I hold Paolo's small hand as we walk into the restaurant and he excitedly hops around. I tighten my hold on his hand to avoid him getting away from me.

The last thing I need tonight, is Paolo getting lost in a foreign country.

The drive here was filled with nothing but silence. Vincenzo was on his phone the entire time, probably commanding his Mafia even though he's in a different country.

Angelo and Nicola occasionally glanced at Vincenzo and I through the rearview mirror.

They seemed to be worried, maybe because Vincenzo and I weren't even looking each other in the eye for most of the car ride.

Nicola and Angelo walk past me and stand in front of me. "We'll be back," they say at the same time before seperating.

I watch them walk through the restaurant before disappearing in the shadows.

This place isn't the fancy type, and I actually like the energy I'm getting.

There's an open dancefloor in the middle of the restaurant and there's a few people dancing to the popular music playing in the background.

The waiters and waitresses are all dressed in jeans and black shirts that have the restaurant logo printed across their chests. Most of them look peppy while there's a few who look like they don't want to be here.

"Hello, welcome to By The Shore," a girl with golden blonde hair greets us with the brightest smile I've ever seen. "Table for six?"

"Eight actually," I say with a small smile and she nods. She turns around, signalling with her hand that we should follow her.

Paolo tries running, but I yank him back to my side. I glare down at him and he looks down at his shoes. "Sorry zia," he whispers and I look up to the blonde girl who is far ahead.

I quickly catch up to her, my uncomfortable heels almost making me slip on the clean floors. I don't usually wear dresses and heels, but I thought Vincenzo might like the change.

She leads us to a large table in the corner that gives us a full view of the entire restaurant. Paolo wiggles his hand out of my hold and walks over to his father.

They sit side by side with Riccardo next to Paolo. I try walking to the other end of the table, but Vincenzo grabs my waist from behind.

He pulls me back and keeps his arm around my waist as he pulls one of the chairs on the side closer.

He places the chair next to the chair at the head of the table. He let's go of me and indicates down to the chair.

Vincenzo and I sit down next to each other at the head of the table, and he places his hand on my thigh over the material of my dress.

"I'm Kathleen, and I'll be your waitress for the night," the pretty blonde waitress chirps.

She hands us menus, leaving two other menus on the table, and tells us she will be back in a few minutes to take our orders.

I open the menu and skim through it. I'm not really hungry so I'm just going to get something small or nothing at all.

Nicola and Angelo come back from what I'm assuming is them checking for any threats. They stand behind Vincenzo and I's chairs and I frown.

"Sit down," I say while pointing to the two open chairs at the table.

It takes a few seconds, but Angelo and Nicola soon shuffle around the table and take their seats. I smile widely at them and they try to hide their smiles, mostly because Vincenzo is glaring daggers at their heads.

I look back at my menu while Angelo and Nicola pick up theirs. I'm glad they are here with me.

They are my only friends and adding them to the vacation plans sounded like a good idea.

Deciding to settle for a for some steak with mash potatoes, I close my menu and place it on the table.

"Zia?" Paolo looks up from his kiddies menu with big eyes and I have feeling I know what he wants.

"You can't have ice cream for dinner," I say and he frowns, dropping his eyes back to the menu. Lorenzo smiles at me and I return the smile.

I wonder what happened to Paolo's mother.

I don't want to ask because I might be overstepping some boundaries. Paolo looks a lot like his father so I wonder what his mother looks like.

Was she even a nice person?

Did she just up and leave them?

Did something happen to her?

So many questions I want to ask, but I'm not going to.

Kathleen comes back with a notepad and black pen ready to take our orders. "Have you guys decided?" Matteo is the first to give his order and everyone else follows after him.

I tell Kathleen my order and that makes Vincenzo groan. He tries to say something to Kathleen, but I tell to get a move on before he could.

————

Our food is set down in front of us by Kathleen and two other waiters. I thank them and glare at the men at the table to do the same.

