Heartless

Chapter 26

A week after we arrived home, it was the day of the mafia ball.

I'd decided that I would make use of the Versace dress I'd bought with Ivy. I'd never got a chance to wear it in Sicily due to it being far too formal, so I thought it'd be an appropriate choice.

At least it'll give me a slight chance to fit in with all of the incredibly wealthy mafia wives.

Ivy had also been invited to the ball and had told me that she'd come round to get ready with me before it started.

She was amazing at hair and makeup and hopefully she'd make me look somewhat decent.

Over the past week, I hadn't seen much of Reed. He'd been working a lot and was still trying to stay on top of detective Hayes.

Fortunately, the detective seemed to have simmered down and wasn't much of a worry anymore.

Whenever I had seen Reed, everything had been pretty normal, although there was certainly tension between us.

After the trip, both of our feelings had been a lot more exposed, so the fact we both knew that he'd have to fake this loving relationship with Evelyn was slowly killing both of us.

I spent most of the day alone in my room. I wasn't really in the mood to see anybody today, let alone attend a grand ball to watch Reed and his fiance have a great time together.

However, I'd told myself to stop feeling sorry for myself and get over it. I was going to this ball and I was going to have a nice time with my friends.

At around 3PM, I'd decided to go into Reed's home library. I'd been spending a lot of time in there ever since I'd been banned from working.

It was a large room, with huge shelves on each wall. It had two floors and was incredible. I'd never expected Reed to have such a grand collection of books as he didn't seem like the 'bookish' type. It was quite an old room and had a lot of wooden accents, it reminded me a lot of the library in 'Beauty and the Beast'. I loved it.

When I went in, I sat in my usual comfortable armchair and pulled out a book. I'd chosen Romeo and Juliet, the tragedy written by William Shakespeare. I'd always found the story extremely sad, how Romeo and Juliet were practically forbidden from being together even though they were obviously meant for each other. However, recently it'd become one of my favourite things to read.

The book completely consumed me until I realised that I was more than halfway through. I was jolted out of my daydreaming when there was a knock at the door.

I looked up to see Reed leaning against the door frame in all his glory, smirking as he watched me become so invested in the pages in front of me.

"You like it in here, don't you?" he asked, slowly making his way to me with his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah, I suppose I do." I said, placing my book down and standing up. "How come you have a whole library to yourself and yet I've never seen you pick up a single book?"

"I used to spend a lot of time in here, but I suppose work's been taking up most of my life recently." he shrugged. "What were you reading?"

"Romeo and Juliet."

"Ah, the sad tragedy of forbidden lovers." he smiled, looking at the book on the table.

"That's the one."

"Well, I just came to find you because I wanted to see how you were feeling about the ball. I'm sorry if it's going to be awkward between you and Evelyn."

"Let's just say I don't think I'll be asked to be one of her bridesmaids for the wedding, but don't worry about me, I'll be perfectly fine."

"Are you sure? I'll try and spend most of my time with you and the guys but I'm not sure if-"