“Increase security across all operations,” I order, my mind already running through possibilities. “I want armed escorts on every major transaction, double guards on the warehouses, and someone I trust personally watching the ports. If Romano is preparing for war, we need to be ready for it.”
Danny nods. “Already in progress. But boss, there’s something else you need to consider.” He eyes me as if knowing what he’s about to say next will piss me off. “Giuliana turned down twomilliondollars and freedom. She reported the approach instead of using it to her advantage. That has to mean something to you.”
It does. That’s the problem.
It means far too much, and I’m not ready to examine what it says about both her and my willingness to continue punishing her.
“It means she’s smart enough to know Romano would kill her the moment she delivered the information,” I say, keeping my voice cold. “Or that I’d hunt her down for betraying me. She made the practical choice.”
“Did she?” Danny challenges. “Or did she make the moral one? She’s had every reason to betray you, every motivation to take that money and run. But she didn’t. Maybe the Conti family bloodline isn’t as rotten as you convinced yourself it was. Maybe Antonio’s daughter actually has integrity her father lacked.”
Fucking Danny. I don’t need this shit right now. “Her father’s integrity,orlack thereof,isn’t relevant to her role here,” I snap, but the words sound hollow even to me.
The fucker actually rolls his eyes. “It’s relevant to whether you can keep justifying what you’re doing to her,” Danny presses. “She just proved she’s nothing like Antonio. At some point, you’re going to have to decide if you’re still pursuing justice for Marco or if you’re just too goddamn proud to admit this revenge was a mistake.”
I slam my hand on the desk hard enough to make the whiskey glass jump. I’m not going to sit here and take Danny’s disrespect. “Get out,” I say through gritted teeth, my fingers itching for my gun.
Danny at least has the balls to look abashed, knowing he overstepped big time. “Boss,” he tries, but I’m not having it.
“I said get out,” I nearly spit, then a thought occurs to me. “Bring Giuliana to my study in thirty minutes and then leave us alone.”
Danny holds my gaze for a long moment, and I see disappointment written clearly across his features.
But ultimately he obeys, gathering up the files and leaving me alone with my thoughts and the acrid taste of truths I don’t want to swallow.
Giuliana turned down freedom.
She reported Romano’s approach instead of using it to escape or to help her cause.
She chose to stay—with me, her captor—over her own self-interest.
The question that gnaws at me as I wait isn’t why she did it.
It’s what I’m supposed to do with the knowledge that the woman I’ve been destroying has more honor than most people in my organization.
That she’s nothing like her father.
That punishing her for Antonio’s transgressions is exactly as unjust as she’s accused me of being.
But admitting that means admitting that three years of my life have been wasted on a revenge that serves no purpose beyond making me feel like I’m doing something about the gaping hole Marco’s death left behind and the fact I couldn’t find the mastermind of the operation.
And that’s not something I’m willing to think about right now.
So I pour another whiskey and wait for Danny to bring Giuliana to me, already knowing this conversation will solve nothing and change nothing, because I’m too far gone to turn back now.
Exactly thirty minutes later, Danny escorts Giuliana into my study.
She’s wearing jeans and a simple blue sweater that reminds me of the fucking midnight blue dress I can’t forget her in, her darkhair pulled back in a ponytail that emphasizes the exhaustion evident in the shadows under her eyes.
No makeup, no jewelry, none of the expensive trappings I’ve forced on her. Just Giuliana, looking wary and resigned and?—
I cut the thought off before it can fully form.
Beautiful.
She’s beautiful even when exhausted and trapped and facing down the man who destroyed her life, and I fucking hate that I notice.
I hate that three days of avoiding her hasn’t diminished whatever this unwanted awareness is.
