For several seconds, Giulia couldn't breathe. She felt that she had been cornered, shamefully caught in her lie.
Then she remembered who she was dealing with.
Abby.
Her fake best friend.
The woman currently sleeping with her boyfriend and rubbing it in her face.
"Pretending?" Giulia whispered in a fragile voice.
Abby smiled.
"Don't worry. I'm not angry."
She sat down beside the bed and crossed her legs.
"Actually, I'm impressed."
Giulia stared at her.
"What are you talking about?"
"You really committed to the act." Abby leaned closer. "The tears. The confusion. Calling Beau your boyfriend."
Giulia's fingers tightened around the duvet.
Of course she knew, because she was a conniving snake. It was probably the exact kind of thing she would do.
"I really don't remember anything," Giulia said, then stared at Abby long and hard. "But if Beau is not my boyfriend, who is?"
She blinked innocently, then added. "You said Finn is your boyfriend, and Beau is mine. Or are you lying?"
Abby studied Giulia's face like it held some secrets she wanted to reveal.
Meanwhile, outside the door, Beau angrily glared at his older brother.
"You are actually quite good at being a boyfriend." Finn teased, "If I did not know better, I wouldn't realize this is all an act."
"What if it is not an act?" Beau's expression was strict, uncompromising.
For a split second, Finn wondered if his kid brother had gone rogue, then he waved the thought away.
Beau was loyal, to a fault. Had been that way since he was little. And because Finn actually treated him well despite their mother constantly trying to pit them against each other, he knew Beau loved him.
"Okay, calm down, bro," Finn said and tried to place his hand back on Beau's shoulder, but Beau took a step back and eyed him warily, wondering at the kind of antics his older brother was up to now.
"Is this some kind of sick joke?" He demanded.
"You need to get back in there and correct that lie you and your side piece just made up," Beau continued heatedly. "I will not be a part of fooling that girl."
Finn looked at Beau's unyielding expression.
"I know that she is plain-looking and acting as her boyfriend must be very hard, but just help your big bro this once," he pleaded.
Beau's face hardened. "Aren't you too old to be playing these games with naive women?" He growled. "I will not be a part of this this time."
"In that case, I guess I'm gonna have to break up with her." Finn shrugged nonchalantly and turned towards the door.
As he reached out to turn the handle, Beau grabbed him and slammed him against the wall.
"Have you no heart?" He growled.
Finn's expression hardened as he said, "Remember that I am your older brother; you can't speak to me any way you like."
Beau's hand remained on Finn's shoulder, and he made no move to take a step back.
"Easy, bro," Finn chuckled and pulled Beau's fingers off him. "If I didn't know you better, I would think you were in love with her."
Beau glared at his brother. "I don't have to be in love with the girl to know that dumping her while she is lying on a hospital bed is unconscionable."
"If it worries you that bad, then just tell her she is your girlfriend," Finn shrugged, suggesting, his eyes gleaming.
"It's just for a little while," he added.
At Beau's unimpressed expression, Finn scowled. "I've been dating Giulia for almost an entire month, and she still won't give up the cookie. She says she's keeping it till marriage."
"I'm so bored. I'm only having fun with Abby for now," he continued. "Maybe Giulia can be my wife. She'll be perfect, obedient, loyal, a proper mob wife. Don't you think?"
"And when Giulia's amnesia is gone?" Beau asked tiredly. "What next?"
"I'll get back with her," Finn answered confidently.
"Giulia loves me too much to ever leave me," he continued with a smile. "And also, I'm yet to meet a woman who can resist me when I apologize."
Beau's shoulders slumped slightly.
Finn was telling the truth. Ever since they had been little, Finn had watched his brother, who was three years older than him, get away with unforgivable behavior.
For some reason, women would swoon at his feet no matter what demeaning thing he put them through.
There was no reason why this time would be different. He knew how the story would end. Giulia would take Finn back. It did not matter what heinous thing he had done.
Beau felt guilty about his position as his older brother's enabler.
When he had been a teenager, Beau had idolized his big brother, who looked like the coolest guy in the world.
Then, Beau's job was to be the one who had to tell the lies to the many girlfriends and deliver the breakup gifts. He was tired.
His shoulders straightened resolutely.
He decided that he would no longer be a part of this rubbish.
He would tell Giulia the truth, all the consequences be damned.
When Finn and Beau stepped back into the hospital room, Giulia's eyes met his. She looked impossibly small against the white sheets, her face pale. Something fierce and protective rose in his chest.
Beau Orsini stood there, the CEO who could dismantle a competing company with a single phone call.
Feeling like a fraud because he couldn't tell a girl who worked for him that he wasn't the man she loved.
"Giulia, listen to me." He began.
Suddenly, it felt like the world tilted.
Everything went eerily silent; the silence felt like it was pressed against his eardrums, waiting for a storm to break.
Then the white walls of the hospital room vibrated. A tray of medical instruments toppled over in the corner, the silver tools clattering loudly. A glass vase on the windowsill shattered, water and flowers spilling across the floor.
Then the sirens started. A high, piercing wail that sliced through the sudden chaos.
"What's happening?" Finn's face went the color of the hospital sheets. All his bravado, his "puppy dog" act, vanished in an instant, replaced by raw, naked panic.
His eyes darted around the room like a trapped animal looking for an exit.
The door flung open, banging against the wall with a violent crack. A nurse, her hair disheveled and eyes wide, leaned into the room. "We have to evacuate! It's an earthquake! Move, now!"
She didn't stay to help. She didn't have time. She disappeared into the hallway where the sound of running feet and shouting voices was growing louder by the second.
"Finn, I'm so scared!" Abby whimpered from the corner where she had been standing.
She didn't spare a glance at Giulia. She didn't check if her "best friend" could even stand or walk. She simply reached out for Finn, her fingers digging into his sleeve like a lifeline.
Without a moment's hesitation, without even glancing in the bed's direction, Finn swept Abby into his arms like some shining hero from a bad romance novel. He cradled her against his chest as if she were made of glass.
Then, he simply ran out of the room, his footsteps swallowed by the chaos in the hallway.
Giulia stared at the open doorway where her boyfriend had just run out carrying her best friend, then she tried to climb out of bed.
Her legs immediately gave way.
"Ah…"
Strong arms caught her around the waist.
Beau.
He pulled her against his chest just as another violent tremor rocked the building.
"Don't move, I've got you."
His voice was low and commanding, reassuring.
His chest felt sturdy against her ear, and the sound of his heartbeat grounded her.
Her fingers instinctively curled in his shirt.
For the second time that day, Beau held her as though the slightest bit of carelessness might break her.