Chapter 16: Chapter 16

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Thiago and I spent the rest of the evening in the hot tub drinking the champagne and just talking. We didn't do anything else other than that, although with the looks Thiago was giving me when he thought I wasn't looking, I was pretty sure something was going to happen between us. But it didn't.

"Just be quiet when we get inside, I'm not sure about everyone else but I think my parents will be asleep by now." I nodded and wrapped myself in Thiago's jacket as we walked towards the house. After we got out the hot tub I was freezing so when we got back to the car Thiago gave me a jacket which he left inside from another day. The weather in Sicily may have been lovely during the day but it was freezing at night especially if you spent the whole evening in a hot tub.

Thiago quietly opened the front door and we made our way inside, he waited for me to get inside before he shut the door. Most of the lights in the hallway were off but the light in the kitchen was still on at the end of the hall. I heard loud drunken giggles coming from the kitchen and I turned to Thiago in confusion.

"I think it's just Mia and Carlotta, go tell them that I told them to be a bit quieter." He was busy undoing the laces on his shoes and I rolled my eyes. "Have you forgotten that they both hate me already? No thanks."

"Mia doesn't hate you, she loves you, hurry up they're too loud." I sighed but listened to him anyway, I slowly walked down the hall wringing my hands together nervously. I stopped in the doorway of the kitchen expecting to see Mia and Carlotta sitting there drinking their wine, but instead I saw Carlotta and another tall brunette. Her long brown hair framed her perfect cheekbones, her large doe eyes stood out with her plump red lips. My eyes trailed over her perfect hourglass figure dressed in designer clothes.

"Ah, Sophie. I don't believe you've met my best friend, this is Antonia." The girl turned towards me and gave me a smirk, before she could speak her eyes drifted to something behind me and her smirk widened.

"Thiago it's been so long." I felt Thiago's hand go to my waist, he pulled me back slightly against his chest. "Get the fuck out of this house Antonia." She walked towards us causing Thiago's grip on my waist to tighten.

"But Thiago I want to catch up with you, and get to know your wife, Josalyn." I glared at her and stepped closer to her, there was no way I was about to let this bitch 'get my name wrong' when I know for a fact she knows exactly what my name is.

"It's Sophie, now get your eyes off my husband before I rip out your hair extensions." I gave her a sweet smile causing her smirk to drop and be replaced by a glare. "How cute. It's going to be a little difficult thought since I'm staying here for the night. Carlotta invited me to the party tomorrow."

I glanced over at Carlotta who gave me a sickly sweet smile. "No way." I turned to Thiago who was glaring with so much hate and disgust at Antonia it actually made me reconsider worrying so much about the two of them getting together any time soon.

Thiago shook his head and grabbed my hand pulling me out of the kitchen. "Let's go." I silently followed Thiago upstairs, I could feel the anger radiating off him as we made our way through the house, the sound of the two girls giggling getting further and further away.

It was tense when we got into our room, Thiago sat down on the bed and placed his head in his hands. I bit my lip watching him unsure of what to do, eventually I knelt down next to him and gently pulled his hands away from his head. "Thiago."

"It's never going to work is it?" I frowned at him as he looked at me intensely. "How am I going to get you to forgive me if she's fucking here, you're going to be pissed off at me once again, she just needs to fuck off." I couldn't hold back a smile when he said this causing Thiago to frown. "Why are you smiling?" I stared at my husband who was waiting for me to respond, I didn't think he was upset because of me, I thought it would have been solely because of his past with Antonia, maybe he really was going to try this time.

I leaned forward and kissed his cheek. "No reason, now get up, I'm tired." Thiago looked confused as I stood up and started getting ready for bed. I heard him mumble something in Italian before got off the bed and got ready to go to sleep aswell.

