“Don’t go all soft, Ash. What we have here is working. It’s been working, and it’s going to continue to work. Everyone has a purpose in life, but keeping someone around past that purpose is bad for the universe. It’ll constantly try and find a way to correct it, even if it means opening up a big ass black hole and taking us all down with it.”
I stopped what I was doing and looked up at Callista. “Huh, for a second there, I thought you were telling me to kill your sister.”
She shrugged. “What am I supposed to do? I didn’t have a sister until a handful of years ago. I had a dad, a mom, and two brothers. I’m supposed to throw myself on my gun for a woman I didn’t even know until I walked into a nail shop one day?”
“She didn’t choose this anymore than you did,” I replied. Callista could be ruthless, a trait which she got from our dad, but I never knew her to be heartless. “You wanted to help her.”
“I wanted to helpus.” She pounded her hand on the table. “Shit wouldn’t be so fucking complicated if she’d never shown up.”
“Ignorant bliss?” I questioned.
“At least it’s bliss,” Callista replied.
“Wow.” The metal case clacked as I closed, it and the way it echoed through the room gave it more weight like it meant more than it did. “Then why speak up just now? Why not just let dad keep on thinking that she’s worthless?”
“Because she isn’t,” she replied. “I think you’re right to a certain extent, but let me make one thing clear.” She looked directly into my eyes. “I’m not about to let her mess up anything else we’ve built here, and I think you’d be wise to do the same. Blood is thicker than water.”
She didn’t bend under the half-lidded gaze I provided at the use of that out of context and outdated phrase. “Onlysomeblood, though, right?”
“The blood I’ve known my whole life. The Carduccis are my family.” She stood up from her chair and then started off toward the door, but at the last second, she turned around and faced me again. “Don’t you ever miss when things were normal?”
I snickered. “Ignorant bliss, Calli,” I replied. “Things around here have never been normal.”
Chapter Eight:Denise
“Honey, I’m home!” I called out into the safe house as I walked in, thinking no one was inside.
“Great! Welcome back.” I jumped sky-high as Ashton appeared from the bathroom with a grin. “Hey.”
“Jesus,” I huffed. “I didn’t expect you to be here.”
Even though all Ashton was wearing was a black t-shirt, tan cargo pants, and black combat boots, he looked like he was ready to walk the catwalk during fashion week. His dirty blond hair was unkempt, but it somehow still looked intentionally styled, and his hazel eyes shimmered when they landed on me. I did my best to ignore the way my heart started to beat a little faster as I moved to sit on the couch in the living area to the right of the front door.
Ash came and sat down in one of the adjacent armchairs. “One of my soldiers thought a cop might be sitting on this place, so I came to check it out. Turned out to be a false alarm.”
All I could think about was what I had learned the day prior about Detective Alcina and him potentially having uncovered where the Carduccis live. Everything in me wanted to trust Ashton, but at the end of the day, he was still a Carducci. He was under Anthony’s rule, and I had to imagine that if he were given a choice between his family and me, just like the Binachis, just like the Varassos, he’d choose his family without question. Knowing the police were honing in on the Carduccis was a card that I could play at a strategic time, and this wasn’t that time.
Still, if the soldier’s false alarm actually held weight, I was going to need to be careful so that I didn’t get caught up in the crosshairs of the Carducci investigation.
“Good that it was just a false alarm,” I said.
“You changed,” Ashton said, motioning to my hair and eye color. “How come?”
I shrugged. “I needed a change. Why? Is it bad?”
He shook his head. “No, no. I always think you look amazing. Just curious.”
He smiled at me, and I smiled back. For a second, I could feel myself gravitating toward him, almost to the point that I was going to beckon him over to me, but I remembered my position and didn’t. I’d let a man get to me and throw me off-kilter once already at the Varasso household. Ashton was a distraction I didn’t need.
“So,” I started, changing the subject. “If it was a false alarm, why are you still here?”
“The quiet is nice,” Ashton replied. “I can get work done without my dad breathing down my neck or Arturo hanging around for any chance that he can take to start a fight.”
“Arturo? Start a fight?” My scoff was louder and more dramatic than it should have been. “I think you’ve got the wrong guy.”
Ashton laughed. “Anyway. I wasn’t expecting you to come by. Coming to leave your update?”
“Yeah, but since you’re here.” I reached into my purse and pulled out the note I’d put together when planning to leave it behind for Ashton to read later. “There’s everything I know so far. It’s really just getting reintegrated right now. They obviously aren’t going to just start telling me everything right off the bat.”
