthday party next week

As if I could forget. I've already ordered her gift, which is a perfume set so it can join the thousands of other perfume bottles she has stored in her closet.

A second message comes in.

Mami: Alejandro will be there too, make sure you put your hair up the way I like

A groan escapes me.

Alessandro glances over at me.

"Everything okay?" he asks and takes a seat next to me on the couch.

"I wish I could just duplicate myself and send that version to all the social gatherings and parties," I sigh and lean back, toying with my phone. "It's Mami's birthday next week."

"Right. Mom mentioned something about that. And guess who'll be there?" he grins and reaches his hand out to stroke my cheek.

I look at him in surprise.

"I've barely ever seen you at our birthday parties," I tell him.

He shrugs as he looks at me. "I've got a very good reason to be there now. And she's right here."

"Don't put too much blush... yes, keep stroking the brush like that," Dina instructs.

After the nasty run-in Dina and I had with Max, we kept in touch and went for some coffee a few times.

Now, she's teaching me to do my makeup for Mami's birthday party.

Dina is sitting next to me in front of my vanity, and all the makeup products I own are splayed out in front of us.

"So, you never wear any makeup?" she asks, watching me closely to make sure I don't screw up.

"Sometimes, but minimal," I answer. "But then I saw how skilled you were and I figured I could use some advice."

She grins at that. "Thank you."

I continue to follow her instructions until I'm all done, the only thing needed is applying lipstick and some spray to my face.

"I'm really happy we kept in touch," Dina says when I finish setting everything.

"Me too," I tell her, meaning it. "Even though the circumstances sucked."

Her face falls at the reminder, and I feel a pang of pity and anger at how close-minded people still are.

"I know, but it's fine. Even Katherine reached out to me to see how I was doing. Isn't that sweet?"

Stunned, I can only gape at her.

"K-Katherine Hartley? Reached o-out to you?"

Dina nods as if that's the most normal thing in the world.

At the time, I understood why Katherine stood up for Dina. Katherine has her reasons for that.

But reaching out to make sure someone is okay is beyond her kindness if she's got any to begin with.

"Okay..." I trail off, not knowing how to process that information. "Weird."

Dina frowns. "Why's that weird?"

I shrug and wave it off. "Katherine's not known for being considerate, to say the least. But whatever, it's nice that she checked up on you."

"It is," Dina agrees. "Anyway, the makeup looks amazing on you! It matches the dress you showed me perfectly."

The dress is a floor-length golden slip dress with a high slit.

"Thanks to you, you're amazing with this," I compliment her, referring to the makeup she just recommended to me.

After we're all set with my makeup, Dina bids me goodbye and leaves my house. I asked her to stay and attend the party, but she had other plans already.

With my hair and makeup done, I go into the living room where I see the caterers take care of everything. There's a bunch of appetizers being made in the kitchen and the living room is being reorganized to fit the amount of people that Mami has invited.

The whole afternoon goes by in a blur. I hear orders being shouted all over my house. My sister's voice is calling out for my mom the whole time, needing help with either her dress or her hair.

My head feels like it's about to explode by the time the first guests arrive, and I'm dressed in my golden dress and heels downstairs, together with Martina.

I'm in our living room, welcoming our guests and making some small talk here and there. Anticipation is building up inside of me, and I'm barely able to wait for the Silvestro's tonight.

The only reason why I'm so excited is because I'll get to see him.

When I hear familiar voices in our hallway, my heart skips a beat. And then he appears in the doorway, his family trailing behind him.

Our eyes meet, and Alessandro sends me a smile from across the room.

Even though it's only been a week since we properly spent time together, he still mouths "I miss you."

I ache to go over toward him and press my lips against his.

His twin appears behind him and spots me.

"Val!" Dante smiles and pushes past his brother to get to me.

"Hi," I greet him and hug him. My eyes meet his brother's over his shoulder, and he doesn't look too happy.

I send him a small smile and let go of his brother. Dante is saying something to me, but I'm distracted by his brother and still have a dumb grin on my face.

My smile fades away when I see someone entering the doorway behind him. Alejandro.

He immediately spots me and doesn't waste any time coming over toward me.

"Valentina," he greets me and leans down to press a kiss on my cheek. "How are you?"

"Hey Alejandro," I grit out, trying to keep a pleasant expression on my face. "I'm fine. How are you?"

"Great," he grins, looking smug as ever in his suit. I bet it cost more than all of our furniture combined.

Dante doesn't seem thrilled that Alejandro has joined us, either. They exchange stiff pleasantries and then the air is filled with awkward silence.

When I catch Alessandro's eyes once more, he looks more than pissed and his jaw is tensed up.

His mother and father are talking to each other, and Alyssa is making some remarks to him but it's like he's not listening to anything they're saying.