I was happy that Thiago's first thought after seeing Antonia was about me, but that doesn't mean she's not going to get to him. She's beautiful. Even though he seems pretty genuine, I wasn't sure. I lay in bed next to Thiago, thinking over the day we had today. It was nice to spend time with him alone which we hadn't done since the honeymoon, it turned out to be a good day today but I couldn't ignore the feeling in me that something bad was going to happen at the party tomorrow.

(Sophie ^ )

~ Sophie's POV ~

"Sophie hurry up, you're taking ages! Everyone is already at the party." I resisted the urge to give Thiago a piece of my mind, he was sitting on the bed waiting for me to get ready, he's been complaining for the last 20 minutes. "No one said you had to wait for me." I glanced over at Thiago who was wearing a crisp white shirt and a black Gucci suit. His hair was styled in his usual style, he looked perfect.

"Just put your dress on so we can go already." He took his phone out whilst he waited for me to get ready. It's funny because he thinks his complaining will make me go any faster, it wasn't my fault I was so late. There was an issue with the cake that

all four siblings went to sort out yesterday, it needed fixing today and because Carlotta and Mia were too busy getting ready, I had to go with Thiago to fix the problem and re-design the cake. I didn't want to but they insisted to Thiago that he wasn't good enough to go on his own. I haven't seen either of them all day which I'm glad about, I also haven't seen Antonia but I've definitely heard her. Her high pitched voice is so loud I can hear it from Thiago and I's room; which also means I have to listen to Thiago mumbling curse words directed at his ex constantly.

I slipped off my robe and stepped into my nude dress decorated with pearls. "Thiago, help me with my dress." I heard him let out a sigh and his footsteps came up behind me, one of his hands went to my hip whilst he zipped up the back of my dress. I finished the final touches to my make up and grabbed my clutch and put my heels on before we left the house. It's been around four and a half weeks since I broke my ankle, the fracture wasn't that bad so Thiago had a doctor replace my ugly cast with a thick bandage just to support it now.

"Make sure you stay with me all night, don't leave my side." I glanced over at Thiago who was driving with one hand, his other hand was resting on the middle console; he was biting his lip assessing the traffic in front of us, everything he did just caused me to become a hormonal teenage girl all over again. And I hate the man.

"Okay." He met my eyes and frowned. "I mean it Sophie, it's not safe." I rolled my eyes becoming sick of the same line over and over again. "You might aswell just kill me Thiago because everything I do isn't safe anymore." I could tell what I said pissed him off but he stayed quiet, it was probably the smart thing to do though, otherwise we would have ended up arguing.

We pulled up to the venue where Dominico's birthday party was being held. Our doors were opened for us and the valet took Thiago's keys to park his car. I linked my arm through Thiago's which was another one of his demands, we walked in together, everyone's eyes on us.

"Walk slower Thiago, my ankle is still hurting." I hadn't worn heels for ages so it was taking some getting used to especially with a healing ankle. Thiago slowed down and we made our way into the large hall, the decor was so pretty and sophisticated, I have to admit Thiago and his siblings did a pretty good job organising the whole thing. We walked through the tables towards the table where Thiago's family were sitting. On the way numerous people stopped us to speak to Thiago, I just stayed quiet unless Thiago introduced me to whoever he was speaking to. Finally we made it to the table and everyone looked up when we got there causing my grip to tighten on Thiago, I didn't like the looks I was recieving from Carlotta and Antonia.

"Oh Sophie you look so beautiful!" I turned towards Thiago's mom who had stood up to give me a hug. I gave her a smile and returned the compliment, even though all her children were in their twenties she still looked so young. Thiago and I hugged Dominico too and wished him a happy birthday.

Thiago pulled out a chair for me next to Mia; I mumbled a thank you and sat down whilst Thiago took the seat next to me. It was silent among the table for a while and I nervously looked around the room, I had no idea what I was looking for though, I was just wishing that I could be anywhere else but here. I felt a hand on mine under the table and I turned towards Thiago in confusion. He leaned closer to me and whispered so that no one else could hear what he was saying. "Just chill out, you're a nervous wreck tesoro." I moved my lips towards his ear, the scent of his cologne causing my mouth to water. "You try being at a table where almost everyone hates you." Thiago chuckled at my comment. "Trust me tesoro, My parents and Mia don't hate you. And anyway I can guarantee you that apart from my family and friends, everyone else in this room hates me, because of who I am."

