As I watched the girls in their excitement, a gnawing trill of doubt intruded on my otherwise peaceful thoughts. Gabe had gone to such lengths for a girl he’d only just met. In a matter of weeks, he’d executed a plan, so flawlessly I’d doubted Stella’s words until I’d seen the results with my own eyes.
That feeling of dread came back full force, and I swallowed hard around the lump that suddenly formed in my throat. What did I miss? Did I miss something? I better talk to Draco tonight when we’re in bed. But Gabe hasn’t been anything other than his usual self all day. Maybe I’m overthinking because it’s the first time we’d been this close to my old home. Just a plane ride away.
No, nothing’s going to happen. I bet Gabe hasn’t given any thought to those things in years. Nevertheless, I’d better have a word with his dad. How often I’d wished we’d never told Gabe the truth about his birth, that he was adopted by his Pop. How different would his life have been had he not known, had that blemish not been there? Why am I thinking such morbid thoughts right now?
One of my twins called out to me, and I made a motherly effort to put all other things aside and concentrate on the girls and making sure this ball, one of the most sought after by the elite, was everything they wanted it to be.
GABRIEL
The ball, the main event. I did my part well. It was no hardship; I was genuinely and sincerely blown away by Gianna when I got my first look at her in the haute couture ball gown she’d chosen from one of the leading fashion houses in Paris. Unlike other debutante balls, this one was all about introducing high fashion, and the gown she wore along with the jewelry was provided by a very well-known designer.
Words cannot describe what I felt as I took her in; her beauty, so surreal, like a picture, come to life. Not a hair was out of place, her skin flawless, the midnight blue dress that matched her eyes perfectly and hugged her curves in all the right places, she looked like a dream.
“You’re beautiful.” I kept myself in check, taking only the touch of her hand and a soft kiss to her brow for myself, though it was hard to stop there. I warred viciously, with myself internally fighting hard not to cross the line. I knew it was going to be almost impossible to let go of something so beautiful it hurts.
“Shall we?” I offered her my arm, which she took willingly, and went to meet the others. The last ball my sisters attended, they, along with everyone else, were made to wear white, which they’d bitched about because it made them feel too much like brides, and apparently, for fifteen almost sixteen-year-olds, that’s anathema.
Tonight, they sparkled in their favorite color of yellow. These gowns even outshone the ones they’d just recently worn for their sweet sixteen, from Disney princesses to the belles of the ball. I’m not sure how they pulled it off, getting some highbrow designer to agree to make them the same dress, but I smell Russo money behind it.
I’d done my research enough to know that these things are heavy on charity and gift-giving, which means Pop was probably dropping a mint for his kids to rub elbows with people he wouldn’t even sneeze at in passing. Just one of the many lengths the great man would go to to please his progeny.
The three of them needed one last round of commiseration, and Gianna was snatched away from me and taken to the other side of the room. They look too grown, all three of them. But looking at Gianna actually made my chest hurt. My selfish gene was taking over, and for a second there, I gave serious thought to throwing everything else to the side and just basking in her. The thought didn’t last long, but it felt good while it lasted.
I didn’t have to think too hard to figure out why Lancelot had a sour face on once he joined me. Anytime the girls look too mature, too grown-up for their age, he gets like this. “It’s a celebration; fix your mug.”
“You know as well as I do that those two are going to be a damn handful. You forget the last catastrophe? Why the hell did they have to grow up so fast?” He tugged at the lapels of his tux and sucked his teeth while glaring across the room at them.
“Miss the pigtails, do you?”
“Yes, if you must know. Look at the two of them. Geez, Gabe, in two years, they’ll be eighteen, going away to college. I need a Tums.” He rubbed his chest and walked over to where the girls were standing in a huddle with Gianna as we waited for the adults to join us. From the eye rolls and hand gestures, I ascertained that he was lecturing them…again.
We were joined by the others and soon took off for the Shang Ri La Paris, where the party of the century was to be held. The place had once belonged to the Bonaparte family, some prince or the other, and had since been turned into an overpriced hotel for the rich and shameless. Tonight, it was decked out to accept the daughters of the elite from all across the globe.
I’m not sure how elite it is since they accept the offspring of movie stars et al., but I’m the son of Draco Russo, and I’m here, so who am I to talk? One good thing about the night was that I got to see firsthand how the tables had turned. Just a few weeks ago, I’d taken a small-town girl to New York, done some shopping, and tried my best to turn her life around, at least in the fashion sense.
Tonight, my sisters and I, in fact, my whole family, looked on as that girl’s grandmother introduced her around to her friends, and she was treated like damn near royalty. For me, the highlight of the night was all the people who remembered her mother, men, and women who’d known another side to Adrienne when she was younger before she got married.
There were invitations made and accepted, and of course, Gianna didn’t leave out my sisters. Each time someone drew her into conversation, she made sure to drag the twins along with her as if they were a package deal. Now don’t get me wrong, all of the young girls there tonight shone, but there was no mistaking who won the show.
The three of them drew the eye like no other, and poor Lancelot was having a time of it not letting his caveman DNA take over. Pop and I bonded over shared laughter at his antics, and I think the night went a long way to easing Pop’s mind a bit. Surely, I couldn’t be plotting mayhem while standing here with a carefree smile on my face, ribbing my best friend and commenting on the differing aspects of the night.
We only had one day left in the city before we returned home, so I’m sure he was breathing a sigh of relief that nothing had gone awry. I’d spent the day today in the catacombs as promised, with my team on my tail, making sure they saw my every move. The fact that I had not fulfilled my tour was not missed by any, so that tomorrow when I disappear under the guise of returning there to finish, no one would bat a lash.
The night was long and fun, including the clubbing that followed. The girls made new friends, but I noticed Gianna stayed close to me. From the looks she gave me every so often, I was almost certain she suspected something. She didn’t bring it up, and neither did I and so the rest of the evening went well.
It was coming back to the castle, where things got hairy. She was in the mood to get close, and I, having promised myself not to use her again, didn’t know how to ease out of it without hurting her feelings. It was there in her eyes that if I rejected her again, came up with one more excuse; it would break her.
I had another battle with myself as I weighed the pros and cons of giving into her. She didn’t know what I did, that after tomorrow she wouldn’t be in my life. That I planned to send her away because I was too selfish to let her stay in the only home she’s ever known because it was too close, and I can’t bear the thought of her being that close and not being able to see her, to have her…