Chapter 32 Double Whiskey and Challenges
Chapter 32 Double Whiskey and Challenges
The silence stretched after that, heavy but not uncomfortable in the way she had expected, and Vicenzo went back to his phone, his thumbs typing again as if nothing had happened, but Giulia noticed the way his jaw tightened for a second, the muscle pulsing slightly before relaxing, and she knew he was feeling something beneath that façade, something he wouldn’t admit even to himself. She crossed her arms, looking down at her hands in her lap, her fingers laced tightly enough for her nails to press into her palms, and she thought of Valentina again, not as the woman Vicenzo loved, but as the piece she had removed from the board that night, and she wondered how long it would take for the real price of that move to arrive.
The flight attendant returned with the drinks, placing the glasses on the table between the seats with care that was almost excessive, and Giulia took hers without thanking her, bringing the whiskey to her lips in a swallow that burned down her throat and made her eyes sting, but she drank it anyway, because she needed something to fill the empty space in her head. Vicenzo picked up his more slowly, swirling the glass in his hand for a moment before drinking, and the ice clinked against the glass in a way that sounded too loud in the quiet cabin.
“You think this is going to stop me?” he said it without looking at her, his voice low but almost conversational, as if they were talking about the weather instead of islands and punishment and whatever was coming.
Giulia lowered her glass, her fingers still tight around it, and turned her face toward him slowly, meeting his eyes, now fixed on her, waiting.
“Stop what? You from being who you are?” She let a thin smile slip into her voice, not from amusement, but to show she wouldn’t shrink. “I grew up around men like you, Vicenzo. I know how it works.”
He let out a short laugh without humor, tipping his glass forward as if toasting her before taking another sip.
“Men like me. You say that as if you know.”
“I know enough.” She shifted in her seat, crossing her legs again, the dress riding slightly up her thigh, but she didn’t bother adjusting it, because that would show she cared. “Enough to know islands aren’t just for relaxing.”
His eyes narrowed again, but this time there was something different there, something that looked like recognition, and he set his glass down on the table with a soft click.
“Luca told you.”
It wasn’t a question. It was a statement, and Giulia nodded once, the movement short enough not to feel like a confession.
“He did. And I laughed in his face at the time, thinking it was an exaggeration.” She paused, lifting the glass to her lips again, the whiskey burning less now. “I’m not laughing anymore.”
Vicenzo stayed quiet for a moment, his gaze dropping to his glass before returning to her, and when he spoke, his voice had lost a bit of its sharp edge.
“It’s not the island you think.”
“Then which one is it?” She raised a brow, the challenge still there but now mixed with genuine curiosity, because if it wasn’t the torture one, then what was it? “The relaxing one? Alone with a woman you believe killed your friend?”
He tightened his grip on the glass, his knuckles paling slightly, and Giulia saw it—saw the effort it took for him not to answer immediately, not to show how much that hit.
“You’re not just that, are you? Apparently, you’re someone with a death wish.”
The words came out low, and Giulia blinked, the glass pausing midair for a second before she lowered it, because that wasn’t what she had expected to hear from him, not after everything.
“What? And now I’m what? Your fake fiancée who slaps your lover?”
“Lover…” He stopped, shaking his head as if discarding the word, and shrugged again, more tense this time. “It doesn’t matter what she is. What matters is that you’re here, and I’m taking you somewhere no one is going to interrupt.”
Giulia felt her heart speed up, not from fear, but from something that was confusion mixed with anger, and she leaned forward, her elbows on the table, her eyes locked on his.
“Interrupt what? The punishment? The power play? Tell me, Vicenzo, because I’m tired of guessing.”
He held her gaze, the silence stretching until the flight attendant appeared again in the aisle, offering more drinks or food or whatever it was, but Vicenzo waved her off without looking away, and the woman quickly retreated, leaving them alone again. When he spoke, it was with a kind of honesty that surprised both of them.
“I don’t know yet. But I’ll figure it out when we get there.”
Giulia leaned back into her seat, the empty glass now in her hand, and looked out the window where the dark sky passed slowly, thinking that maybe the island wasn’t the worst thing that could happen, but the worst was not knowing what Vicenzo really wanted from her, and that made her tighten her grip on the empty glass until it creaked faintly, a warning that she wouldn’t break easily, no matter what came next.
The flight went on like that, silences punctuated by looks and short lines that said more than they seemed, and Giulia drank the second whiskey she ordered just to have something in her hands, feeling the alcohol warm her chest while the plane cut through the sky toward a place that would change everything between them, or at least that was what she hoped, because standing still was worse than any island.