Episode 12

The two looked a little startled in the direction of where that voice was coming from, it was Pietro who had spoken to them, which left Augusto tense, but Mirella, as always, became excited to see him.

"Mr. Pietro, how are you?" she greeted him with a smile.

"Am I interrupting something?" he had his hand in his pants pocket, looking from one to the other.

"You're not interrupting anything, we're just friends, we were just talking," she quickly explained.

Pietro knew from the way Mirella treated him that she always wanted something to happen between them, but knowing that Augusto already had a friends-with-benefits relationship with her, all he wanted was for that woman to stay away from his man.

"Dinner is about to be served, let Alice know that she will sit next to me, I'll go get her," he informed Augusto.

He immediately left as soon as he heard that information, but when Mirella went to do the same, Pietro held her arm, preventing her from leaving.

"Wait a minute, I want to talk to you."

"Yes, how can I help you?" she asked with a smile on her face, imagining that he was going to propose something.

What she didn't know was that Pietro didn't want to propose something to her, but rather give her a warning and she would have to obey. Pietro approached her, getting close to her ear.

"I'm going to give you an order and I hope I don't have to repeat it, you will stay away from Augusto from now on, the fling you two have ends today, so don't let me find out that you continue to meet alone again," he released her arm, leaving her alone in that garden.

Mirella was puzzled by what had happened there, not only because she couldn't understand how Pietro knew about what was happening between her and Augusto, but also the reason for that threat, she couldn't understand why she couldn't get close to her fling anymore.

Even without understanding Pietro's reasons, she wasn't stupid enough to disobey, she could explain to Augusto over the phone, since he didn't mention anything about calls, but she would avoid getting close to him in person, as she had been ordered to do. She took a deep breath and went back inside, as he had said, dinner was almost being served and she wanted to enjoy it as well.

Augusto went straight to his family as soon as he entered, informed them that Pietro wanted her seated next to him, and as soon as he informed them, Pietro arrived to get her.

"Shall we?" he extended his arm to her. "Now we're going to be a family, you can sit at the same table as us," he clarified, looking at Augusto and then at Alice's parents.

Pietro headed to the table where they would have dinner, Augusto sat next to his sister, just like Diego, who sat next to his brother and opposite Alice. She looked at him as soon as he sat down, but avoided keeping that gaze, as she didn't know what Pietro might do if he caught them looking at each other.

Dinner proceeded in a somewhat awkward manner for most of the people at the table, unlike Pietro, who found the situation even entertaining. His brother was looking at Alice, who avoided looking back at him, Augusto glanced at him, appearing irritated, Alice's parents seemed nervous and tense, while he and his father calmly continued eating.

The silence also lingered between them, they didn't have any topics to talk about with each other, which was very strange for everyone, but they maintained appearances there. As soon as they finished, Pietro also led Alice to the cake, once again drawing everyone's attention to sing Happy Birthday.

Alice forced a smile as everyone looked at her singing that song, in the end, she cut the cake to the sound of applause and gave the first piece to her brother, thanking him while hugging him.

"Thank you for the support, I think I would have crumbled already if it wasn't for you," she kissed her brother's cheek.

"I will continue supporting you always and I will do everything to make you happy," he returned the kiss.

Pietro approached and made a point to provoke Alice in front of Augusto.

"I felt sad now, I thought your future husband would get the first slice." he had a smirk on his face.

Alice didn't respond to that taunt, she just put the knife back on the table, the rest would be cut by someone else and served to the guests, she just wanted to get away from him and if possible leave as soon as possible, in all those years, she had never wished for her birthday to pass quickly so much, just to avoid having to be with those people and still pretending to be fine.

"I was just joking, no need to get so stressed," he said before she left.

After cutting the cake, they still stayed at the party for some more time, soon the guests started to leave, Augusto was also eager to go back to his house, besides wanting to rest, he would also give his sister the present, which was to tell her about his plan to free her from Pietro's clutches.

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