"Yours," I mouth to him.

If I wasn't paying such close attention, I wouldn't have noticed his shoulders deflating a little bit. But they did.

"Yours," he echoes soundlessly.

I glance back up at Dante and see his gaze focused on something on the other side of the room. Or rather, someone.

But as I go to look who got his attention, Martina passes by and I catch Alejandro looking down at her legs, smiling appreciatively.

You're fucking kidding me.

I know Martina would never stoop to his level or even think about messing with her sister's fiancé, but knowing that Alejandro is just blatantly checking her out is disgusting and disrespectful.

When he hears me scoff, his eyes grow wide like he's been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Valentina..." he trails off, daring to look a bit sheepish like he can't help himself.

"Pig," I sneer and turn around, heading towards another part of the living room and snatching a champagne glass off one of the tables.

The taste of alcohol makes my nose scrunch up, but I swallow it down nonetheless and let out a sigh.

"Sweetheart."

The tension flows out of my body as I hear his voice and I turn around, barely being able to keep the joy off my face as I spot Alessandro standing near me.

I get breathless because he looks too good dressed in a button-down and pressed black pants.

"Hi," I greet him and try to remain casual, which is difficult. All I want is to wrap my arms around him and melt in his embrace.

"Hey you," he grins. He runs his eyes down my dress and his tongue comes out to wet his lips. "You look incredible."

"Thank you," I say, his compliments still getting the best of me. "You look fancy."

"I try, you know," he grins and looks down at his attire.

He looks back into my eyes, and then not a word is said between us as we just look at each other.

"You look really good," he tells me once more, his eyes suggestively dropping down to my collarbones, then chest, and to the slit that reveals my leg.

The words leave my lips without me thinking twice about them.

"Wanna get out of here?"

My dress is bunched around my hips, Alessandro's hand clutching it between his fingers as he drives his hips between my thighs.

"Fuck," he breathes, his lips trailing from my cheek to my ear. Our hips snap together, banging against the wooden door I'm pressed against.

I tilt my head back and part my lips, moans escaping me at the pleasure.

"I've been driving myself crazy, thinking about you," Alessandro whispers into my ear and quickens his pace.

Alessandro and I made our way into the hallway around the corner where no one was lingering around and quickly found the study that used to belong to my father.

As soon as the door closed behind us, his hands disappeared underneath my dress to take my panties off.

My fingers slide up his shoulders and into his hair, tugging at the curls. He grunts when my nails scratch against his scalp and I pull harder.

Alessandro slides in deep, making my eyes roll back.

I moan at the sensation and move my hips in sync with his.

A sudden knock at the door has us both freezing in our movements and Alessandro leans back to look down at me.

"I saw you go in there, Alessandro," comes Alejandro's slimy voice from behind the wood. "Tell your whore to keep it down, will you?"

A lazy smirk stretches across Alessandro's face and his hips give a few lazy thrusts.

His hand comes up to cover my mouth as he picks up his pace again, not giving a fuck about being quiet.

My moans are muffled as he presses down, and he's not slowing down his pace.

"She's not a whore," he calls out to Alejandro and looks down at me as his eyes darken. "She's my whore."

My eyes close at his words and my body melts against the door.

I hear footsteps fading away.

"He has no idea who's in here with me," Alessandro whispers into my ear. "That I'm fucking what's mine."

He takes his hand away and his lips cover mine, swallowing all of my moans and whimpers.

I let him fuck me into an orgasm that has tears springing to my eyes. My back arches and my toes curl as I come, clenching around his dick. My hips come down on his dick, the tip rubbing against my sweet spot.

When I'm still coming down from my high, he's still thrusting inside of me, fucking me through the immense waves of pleasure until he finds his release.

"Fuck, Valentina," he moans, burying his head in my neck. His cock is releasing all of his cum, and when he pulls out, we both look down at the mess we've created and at the cum dripping down my thighs.

Alessandro falls to his knees and wraps both hands around my thighs, before leaning in and dragging his tongue over my skin, drinking up his cum.

My clit throbs at the sight of it.

He licks my thighs and then his thumbs find my lower lips and he pulls them open, eating my pussy and tasting himself on me.

His tongue delves between my lower lips, then to my clit, and back down. He goes in for more and doesn't stop until I'm trembling all over again and come on his tongue.

When he gets back up on his feet, he adjusts my dress and the straps that have fallen off my shoulders.

"I'll keep your panties," he tells me and licks his lips.

He's in the middle of tucking himself back in when the door opens, light streaming in to reveal us in this position.

And when I look at who opened the door, my knees nearly give out from under me.

Dante's horror-filled eyes look back at us.

. . .

*cue suspenseful music*

what do you think will happen next?

this chapter is trash and I might come back to edit it, but I'm way too tired rn. 

thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

I love you.