Is Trust Really Earned?

Chapter 16

Savannah’s POV

We walk through the front door and the decorations are beautiful, they lead to the back of the house where a giant tent has been set up. That’s where all the sound was coming from, the entrance to the tent was at the bottom of the amazing stone staircase. My mother and Aunt Gabs really have out done themselves.

When we get to the top of the staircase Enzo stops us turning to face me, he grabs my face in his hands softly before saying “If you’re ready, shall we?” I give a shy nod as Enzo pulls my face to his in a tender kiss and when we pull apart, he releases my face and takes my hand instead. Enzo turns back to the stairs and gives a nod to the guard at the tent entrance, he disappears inside and everything in the tent goes silent.

The guard comes out and nods at us and we start walking down the stairs pausing at the closed entrance, we hear Lorenzo addressing the guests “Ladies and gentlemen, firstly thank you all for joining us on this wonderful double celebration. Not only are you all here to welcome the new head of the Marino family but I am also gaining my first daughter in law, tonight Enzo asked Savannah Costa to be his Queen and I do believe she said yes. Anyway, I think it’s time to get this celebration started so without further ado, please welcome the future Mr. and Mrs. Enzo Marino.”

The tent erupts into cheers and applauds as the tent door is pulled aside and Enzo and I walk in, both with matching smiles. We stop just inside the entrance and Enzo holds our joined hands in the air before bringing them back down and placing a gentle kiss on the back of my hand, the tent erupts even louder this time as we begin being congratulated.

The first hour was a bit of a bore if I’m honest, it was a lot of congratulations and arranging future business meetings. I think Enzo noticed I was getting bored because after the last guest and his wife left, he whispered in my ear “It’s your night too, go and celebrate with your friends.” I melted as he sucked my lobe into his mouth and bit down on it gently.

He didn’t need to tell me twice and as he pulled away, I pulled his lips to mine in a lingering kiss before pulling away spinning on my heels and skipping to my friends at the bar. As I go, I hear Enzo growl and can’t help the smirk I throw over my shoulder at him, before turning back in the direction of the bar only to be tackled almost to the ground by Nora and Sasha.

Thankfully, Morgan is behind me to steady me, we all pull apart and laugh a little too loudly causing a few people to look at us only to smile at our happy faces. I see my father and Lorenzo looking at us, my father has a smile on his face, but Lorenzo is scowling at Morgan. In true Morgan style he saw Lorenzo’s expression and with a smirk flung his arm over my shoulder, I rolled my eyes at them both and turned back to the girls.

Thankfully, they pull me from Morgans grasp and drag me towards the bar, we each order a cocktail and two rounds of shots. We each do one shot keeping the other for when we have finished our cocktails, I look around the beautiful tent while sipping on my drink pretending to listen to Sasha’s latest boy drama.

My eyes land on Dante, he doesn’t notice me looking at him because his focus is flicking between Enzo and Morgan, and he doesn’t look happy. I excuse myself from my friends promising to come straight back and head towards Dante, when I am stood in front of him his eyes flick to my face in a shocked expression before his eyes soften.

Mine on the other hand harden as I glare at him before saying “Don’t look at me like that unless you want to explain why you have been MIA the last few years, hmm?” I finish raising an eyebrow, Dante now has a nervous expression as he gulps looking around for an escape.

Before he has a chance, I grab his hand and start dragging him as I say, “Oh no you don’t, not this time buddy.” I feel him trying to get away, that is until he realizes we are now on the dancefloor. The song ‘Anywhere away from here’ has just started, I spin on my heels to face him and put my arms over his shoulders.

Dante looks around nervously before putting his hands on my waist, I giggle and say, “It’s just a dance.” I look at him with a serious expression hoping he understands that saying no to me is not an option right now, Dante sighs but then relaxes and starts dancing with me.

We dance in silence for a few seconds before my mouth gets the better of me and I can’t stop myself asking “So what the f**k has been going on with you, have I upset you?” I look into his eyes as I finish my question, I feel him tense in my arms before he looks at me with sad eyes and says, “I fell in love.” I look at him with an open mouth for a couple of seconds before the biggest smile comes maybe now he will leave me and Enzo alone.

I look at Dante in excitement and say, “That’s great.” I pause to look at his sad expression, my own turning confused before I ask, “Isn’t it?” I search his face looking for any happiness but there is none only anger. His next words shock me “Not really, I did things to make her see she wasn’t safe with him with either of them. She is marrying and is in love with someone else?” I look at him in shock as he looks at me in a pleading way.

