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Regina still felt like she had lost connection with the earth, even into the next evening. All the kisses swirled in her head, and she wondered if they would see each other again the next time she went to the cabin. They could write each other when she was back home, she thought, and meet up when she was visiting.

She smiled to herself, rocking on the balls of her feet while waiting under the lamppost that was their usual meeting spot. The smile only dimmed a little when he was two minutes late, despite his usual punctuality. Every minute that passed after that added up to bring her back to earth. The warmth that had filled her since the previous night dissipated, and for the first time in weeks, she realised that these late nights were chilly once the warmth of daylight had worn off.

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It should have made her relieved to see Enzo finally walking towards her over the square, but from the moment she heard his footsteps on the stones, something felt off.

Maybe it was the fact that he refused to look at her face as he walked towards her, or it was the way he was dressed. Far from the usual soft T-shirts and jeans, these clothes were different. He rolled his shoulders like the seams of his crisp shirt bothered him and she could tell from the way he walked that the shoes must be uncomfortable. As if all of that wasn’t enough, he didn’t open his arms to hug her, or even look up.

“You’re finally here,” she said, trying for a smile in spite of everything that made her feel sick to her stomach.

Most of all, it was because he still didn’t look at her. He brushed imaginary dust from the dark fabric of his trousers, he adjusted the cuffs of his shirt. His voice was cold when he finally spoke:

“I’ve come to say goodbye.”

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“What… do you mean?” she said, hating the weakness in her own tone.

“I don’t want to see you anymore. My family… we have a certain standing in the area, and connecting with you will hurt that.”

Gina curled her fingers into fists and let the nails dig into her palms. It was a silent way to remind herself not to punch him, however much she may want to. It wouldn’t help, her dad would say, because violence wasn’t the answer. Sometimes she just really wished it was.

“Because of the gang?”

“Yes.”

“So after all the ‘you’re so cool’ and the kissing, this is it?”

He sighed. “I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong idea.”

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The wrong idea?” Her vision blurred and her head spun. “How did I get the wrong idea? You only ever said that you liked me. Why would you say that if you didn’t mean it?”

“I guess… I was bored.”

Gina’s heart stung. “Bored?”

Still refusing to look at her, Enzo nodded and repeated: “Bored. Not a lot of things happen around here in the summer, and after I’ve spent the whole day with tutors… well, it was kind of fun.”

She blacked out for a second, hearing from far away that she quoted his ‘kind of fun’ back at him.

“You can’t even look at me, can you?” her voice said. “Go on! The least you can do while dumping me is fucking look at me.”

“Gina, p-please…”

His voice was quiet, and for a split-second, he sounded so like himself that she started and sound came rushing back. She said:

“Enzo, why?”

005 (7).png

But the moment passed, and he looked her in the eyes, all cool noble arrogance and indifference.

“Like I said—I was bored.”

Gina snorted. “You fucking asshole.”

He gave her a final indifferent look and spun on his heel, marching away with his back held so straight, it looked like he was held up by a string on the scalp. This would be a good time to go home and cry and get over it, but she had never been particularly good at holding her mouth when she should.

Vincente Cavalcante VII got into a waiting car while she let curses and swears rain over his head. She insulted his family, him, everything she could think of, hoping that at least one projectile would land and cause him some small measure of the pain she felt. But he remained cool and aloof and the only thing she managed to do was make herself look like an idiot.

 

She called Marta, and her sister came to take her home. She listened and expressed sympathy when Gina told her everything that had happened; she even nodded approvingly when she told her how she had sworn up a storm in the middle of the square.

“I shouldn’t have…”

“Perhaps not,” she said. “But at least you didn’t stab him, so that’s good. Besides, he deserved all those curses, it sounds like.”

Gina wasn’t so sure, but she was glad that Marta was on her side. Turned out she needed that, because when they made it back home, her dad was on the lawn outside, talking to a police officer.

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Gina shrank back with Marta’s arms around her. Carlo Mancini made an imposing figure, even dressed in a robe as he was. He was a head taller than the police officer and told the man in no clear terms that whatever it was they thought his daughter had done, there was no truth to it.

The police man tried, he really did, but after a while, he realised that this was one case where he had better leave it alone. Gina’s dad didn’t outright threaten his life, but he didn’t have to either.

