“Shopping?” Ciana was already moving toward the stairs. “Give me ten minutes to change. I need a few things for the summer.”

“I’ll get the car ready and let security know.” Vito gave in gracefully, knowing he couldn’t get out of taking us shopping, especially if Ciana was on board with the idea.

“Do I really have to go too?” Bennie complained. “I was going to check out how things are progressing on Zariah’s house out by the east side of the compound.”

“Zariah’s house is coming along just fine,” Anya told him. “Now, hurry up. If Samara comes home before you are out the door, she will want to go with you. And we both know you don’t want to try to keep up with her.”

“You’re right, Tetka,” he grumbled. “Nova, do you need to freshen up before we go?” I shook my head, my mind on everything I needed to do rather than the shopping they all assumed I would be doing. “All right, then. Let’s get going. If Ciana takes longer than ten minutes, we’re going to leave without her.”

I snickered as I followed him outside, where Vito’s driver was already pulling up in one of the limos. I waved at the security detail that followed the twins everywhere and climbed into the back of the car, already pulling out my phone so I could check the message again.

In the past few years, ever since I’d originally messaged Calista Ramirez, we’d started a virtual friendship. It had been a little tense in the beginning, but eventually, we had grown closer. Especially after Cali had opened up to me about her homelife one night after things had gotten to be too much for her.

What the influencer allowed the outside world to see with her posts and pictures every day was definitely not the reality Cali lived. Anyone who didn’t know her would assume she lived in a fairy tale, but the truth was it was nothing but a nightmare.

Matias, her stepfather, had been sick for the past five years. Something that his son, Manuel, didn’t want anyone to know. As long as Matias was assumed to be in good health, their enemies would be hesitant to do anything to their empire. Until Manuel made his move and showed how much power he could wield, he figured he had the upper hand.

Cali had confessed to me that it was Manuel and not Matias who had ordered his men to attack me. Of course, the confession had come after he’d beaten her into a bloody mess, but by then, I’d already trusted her. I hadn’t told Ryan it was the Ramirez successor who had been trying to start a war with the Vitucci family back then. I knew I should have, but for some reason, I’d kept that detail to myself.

Maybe it was because I felt like I owed Cali some sort of loyalty. Something that, at the time, hadn’t fully made sense to me. But as time had passed, it had become more and more apparent to me that Cali needed someone in her corner because too many other people had already let her down in the worst possible ways.