Page 55 of Twisted Throne

Chapter Twenty-Four

Gia

When I took off out of the kitchen, I had no thoughts of where I was going other than “out”. Some place with only one door and nobody likely to pop into it. I bypassed the stairs and ended up in a small room that I hadn’t been in before. It was a sitting room, barely more than a nook with a door on it. It only contained a small couch, and a mahogany table just big enough for the small brass lamp. It was spotless but still had an air about it of disuse. The perfect place to get myself together a bit and hide out.

Oh, shit.

When I’d turned to sit on the couch I realized that the button on my jeans was still undone and the zipper was halfway down. I felt my face turn red all over again as I buttoned them back up and sat down, sinking into the deep cushions. Carlos must have gotten an eyeful.

I leaned back against the plush, velvet fabric. It seemed a shame to have something this beautiful hidden away. When I looked up I noticed several framed photos on the wall opposite. I hadn’t noticed them before because they had been behind the door.

Standing, I walked over to inspect them. They were all group photos, some posed, some more candid. I immediately recognized Angelo, who was in most of them. In the top few he was in his twenties, and the last one appeared to have been taken within the last few years. When I looked closer at the newer photos, I was able to spot Paul, as well as Carlos and Alec. They progressed from gangly, awkward-looking teenagers trying to look tough, to the solemn, powerful men that I had met.

This had been, and still was, Paul's family, his life. Something I was going to have to accept if I wanted to be with him, to be part of this family. I touched my finger to the glass of my favorite picture of Paul. It was candid, and he was looking at someone or something out of the shot while laughing.

His face looked softer, the camera had caught him during one of those seemingly rare moments when he let his walls drop. This was the Paul I wanted and needed. And maybe even loved.

I walked back toward the couch and was almost smashed in the face when the door flew open with a bang.

“Watch out!” I yelled as I caught the heavy wooden door in my hand.

Lucy’s head poked around the door to peer at me, her eyes were wide as saucers and she was out of breath.

“Gia! Thank fuck!” She squeezed the rest of the way into the room and slammed the door shut. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere!”

“Well, you certainly found me.” I pushed her down onto the couch and then sat beside her. “What’s going on?”

“I was bored and just sorta walking around the house. I checked your room, but you weren’t there. And I didn’t want to hang out with Elena because she’s been weird as shit lately.” Lucy shifted around until she was fully facing me. “So I went downstairs and I was going to grab a snack or something from the kitchen then go outside and see if you were out there or something.”

She stopped talking and turned to glance at the closed door.

“I was, um, in the kitchen earlier, but I didn’t see you.”

Oh God, did she see me and Paul in the kitchen?

“I guess this was after that, then. Or before. I don’t fucking know. Shit.”

She jumped up and started pacing around the room. Except that since it only took about four steps to make it from one side of the nook to the other she gave up and just spun around in a circle then threw herself dramatically against the door.

“Anyway, Paul was in there, talking to Carlos, right?” She continued on before I could interject. “So I didn’t, like, go in right away, because it sounded like they were talking about some serious shit or something.”

She stared at me like she was waiting for some type of response.

“Okay, so what did you do?” I asked her. I had no clue where this was headed, but something was going on for sure. Lucy was bouncing off the walls like a superball.

“I, um, just stayed outside of the door,” she said sheepishly. “ I didn’t want to interrupt them, ya know?”

I nodded and encouraged her to continue. The fact that she had eavesdropped didn’t surprise me, but her demeanor right now did.

“Anyway, they were… talking about Alec.” She stopped trying to pace, and her eyes widened like a hurt child’s. The flicker of betrayal in her usual devil-may-care expression felt too private for me to intrude on, and I glanced away. “They were talking about Alec giving information to Antonio Sabitino!”

“Alec? Elena’s husband, Alec?” I blinked, trying to go over my mental family tree. “He’s Angelo’s nephew! You had to have heard something wrong, or gotten something mixed up.”

“I know that! And no, I did not hear anything wrong! I heard Carlos say something about Alec being locked up downstairs and then Paul said that he was a rat and he was going to ask Angelo if he could, like, interrogate him or something!”

This couldn’t possibly be right. But Lucy’s voice rang true. As much as she might love drama, I didn’t think Lucy would say something like this unless she was sure of what she’d heard.

“Have you talked to Elena?”