When the police car drove off, Carlo rounded on his daughters, his face still grim.

“Marta, go back to bed. Regina, inside.”

“I-it wasn’t Marta,” Gina said, stumbling over words. “She knew, but I made her not say anything so please—”

Now.”

Marta gave her shoulder a squeeze and did as she was told. Gina and her dad followed.

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“Care to tell me why some rich asshole says you’re harassing his son?” he asked once they were inside.

She felt small and exposed, standing in the middle of the living room of the cabin. It helped that her dad was so tall and she was little and young and stupid. She bent her head, feeling tears sting her eyes to hear that Enzo would go so far. One thing was dumping her, but to then report her for harassment…

“I’m not harassing him. That is—” she sighed. “I wasn’t. I promise. We were just meeting up and hanging out and then… tonight he said he didn’t want to see me anymore so I got a little angry.”

“And the reason you didn’t tell me you’ve been going out at night?”

Gina didn’t have an answer to that, so she shrugged.

“What were you thinking? You know that we still have enemies, even this far from home, and they’re just waiting for you to do something idiotic like this. How did you know that boy wasn’t one?”

005 (11).png

“He seemed nice.”

“Yes, that’s what people like that do. It’s fine you’re making friends, I don’t even mind that you’ve apparently been breaking and entering all over town—you know I don’t mind. But doing it like that, alone with a stranger, is the stupidest thing you’ve ever done. At least you should have told me so I could have Franco look into the kid and send someone with you.”

Gina groaned. “I didn’t want someone following us. I think…” She bit her lip and felt her face colour. “It would have been a little awkward.”

She glanced up at her dad’s face and he sighed. “Ah, so he wasn’t just a friend. Well, that would explain the absolute stupidity.”

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She picked at the wool in her knit dress and nodded. Her dad came over and put his warm hands on her shoulders. When a single tear ran down her cheek, he dried it with a thumb.

“Broke your heart, eh, sweetie?”

Gina nodded, more tears joining the one. “He said he liked me and everything and we kissed yesterday, but apparently he was just bored.”

“Mm, that sounds like a rich kid, all right.”

“But… he was so nice.”

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Her dad pulled her into his arms and stroked her hair. She rested her head on the soft velvet of his robe, leaving big, dark spots where her tears fell.

“Rich people are a lot like criminals,” he said, “apart from one thing: If a criminal wants something, he takes it by force and intimidation. The rich use money. Both hurt, but at least you know what you’ve got with people like you and me. The young man may have seemed nice, but he’s been taught that the world bends to his will, and if it doesn’t, his dad will pay it to do so. Unfortunately for him, he used my girl and you’re not known for your even temper, to say the least. Use any good curses this time?”

Gina outlined a few of them with a careful smile, and he laughed, kissing her forehead.

“You make your mother sound like a fucking saint. But try and rein it in another time. The kid’s dad reported you for harassment and if it wasn’t for my influence in the area, you would’ve been in trouble.”

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Gina nodded against his chest.

“I’m sorry, daddy.”

“I know. You learnt your lesson.”

“I feel so stupid. I really thought he liked me.”

Carlo tipped her face up to meet his, and said:

“The only stupid thing you’ve done was not telling me what you were doing. Everything else is only because you’re like your old man—you’ve got too big of a heart for your own good.”

Author’s notes: Basically, the reason my prologue ballooned into five full chapters was that I felt I couldn’t introduce and develop two characters, build a cute romance, and utterly destroy it in one chapter *evil laughter*

But I’m not all bad – at least there’s cute daddy Carlo in this chapter? It’s my new favourite thing to write so get ready for more of that. Cute daddy-daughter relationship are my cryptonite, y’all.

I’ll leave it off for now and thank you for reading (and for not throwing things at me). See you for part two… and a time skip.

Cheers!
~Louise


22 Comments

maidenlissasims · July 7, 2018 at 5:53 am

Omg… I didn’t expect to cry. At first I was in denial… like maybe someone made him break up with her. There has to be some other explanation. Then I realized that is probably what she thought at first. Then the anger came.
So freaking good! I love and hate you for it lol.

