"Hm. Is he a friend of yours?"
"Yes."
Costa nodded, reaching his hand up to move a stray piece of hair from my face. "If you ever let another man touch you again, there will be consequences. Do you understand?"
He spoke so softly yet so ominously...
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We hardly exchanged anymore words after I gave Costa that compliment on the balcony.
It wasn't unusual for us though, sometimes we'd just exist around each other with very little to say.
We weren't exactly friends - in my opinion, anyway. Sometimes we'd spend time together and maybe have conversations like the one on the balcony that evening, but not always.
And that was okay. Our silences were usually comfortable on the most part.
Considering it was the anniversary of his mother's death, I think I'd prefer silence over the possibility of his anger consuming him.
The next day we were back in the same routine as before - the one where everyone ignored my existence in the house.
From what I observed, October 25th was the only day they let their grief get to them. By the 26th, it was like everything was back to normal.
I expected Costa to be in a bad mood in the morning and I definitely expected his brothers to still be angry too.
But when I arrived to collect my breakfast, they were all talking as if the arguments from last night never occurred.
So we settled back into that routine for two more days. We were due to fly back to New York soon anyway and I was going to stay there as part of my agreement with Costa - three weeks in New York and one week in Sicily.
Costa was busy for the next couple of days and things were settling back into the normal routine that I was used to before we ever went on our trip. It was back to breakfast on my own, spending the day working somewhere in the house and then eating dinner on my own too.
Or so I thought.
"Nadia?" I tentatively stepped into the kitchen where Nadia and Edoardo were talking.
"Yes?" She smiled, her eyes brightening when she saw me. She was by far the most welcoming of the Accardi's towards me.
"Wait, are you going out?" She was dressed in a floor length gown and Edoardo in one of his usual suits.
"Sì, we have an event. It starts early this afternoon."
"Oh." Why did I come in here again?
"Why?" She prodded. "What do you need?"
"Oh, it was nothing. Never-"
"Say it." She snapped, still smiling at me.
Meanwhile, Edoardo was watching me like I was a spider he was sizing up so he could determine what size glass to trap me with.
