Page 113 of XOXO

“Maybe it’s time you came home? All we need is to wait for the next big story for this to go away,” Mario said softly.

“Yeah, maybe I could go⁠—”

“Oh my god, are you sure it’s her?,” I heard someone say as I picked up my speed.

“Violeta, please find somewhere safe to stay and call me as soon as you⁠—”

I didn’t hear what he said as I tumbled down the stairs. This was the last thing I needed as a sharp pain shot up my ankle and I cried out. So much for a quiet day touring Athens.

“Ma’am, are you ok?” A man knelt in front of me.

“No, I think I hurt my ankle,” I cried.

“Ok, you think you can walk on it?” he asked, inspecting my ankle and it looked like it was swelling.

“Maybe,” I said, as he helped me up.

A crowd was already forming around us. I winced as pain shot up my ankle.

“I don’t think I can walk,” I said, my lips quivering.

“It’s ok, Violeta. I got you.”

I looked up to see the last person I wanted to see.

29. Levi

Bad things always come in threes.

Life was going so well. I thought about it last night when we were sleeping together, with Matteo on one side of me and Vi on the other. I had spent so many years in a constant state of worry that I hadn’t realized how much I had been carrying on my shoulders until now. I should have known; nothing good lasts forever.

“Why aren’t they answering?” I snapped, pacing the front of the building where we had our meeting.

“Ru has probably gone dark since he is with his agent, but I don’t know about Vi,” he said, typing away on his phone. “Maybe her reception sucks at the Acropolis?”

I pressed call on Vi’s number, even though I just tried calling five minutes ago. It went straight to voicemail and my heart broke a little again.

“Let’s head back to the house and wait for everyone there,” Matteo said, grabbing my hand. “We can regroup there and figure out what to do.”

“What if she doesn’t come back?” I hated how small my voice sounded. “What if this scares her and what if Ru doesn’t handle this well.”

“Hey, we don’t know how anyone is going to react. Ru might suffer the most out of all of us, and we just must be there for him,” he said, leading me to the metro.

“And Violeta?” I asked, making sure we were on the same page with her.

“Violeta will handle this better than you think,” he said, squeezing my hand. “She’s amazing and everything that has happened she has taken in stride. I wouldn’t be surprised if she is already thinking ahead and has a plan.”

Matteo was too confident about our situation at hand. He was usually the pessimist in the group while I was more level-headed, but it seemed Matteo had no worries so maybe I was the one overreacting. Not hearing from Vi had me thinking a ton of bad things, though.

“So, our plan is to go home and wait?” I sighed.

Matteo said nothing as we went down into the subway, scanning our cards and looking for the platform that would take us home. I was ready to snap at him for not answering my question when we were waiting for the subway.

“I need you to chill, Levi,” he said, cupping my face. “We need to regroup. The most logical place would be the rental house. Once everyone gets home we can plan what happens next. Ru's agent will probably be doing damage control and then we can figure out what we are doing. Worst-case scenario is we go to Paris or Lake Como to hide out until this all blows over. I won’t let this situation separate us, ok?”

I nodded, my throat tightening with emotion. “I don’t want to lose what we have.”

“I won’t let that happen,” he said, kissing my forehead, holding me close.