What Happened?

“What does birichina mean?” I asked Lily.

Her mother was Italian, and she went there for holidays, which meant she knew the language better than I did. While my parents were also Italian, they never spoke the language, and they were born in the States.

“It means little troublemaker,” she said. “Where did you hear that word?”

I shrugged, refusing to answer.

Troublemaker? Did Nero know I didn’t go to his house to seduce him? Obviously, girls being brought to his house was not his idea. By the time I went downstairs, there was no one else there but me.

Luckily, Dominic didn’t speak to me. He just dropped me off at the club, and I took a cab home.

“What happened in Nero’s mansion? You haven’t spoken about it.”

“Nothing. His office required a fingerprint to unlock. I wasn’t able to find something to link him to my parents’ murder.” I said.

“What would you have done if you had? He wouldn’t have let you come out unscathed. Besides, he doesn’t have evidence linking him to murders lying around.”

Ever since my uncle told me he found a lead in my parents’ death and it was linked to the DeLuca family, I became uneasy. My parents were killed when I was eighteen, and their death was ruled a murder-suicide.

Bullshit.

My father loved my mother with all his heart, and he was the mayor of New York. There was no way he killed her. The news painted my mother as the unfaithful cheater when she was anything but.

My parents taught me what love could be. And when they died, my uncle suggested the right thing to do was to flee before the people who killed my parents came for me. He was the only one who believed my parents would never kill themselves.

But without evidence, there was nothing either of us could do.

“I don’t know what to do…”

My uncle Lorenzo gave me the plans to Nero’s mansion, and I thought I would be able to find something to solve my parents’ murder. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

“If you really want to find any evidence, your best bet is seducing Nero. That’s almost impossible considering he’s a recluse.” Lily said. “That’s the only way you can get close enough to snoop through all his things.”

I didn’t tell her that I had an interaction with Nero. I didn’t know why I hid it. All I knew was that it felt like a secret I wanted to keep to myself.

“How do I do that?” I asked her even though I knew there was no way Nero would be attracted to me.

He didn’t like my body, and his preference was blonde women. I had brunette hair and green eyes. I had nothing that he would ever desire in a woman.

“You’re not serious, are you? He’s rumored to be a dangerous man. People whisper that he has ties to the mafia. If he is connected to your parents’ murder, he’ll kill you. Don’t be stupid.”

“I will do anything to solve my parents’ murder,” I told her. “I have nothing to lose.”

I was about to say something to her when a group of girls approached us.

“If it isn’t the orphan. I didn’t know you were back in town, Serena Marino. Changing your last name doesn’t change the fact that you don’t have any parents.” Cecilia Davenport said.

I went to high school with her and the two girls beside her, Aurora and Nadia. She was still a stuck-up bitch and bully, even at the ripe age of twenty-three.

She made fun of me and isolated me when I lost everything. She still hadn’t changed.

“If it isn’t the immature brat. Making fun of orphans was understandable when you were eighteen. Now you’re twenty-three. It’s time to grow up.” I told her.

Her smile faltered, and she narrowed her eyes at me.

I was at a golf club where I went to pass the time. It was a sport my father had taught me, and I felt connected to him when I played. I never stopped, even after his death.

“What are you doing here? Aren’t you poor? Don’t tell me you’re banging some rich old man to get in.” She said, and the girls near her laughed.

She was the definition of a blonde bimbo. I bet Nero would take a liking to her.

“I don’t need to explain myself to you, Cecelia.”

“I heard you speaking about Nero. You'd better stay away from him. He’s going to be my fiancé soon. My father is arranging our marriage.”

I rolled my eyes and glanced at Lily.

“Let’s go,” I said, and we got up to leave, but Cecelia grabbed my arm to stop me.

“You don’t belong in this world anymore. Let’s face it. You’re no longer the it girl in our world. That title belongs to me. No one wants to see your ugly face. Pack up and go back to where you came from, orphan.”

She let me go and walked away.

“What’s her problem?” Lily asked. “She’s acting like she’s still in middle school.

Once upon a time, I was the popular girl at school in the Upper East Side, and Cecelia kissed the ground I walked on. That was until my parents died and I got a taste of reality. Everyone turned their backs on me.

As if it wasn’t bad enough that my parents died, I was broke and in debt. They all laughed in my face and made fun of me. Cecelia became the new popular girl and the one every boy dreamed of marrying.

The world of New York socialites was fickle. It was all about beauty, money, social media followers, and boys. If I wanted to fit back in, I had to care about all that stuff again.

Cecelia was threatened that I was back, and I didn’t understand why. We were no longer in high school. We could co-exist in the same circle. But for her, that was impossible, and I knew a bully like her would make my life miserable.

“Do you think she’ll marry Nero?” Lily asked.

“I don’t know…”

As I watched Cecilia walk away, my phone rang. It was my uncle.

“Zio,” I greeted. He liked it when I called him uncle in Italian.

“Serena…you’re okay? How…how did yesterday go?” He asked.

He sounded shocked to the point that he stuttered. I wondered what his deal was. He was the one who had urged me to go to the DeLuca mansion to get some answers. Why was he acting like it was shocking that I came out unscathed?

“It didn’t go well. I wasn’t able to find anything.” I replied. “Are you okay? You sound weird.”

“I’m okay, thank you for the concern. Don’t worry. Other chances to find out the truth will present themselves. Listen, since you’re in New York, I wanted to set you up with my friend’s son. Go on a blind date with him to the Governor’s Ball tomorrow night.”

I wanted to refuse, but I didn’t. Without him, I wouldn’t have survived when my parents died, and my little brother would have never gone to school. Besides, he was a Senator, and he was the only influential person I knew who could help me with my revenge plans.

“Okay, Zio.”

“Good. I’m looking forward to seeing you tomorrow.”