    NotJustaBook · July 7, 2018 at 9:51 am

    I’m completely aware that I’m super duper evil for doing this hahaha 😛
    Thank you SO much for reading and commenting, though. It means so much to know that I’m hitting home with my chapters, even though it hurts 😉
    <3

amyqueen · July 7, 2018 at 7:34 am

Wooow, alright. I see how it is. I was expecting the worst and this was almost as bad as I had feared it would be. I say almost, because the pause Enzo had when he said “Gina, p-please” gives me hope, even though I saw the whole thing heading south the moment he showed up in those clothes, lmao. How long I cling onto such hope remains to be seen, however, for now, I don’t plan on abandoning Mr. Cavalcante VII, partially because like you said, we’ve had five lovely chapters to fall for the guy. Though the fact that he snitched to his dad and went as far as calling the cops rubs me the wrong way… I’m hoping his family just found out and it’s their doing alone… if not, I would’ve preferred Gina punched him even though I can appreciate the tasteful cursing.
Ahh, Carlo. I shall continue to swoon over him no matter how old he gets and even though I’m now invested in his daughter’s love life 😇 I love and look forward to the daddy daughter moments <3 He shared some accurate truths at the end there, wealthy snobs suck. Ugh, time skips make me anxious… Needless to say, great chapter! 🙂

    NotJustaBook · July 7, 2018 at 9:57 am

    I think I can safely say that he’ll pop up again, though how that’ll pan out you’ll just have to wait and see 😉
    I think Carlo will stay swoon-worthy forever. Especially because I haven’t been able to bring myself to age him up to elder… 😛
    I can well understand why all my readers might have some form of PTSD after the four-year time skip in generation 1. I know I do. I promise this one won’t be as out of nowhere as the last one, though xD
    Thank you for your kinds words and for reading <3

sempreviva · July 7, 2018 at 10:09 am

Uh oh..! This went so differently than how I thought it would go..! Hey, at least he’s still alive (I seriously thought he was gonna get killed or something – but that would probably be a bit too much)
I don’t really believe he changed his mind like that though… maybe his family found out and made him break up with her and say all those nasty things? At least I hope that’s the case..! And something tells me those two are gonna meet again in the future! I mean, they have to, right? 😦 Still, at this point I could appreciate her attitude towards him. You tell him girl!
I loved that father-daughter scene! And yes, please, give us more! 😀 What I found too funny is that Carlo didn’t really mind all the breaking and entering stuff, haha – definitely not your traditional dad there! 😁 Also, he still is and always will be such a hunk 😍 <3
And in case it wasn't clear, I loved that chapter! 😀 <3

    NotJustaBook · July 7, 2018 at 11:42 am

    I’m too much of a baby to go for something like that, it’s got to be said :’) Not so into the dark storylines.
    It was definitely a very sudden change of mind, but I can reveal that he will pop up again 😉 It shouldn’t be too much of a spoiler since he’s plastered all over the home page, lol.
    Carlo is probably proud of her, tbh. Like, his baby girl is breaking and entring – they grow up so fast! 😛 I agree with you that he’s still a hunk as well.
    Thank you so much for reading <3 I'm really glad you liked it 😀 <3

Lila Remonn · July 7, 2018 at 12:08 pm

Enzo, what the hell dude!? As much as I want to punch him, I don’t believe that this was his own decision. I’m going to take a stab (not at him lmao) at what happened: did his father somehow find out? Was he the one who was waiting in the car? I’m guessing that might have been why Enzo was all dressed up, and why Carlo got a call so quick about Gina’s ‘harassing’. I don’t think that it was Enzo who reported her and made the call to break up with Gina in such a callous manner.
Carlo, the ever handsome darling <3 Chiming in with your reply to Amy, please don't age him up into an elder, hehe 😀 I myself refuse to age my older characters up — the living Gen 1 characters are still adults, I've just greyed hairs and added wrinkles, and that's as far as I'm going to go lol. Anyways, that scene with him and Gina was super adorable, and just what she needed after this sad event.
Time skip! I assume we will next see Gina as a full grown, badass criminal, and Enzo as a lawyer. Gina is quite a sweet, perhaps naive teenager, so it would make sense for her to harden up and harbour a grudge against the rich, after getting her heart broken like this.
Awesome chapter <3

