Abby stared at the phone resting on the kitchen counter, deep irritation simmering beneath her carefully maintained facade. She had been handed a golden opportunity, but things were quickly spiraling out of control.
This was not how her weekend was supposed to go. Not even close.
"I'm surprised you're calling me," Beth's voice buzzed through the speaker. "I thought you'd be off enjoying your romantic getaway with Finn."
Abby rolled her eyes, leaning back against the marble kitchen island and taking a slow, frustrated sip of her orange juice. "So did I."
She had envisioned this staycation as her grand victory lap. She had pictured Finn finally tiring of playing happy home with Giulia, realizing that the quiet, mousey girl he'd been dating was a dull shadow compared to her.
Instead, the entire situation had turned into a chaotic mess. It was as if a chest of gold had fallen onto her balcony, serendipity at its finest, until she opened it up to discover every single bar inside was a worthless counterfeit.
She had managed to pull Finn away from Giulia, yet somehow, it felt as if she was still struggling for his attention.
"I thought it was a done deal," Abby hissed under her breath. "But nothing is going according to plan."
Beth laughed softly on the other end. "What happened?"
"That pathetic little ghost seems to have cast some kind of spell on both brothers." Abby's manicured fingers tightened around her glass until her knuckles strained. "Beau took her out."
A heavy beat of silence stretched across the line. "Beau?"
"Yes."
"Why on earth would Beau Orsini take Giulia anywhere?"
"That is precisely what I'm trying to figure out!" Abby's eyes narrowed into sharp slits. "And Finn has been acting like a caged animal ever since they left."
She darted a glance toward the glass doors leading out to the sunlit patio. Finn wasn't out there anymore. He had disappeared several minutes ago under the vague excuse of grabbing something from downstairs, but Abby knew better.
The exact moment Beau had taken Giulia by the arm and escorted her out of the mansion, something inside Finn had snapped. He had become increasingly volatile, pacing the halls and dialing both their phones to no avail.
Abby knew what was eating him alive. Jealousy.
That realization irritated her most of all. She had finally gotten Finn to herself, her golden opportunity to prove he was better off without that plain, timid girl who dressed as if she were actively trying to blend into the drywall.
Abby had never understood what Finn saw in her. Giulia wore absurdly oversized glasses, hid beneath painfully conservative clothes, wore zero makeup, and didn't possess a single bone of seductive charm.
Yet somehow, both Orsini brothers seemed fixated on her.
"Maybe Beau is just being polite," Beth offered weakly.
"Beau Orsini doesn't do anything out of politeness," Abby scoffed. "He barely tolerates people he actually likes. He's up to something."
"So what are you going to do?"
Before Abby could answer, the glass patio doors slid open with a sharp click. Finn stepped back inside, his expression dark, his jaw clenched so tightly the muscles twitched beneath his skin.
He looked like a man who had spent the last hour locked in a violent argument with his own shadow.
Abby instantly smoothed her posture, seizing the opening. "Beth, I'll call you back."
She disconnected the call, set her phone down, and watched him carefully as he dragged a dining chair back with a harsh metallic scrape before dropping into it.
"Someone's stressed," Abby purred softly.
Finn ignored her, his dark eyes fixated on the front driveway outside the floor-to-ceiling windows. He was waiting.
Abby glided behind his chair, resting her hands lightly on his rigid shoulders. "Your neck is like iron. Let me fix that."
She began working her fingers into the knotted muscle beneath his shirt. At first, Finn stiffened, resisting her touch, but after a few deliberate kneads, his posture gave way with a quiet, ragged sigh.
Abby's smile returned, cruel and triumphant. There he is. The Finn who melted under her touch. The Finn who couldn't resist her when she pressed the right buttons.
She leaned down, her breath brushing the shell of his ear. "See? You just needed someone who actually knows how to take care of you. Beau and Giulia are probably off doing whatever tedious, boring things nerds do. Don't let them ruin our night."
Finn's entire body went dead still.
The warmth evaporated instantly. He opened his eyes, reached up, and violently shoved her hands off his shoulders.
"Enough."
Abby's smile froze.
Finn stood up slowly, turning to face her with a look so cold and hostile it forced her to take an involuntary step back.
"Don't," he rasped, his voice dangerously low.
"Don't what?"
"Don't talk about Giulia like that."
Abby stared at him, genuine shock piercing through her anger. "You've done nothing but obsess over her since Beau drove her out of here! Why do you even care?"
"That is none of your damn business."
"None of my business?!" Abby's control snapped, her voice rising sharply. "I am your girlfriend, Finn!"
The moment the words left her mouth, a suffocating silence settled over the room.
Finn stared at her, his eyes hollow and unreadable. Abby caught her mistake immediately, unlike Beau who kept flinging the girlfriend word around, Finn had not even called her girlfriend even once after the announcement at the hospital.
She quickly smoothed it over, lifting her chin defensively. "You know what I mean."
Finn didn't answer. He turned his back on her, his gaze darting back toward the grand entryway as heavy, confident footsteps echoed down the marble hallway.
The double doors opened.
Beau stepped inside first, immaculate and unbothered. Any words that were poised to come out died in Abby's throat the second her eyes shifted to the woman beside him.
Giulia was transformed.
The absurd, face-hiding glasses were gone. Her dark hair had been swept up in a loose, elegant style that framed her sharp features and highlighted the delicate slope of her neck.
She wore a cream-colored, perfectly fitted dress that hugged her tiny waist before falling like a waterfall just above her knees, striking the precise balance between effortless chic and striking luxury.
Beside her, Finn let out a soft, sharp intake of air, completely frozen in place.
Before anyone could speak, Beau reached out, casually sliding his long fingers through Giulia's, clasping her hand in a smooth, unmistakably possessive grip. Giulia blinked, her eyes darting down to their joined hands in sheer bewilderment, her heart hammering against her ribs.
Finn recovered first, stepping forward with his fists clenched. "You've been gone all day," he demanded, his voice laced with unrefined anger. "Where the hell have you two been?"
Beau didn't even blink. He raised a single, dark eyebrow at his younger brother. "I'm an adult, Finn. I hardly think our whereabouts require reporting to you."
Finn's face flushed dark red. "That's not what I…"
"Then what?" Beau cut him off, his voice smooth as glass, radiating absolute dominance.
Finn's jaw snapped shut, the violent tension between the brothers threatening to crack the room open. Giulia stood trapped in the center of their silent war, her breath catching as she tried to decipher the sudden, terrifying shift in the room's dynamic.
Then Abby gasped.
Her eyes had drifted down from Beau's cold face to their intertwined hands. Her brows knitted in utter confusion, which instantly collapsed into sheer, horrifying realization.
"Wait..." The word slipped from Abby's lips like a dying breath.
Finn snapped his head toward her. "What?"
Abby stared at Giulia's left hand, the color draining completely from her face until she was as pale as a sheet. "You're..." Her voice trembled violently as she pointed a manicured finger. "Is that... an engagement ring?!"
"I almost forgot, I have news." Beau's lips curved into the faintest, most devastating smile imaginable. "I asked Giulia to marry me, and she said yes."
Giulia's heart slammed into her chest like a battering ram.
And Finn, Finn looked as though someone had just driven a shattered glass bottle straight into his lungs.