They thank the waiters and they all nod before going back to wherever they were before coming here.

Vincenzo leans in to my ear and I already know what he is going to say. "I'm not that hungry," I interrupt him and he groans before looking down at his plate of food.

I eat the mash potatoes first and start on my steak a few seconds later. I take a few bites from the steak before pushing my plate to the side towards Vincenzo.

He frowns when he sees how little I ate, but I pout because I really don't want to eat anymore.

"Uhm..." Angelo mutters while looking at my plate. "Don't you want something else?" He asks gently, attempting to not annoy me.

"I wasn't that hungry," I say with a smile to put him at ease.

"But you didn't eat much," he continues, a nervous look spread across his face. "I know you don't like eating, but–"

"Angelo."

"Fine," he refrains from saying anything else and gets back to eating his food.

I get up and pull my dress lower before telling Vincenzo I'm going to the bathroom. I walk away from the table and look around for a sign that can lead me in the direction of the bathroom.

I choose to walk around the dancefloor instead of through it, just to avoid any unnecessary attention. I walk past tables with couples, friends, loners, and even people who seem to be hooking up.

The sign I've been looking for comes into view and I smile widely as I hurriedly make my way to the bathroom.

I push the door open to find two girls doing their make up in front of the large mirror. I smile at them as I enter the nearest bathroom stall.

Locking the door behind me, I drop down to my knees in front of the toilet. I wait a for a few seconds before sticking my finger down my throat.

All of my dinner and whatever else I've eaten in the past hours of the day come back up.

For some reason, I've been feeling full much faster than usual. I can't handle the sensation and it's sad to say that this is my way out.

I didn't even let my body process my dinner, but I just had to get all of the food left in my body out as quick as possible.

I flush the toilet and fix myself up a bit.

Explaining something like this to Vincenzo is going to set him off so I'm not going to tell him.

What he doesn't know won't hurt him, it won't make him angry.

I open the door to find the two girls who were doing their make up standing right in front of my stall.

They move to the side to give me space to walk past them and over to the sink. I quickly rinse my mouth out and check my teeth for any stains in the mirror.

"Are you ok?" One of the girls behind me ask. I look at them through the mirror and they have these sympathetic smiles on their faces.

"I'm fine," I say.

The girl with dark skin opens her bag and pulls out a packet of mints. "Thanks," I say while taking a mint from the packet.

I pop it into my mouth and let the minty flavour wash away the disgusting aftertaste in my mouth.

"I'm Violet," the taller girl says.

Her tan skin makes her dark eyes stand out a lot. She's a really pretty girl and she looks like she takes care of herself, unlike me.

"And this Tiwa," she points to her shorter friend who just gave me a mint.

"Nyx."

"Cool name," Tiwa says and I smile at her. "Are you here on vacation?"

"What gave it away?"

"You have an American accent, so you aren't from around here I assume," Violet says with a slight shrug.

"Yeah, I'm from New York."

"Enjoy your stay," Tiwa says with a wide smile. They walk towards the door and Tiwa walks out first.

Violet turns her head back and says, "I think you should tell him about this, well if there is a he." She closes the door, leaving me to momentarily dwell in my thoughts.

After a minute or so, I walk out of the bathroom, the mint dissolved and gone from my mouth.

I quickly walk through the restaurant, but get grabbed by someone on the side. "Let's have a dance," the person says while pulling me to the dancefloor.

"No thanks," I say while trying to get of this man's hold, but he doesn't let me get away.

He pulls me close and wraps his arm around my waist, forcing my body into his. "Let me go," I demand while trying to fight out of his hold.

I pound my fists against his chest and this makes him dig his fingers into my side, causing immense pain to soar through my entire body.

"Behave," he grumbles while narrowing his eyes at me.

Oh, fuck me.

————

Ihh... ihh... so she's been hiding her eating disorder from Vincenzo...

He should've noticed something was odd about her eating habits, right?

————