Before I could respond to him I felt a tap on my shoulder, I turned around to see a little blonde girl smiling at me showing off the gap between her teeth where a tooth was missing. "You're pretty. I'm Emily." I leaned down a little closer to her and gave her a sweet smile.

"Thank you, but you're prettier Emily. I'm Sophie. How did you get your hair so curly?" I ran my hand through her small curls as she giggled and stepped closer to me. "My mommy did it."

"Ask her to teach you and then you can do it for me one day." She nodded eagerly before whispering to me. "Do you know him?" I looked in the direction she was pointing in and my eyes landed on Thiago. I chuckled and nodded turning my attention back to Emily. "Yes he's my husband."

"He's pretty too." I smiled and glanced over at Thiago who was frowning, probably because someone called him pretty. "He is, but he's annoying." Her mouth formed into an 'o' shape before she spoke. "Boys are annoying, my brother makes me sad sometimes, and boys at school."

"You shouldn't be sad, boys might be annoying but it's just their way of showing you they care about you. The boys who upset you at school probably like you, because you're gorgeous." Her cheeks glowed a rosy red shade as she smiled at me. "Really?" I nodded at her. "Of course! So don't be sad, stay happy, promise me you will?" I held out my pinky for her and she linked hers through mine. "I promise! By Sophie!" She gave me one last toothy grin before she ran off probably back to her parents.

I turned around to see Thiago frowning at me. "What?" He shook his head in response but his frown stayed. "Nothing...you're just really good with kids." I chuckled and nodded. "I was a teacher in London Thiago, it was kind of my job."

"So Sophie, when are you planning to go back to teaching then?" I turned towards the sound of the voice my eyes landing on Carlotta. "Maybe soon, I'm just getting used to the huge change of moving to Italy and being married first." At the mention of being married my eyes moved to Antonia who was glaring at me.

"Oh right. Well you might want to re-think the decision of being a teacher, I don't think Thiago will like it." I resisted the urge to roll my eyes knowing most of Thiago's family was watching both Carlotta and I. "Don't worry. He's okay with it." I gave her a forced smile but she just stared at me.

"So are you planning to have any kids soon then?" This time it was Antonia who jumped in. I didn't know what type of game they were playing but it was quite pathetic, it was like they were purposely trying to embarrass me. They clearly weren't aware that I wasn't the type of girl to back down so easily.

"Possibly, we haven't spoken about kids yet. Like I said, I'm just trying to get used to married life first." In the corner of my eye I saw a satisfied smile on Thiago's face which helped my confidence knowing he was happy with my response.

"Oh. Well from what I remember Thiago doesn't like kids, especially with his job he probably won't spend much time with you and your...baby." Her sentence trailed off as she gave me a look of disgust to which I just rose an eyebrow. "Well, he's older now and he's married meaning his priorities have changed. If I'm correct you guys never made it past a month of being engaged? It couldn't have been your fault though I'm sure, let's just put it down to the fact you were both so young."Both Thiago and Mia chuckled next to me along with Matteo across the table and I'm pretty sure Dominico cracked a smile too. "You little bi-" Thiago quickly cut Antonia off, his amusement disappearing.

"That's enough. If you're both done trying to publicly attack and humiliate my wife then I'm going to take her to dance." He sent them both a glare before standing up and taking my hand. I got up and followed him to the dance floor. "Thiago I can't dance, my ankle still hurts." Thiago ignored me and continued walking, we ended up bypassing the dance floor and instead went out to one of the balconies over looking the traditional Italian coastal city. I leaned on the balcony and looked out at the old Italian buildings and churches glowing in the night, a cool breeze blew from the sea causing me to shiver slightly.