Impossible Odds

22

I won’t force you, but I’ll ask that you reconsider. To listen to your instincts and not let someone else dictate your life.” “This is crazy. I hardly know you.” “It is whatever you want to label it, but the choice is yours.” I slipped out the back as quietly as I’d entered. All I could do now was wait. OceanofPDF.com Chapter 11 Giada I sat through the rest of my pedicure in stunned silence. Primo wanted me to go with him. To disregard all my family’s warnings and risk my life to be with him. I shouldn’t even consider it, yet my heart was threatening to burst from my chest, drowning my bloodstream with liquid elation. I may have barely known him, but he’d seen the worst side of me—my brashness and mischievous tendencies—and he still wanted me. Primo sparked something inside me no other man had. Would it be so terrible to see where that spark took me? I could always change my mind if I went with him and decided he wasn’t the man I thought he was. The prospects filled me with nervous energy until I could hardly sit still. Ignoring the protests of my bewildered nail technician, I slipped from the chair the moment she finished polishing my nails and headed to the front counter to pay. “You finally done?” Filip had not been thrilled with his assignment. He’d been all too happy to volunteer himself for a slumber party, but shadowing me around town was a different matter. From the minute he arrived at my door that morning, he’d been surly and uncommunicative. “You think women are just buffed and polished naturally? It takes time and money to look like this.” I handed my cash over to the receptionist and thanked her before turning for the door. “You don’t want to hear what I think,” Filip grumbled. I ground to a halt and glared at him. “Oh, I’d love to hear this. What exactly is it that you think about women’s appearances?” A chilling shift overcame Filip, his playboy façade melting away and leaving in its place something unquestionably more ruthless. More intense and complex than I had ever imagined him capable of. He prowled forward, closing the distance between us. “I think the only red a woman needs on her body is the flush on her skin from a man’s capable hand. No clothes. No makeup. No pretenses. Just a blindfold and complete submission. The rest of this bullshit”—he flicked his head toward the salon—“is for you guys, not us.” Well, I’ll be damned. Filip’s got some bite. I wasn’t sure I could fathom being subservient, but I had to admit, the way he presented it made me wish I could. Young Filip wasn’t so different from his brother as I’d thought. He’d initially seemed like a naïve kid compared to the stoic, self-possessed Matteo. I stood corrected. Clearing my throat, I asked, “How old are you?” “Twenty-eight. Now, come on. It’s time to get you home. I have other s**t to do.” He started toward the car, leaving me no choice but to follow. “You seemed younger,” I called after him. He smirked back at me. “I’ve been around long enough.” Not long enough to know he should have kept his eyes on me at all times. I liked Filip and was now more than a smidge curious about him, but he’d slipped up on the job. Primo had gotten past their defenses, and now, I had a decision to make. I went home and tried to think, got frustrated, then actively avoided thinking. Thursday night bled into Friday night, and I still had no answers. My arguments with myself bordered on schizophrenic, and I began to worry about when exactly Primo was leaving. He said I had two days, but that was rather vague. It could mean he was leaving anytime from Friday through Sunday. If he’d been anyone else, I would have been confident I could take a flight out to meet him regardless of when he left, but Primo was different. I was fairly certain his offer was finite. If I wasn’t on that plane with him when he left, there would be no second chances. Time was slipping away from me, but I was torn. I wanted him, but my family’s warnings weren’t unfounded. Would I be making a horrible mistake if I went? Would I resent my family forever if I didn’t? By Saturday evening, I was so sick of my own vacillating thoughts that I wished someone would just put a bullet in my brain and put me out of my misery. I’d reached an impasse. The only way I could see moving forward was to flip a coin or something equally as arbitrary. I needed something to tip the scales, and my cousin was the perfect person to help me. She didn’t know it, but she was about to make the decision of a lifetime for me. Saturday evening, I curled up on my sofa with my phone and dialed Alessia. “Hey, G. What’s up?” she answered cheerily. “You know how you’re always telling me I should think about going to school or volunteering or something?” “Yeah?” “I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and I’m really interested in photography.” “Oh, Giada! I think that would be a great field for you.” “Hold up, there’s more. The thing is, the stuff that interests me the most is the amazing shots of ocean life—whales and dolphins and coral reefs. I think that could be my calling.” I had worked hard to craft a proposed career that suited my needs—it had to be something remotely believable with an element of obvious danger. She already knew I loved the beach, and photography wasn’t an unreasonable stretch in the realm of my interests. In actuality, beneath the guise of my metaphor, we were talking about a relationship with Primo, but she would never know that, at least not until it was too late.