Something dawns on me; I go back to an earlier conversation when I first met Nora and Sasha.

…. Flashback to conversation with Nora and Sasha ….

Dante kissed my cheek before walking off to meet Enzo. Both girls looked at me with smirks "It's not like that, his like my brother." I explain. I don't know why I feel the need to, but I do, they both shake their heads "She doesn't see it does she?" Sasha asked Nora. Nora chuckled looking at me "Clearly not Sash." she says still giggling. I look at them both confused "You may see him as a brother, but he definitely doesn't see you as a Sister." Sasha says giggling with Nora.

…. End of flashback ….

I look at Dante nervously now not hearing the music only feeling us swaying, I swallow and ask in a whisper “Wh, who is it?” I know what’s coming and I know I’m not going to like it. He looks me in the eye and asks, “Do I really need to say it?” I can only nod feeling tears start to build, he leans right into my ear and whispers “You.” I feel my whole world shatters, I really didn’t want to believe what Taylor told me, but Dante just confirmed himself that he was behind my attack.

White hot rage coursed through me, and Dante saw it instantly, he leaned into my ear again and said, “Remember where you are.” I could do nothing but take a breath, it’s just now I notice the song has changed and I drop both arms to my side. I look at Dante and I don’t see the best friend I grew up with, I see a predator looking at his prey but all I can do right now is narrow my eyes at him.

Dante smirks at me and grabs my elbow before I can spin and walk away, he pulls me to him and says in my ear “Once I get Morgan out of the way, I will figure out how to get rid of Enzo. I won’t give up on us Savannah, I swear.” I am too shocked to respond as he places a quick kiss on my cheek before he disappears into the crowd and I lose him, I’m still in shock when Morgan stands in front of me waving a hand in my face moving his lips.

When I finally pay attention to him, I hear Morgan say “Savannah, are you ok. You look like you’ve seen a ghost, what the f**k did he say to you?” I can only look at Morgan wide eyed opening and closing my mouth. When I do finally manage to speak I do so without thinking “I need a f*****g drink, now.”

I ignore Morgan and go to the bar; I order four shots and another cocktail. Three shots are gone before Morgan even gets to me at the bar. He gives me a concerned look before grabbing my fourth shot and taking it himself.

Before I can protest, he says “You’re worrying me, so I needed that, now tell me what the f**k was that?” I grab my cocktail and take a huge gulp, I slowly put it down and fill Morgan in on what just happened. When I’m done Morgan is as shocked as I was, he recovers fast then me and orders us both another two shots each.

I down my cocktail and grab the first shot before I do it, I feel the urge to turn around and as I do I catch sight of Enzo, Lorenzo and Dante huddled together deep in conversation. I nudge Morgan and nod my head to the trio saying, “This can’t be good.” I then quickly down the shot, before turning back to the bar to grab my other one and turning to Morgan.

What happens next, not only happens quick but is utter chaos. As I lift the glass to my mouth a gun goes off and the glass in my hand shatters, bits fly in my face and cut me causing me to scream and fall back. I see Morgan go to steady me when the gun goes off again and the bullet hits the bar right between us, Morgan flinches away and I continue to fall.

As I do fall my head bounces off the back of the stool next to me causing something to crack before I hit the floor in a crumbled heap, I expected everything to go black but when it didn’t, I was confused. I couldn’t move anything but my eyes and what I saw was c*****e, I could hear muffled screams as people started running towards the exit. Suddenly Morgans face was in my vision, his lips moving but my ears weren’t working all I could hear was ringing.

I managed to shake my head once worst f*****g mistake, but it cleared my hearing and finally I heard what Morgan was saying “Whatever happens Savannah, remember to play the game. We will stay in touch; I will always be here for you.” I could only nod before Lorenzo grabbed Morgan and dragged him away.

My mother, father and Enzo were now bending down checking me over. My mother and father were screaming at Enzo, he was ignoring them holding my face in his hands begging me to forgive him. I still couldn’t make a sound, so I tried to look for Morgan, instead my eyes met the back of Dantes head. He was watching Morgan and his father have a screaming match with Lorenzo, when he turned back to look at Enzo, he had a smirk on his face.

That is until he noticed me glaring at him, his expression changed to one of guilt instantly. I narrowed my eyes at him knowing whatever happened was his doing again, I just hope he can see the amount of hate and anger I feel towards him now. He couldn’t hold eye contact with me any longer and looks at the ground, as his eyes came back up, mine finally close and everything goes black.