    NotJustaBook · July 7, 2018 at 2:39 pm

    Well, he’ll definitely show up again, so we’ll just have to see what happened – he made a very sudden turn-around, that’s for sure 😉
    Oh, I’m definitely not ageing him up to elder. I’d thought I might only do that with my sims by the time they’re around 80-90, because honestly, that’s how old the elders look in ts3 to my eyes. For now I’ve done what you did – a little grey, some wrinkles, and then dressed him in more snazzy suits 😛
    Yup, next time we see Gina she’ll be somewhat different – though the time skip will hopefully be a lot less abrupt than in gen 1 😛
    Thank you for reading and commenting <3 😀 I'm glad you liked it <3

Kymber · July 7, 2018 at 5:56 pm

Enzo, no!! This is killing me, Louise. lol “Ah, so he wasn’t just a friend. Well, that would explain the absolute stupidity.” I really want you to know how much I love your writing. You are so good, Louise. Truly. I loved the exchange between Carlo and Regina. I’m certain Enzo wouldn’t have done what he did under his own volition. So, I’m really looking forward to seeing where this all goes.

    NotJustaBook · July 7, 2018 at 7:38 pm

    Thank you so much Kym 😀 You are being so nice <3 It means a lot to hear all this from you!
    I can't wait to share more and to show everyone why this happened 🙂

socallucyfan · July 7, 2018 at 6:38 pm

I both loved and hated this chapter.
Enzo was such a jerk. There has to be more to the story than that. I have no doubt that his family had something to do with all of this. But if he is going to blindly go along with him, then he is not worth it!!
And at the same time I love the family moments. It is sweet how Marta looked out for her sister. <3 <3 And the fact that Carlo is proud of his daughter's criminal activities is so funny. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
"So, he wasn't just a friend. Well, that would explain the absolute stupidity" I LOVED that line. 🙂

    NotJustaBook · July 7, 2018 at 7:41 pm

    I feel so successful as a writer hearing stuff like that ahahah :’D
    He’ll be back and in time we’ll see just what happened 😉
    I love writing this whole family because they’re so warm and loving 🙂 a very nice change from other family dynamics I’ve written *coughVittoria’sfamilycough*
    Thank you very, very much for your kind words <3 😀 And thanks for reading <3

      socallucyfan · July 7, 2018 at 8:42 pm

      You always seem to come up with the perfect things for your characters to say. You have a real talent that I am envious of.
      Which makes reading always a pleasure (even if you are evil at times LOL).

        NotJustaBook · July 7, 2018 at 8:57 pm

        You are too kind. Thank you, friend 🙂 <3 I love writing dialogue – if I could, it was all I'd do, lol 😀

loladiamond01 · July 7, 2018 at 7:49 pm

They are not a traditional family, for sure. But they are a sweet and loving one still. I also feel convinced that Enzo was forced to break up with Gina by his family. And he’ll definitely come back, so I’m not that worried. Gina definitely has her dad wrapped around her little finger. But he did stupid things because of her mother, too, so that could also be the reason for his gentle and understanding reaction.

    NotJustaBook · July 7, 2018 at 8:01 pm

    That’s a great way to sum it up 🙂 They may be criminals – but they love each other.
    And it’s probably not a secret that Enzo will be back 😉 he is plastered all over the home page, after all 😛
    Carlo has a severe weak spot for his daughter, but yeah, he also knows that when it comes to love, he’s a bit dumb at times himself 🙂
    Thanks for reading and commenting, Jowita. Hope you’re enjoying your trip <3

      loladiamond01 · July 7, 2018 at 8:10 pm

      Yes, I am. I’ve been to Leo Tolstoy’s house today 🙂

        NotJustaBook · July 7, 2018 at 8:14 pm

        That sounds super awesome 😀 Happy to hear you’re having a good time <3

Trip · March 6, 2019 at 3:30 pm

Carlo would be out here as the modern day Robin Hood if he wasn’t saying “rich guys bad” in his pretty nice house. 😛

    NotJustaBook · March 6, 2019 at 3:42 pm

    But it’s a nice house he got through illegal means – totally different! (He’s a hypocrite alright :P)

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