“How haveyou been there for over a week and you still haven’t found my sister?” Zale growls on the other end of the phone.
“I’m doing everything I can?—”
“I don’t believe you,” he cuts me off.
I clench my jaw, reigning in my temper. He has every right to be concerned about Zalea’s whereabouts, and with him not able to leave mid-season without screwing everything up for the team, I’m his only hope at finding her. But if Zalea wanted him to know where she was and that she was doing okay, she’d pick up his calls on her own. So, I’m respecting that for now and keeping him in the dark.
“You think I’m just out here in Italy having the time of my life?” I scoff. “Eating pasta and pizza with the locals?”
“No,” he says. “But I do think you found her.”
He’s a smart guy, I’ll give him that.
“And I think you want to keep her to yourself for now,” he continues. “You probably want to convince her to get back with you, as if you didn’t ruin her fucking life.”
That makes me pause. “Ruin her life?” I repeat. “What the fuck are you talking about, Zale?”
He’s quiet for a moment and I get the sense he’s realized he’s said something he shouldn’t have.
“Doesn’t matter,” he finally says. “Tell her I’ll be up waiting for her call.”
Zale hangs up, leaving my mind reeling. How could I have possibly ruined Zalea’s life? If anything, I’ve done everything I can to make sure she has a comfortable life. I’ve funded her whole career, paid for her living expenses, got her the best trainers in Hawaii, and secured the highest paying sponsorships for her too.
I’ve made sure Zalea gets to live a happy life doing what she loves, regardless of if she wants to be with me or not. All I’ve ever wanted is for her to be happy.
“You didn’t have to walk me all the way to my door, Paolo,” Zalea says from the hallway.
Paolo?
That fucker is here?
Inside the walls of the hotel?
I stalk to the door, fingers wrapped around the handle.
“How come you’re staying in a hotel instead of the Art Academy’s residency?” he asks.
I pause, waiting to hear what she says because I was also surprised when Reid told me she had booked a hotel instead of the student residence. She must have known that I’d follow her here, so why stay somewhere so easily accessible to me if she truly didn’t want me to be here?
“It was full,” she says.
Liar.
Reid checked that for me too—I wasn’t above forcing my way into a room there if that’s where she was going to be staying—and there were at least eight rooms still available.
I decide there’s no better time to make an entrance than now as I swing my door open and step out into the cool hallway,hands in my pockets. The door clicks shut behind me and I lean against the frame staring at him like he’s enemy number one.
Because he is.
Zalea ismine.
He must pick up on it because he returns a cool glare of his own right back. I almost smirk. He’s ballsy.
“You were gone long,” I say, turning my attention to Zalea.
She glares at me with a fury that sends a chill down my spine, but I don’t show it.
“I didn’t know I had a curfew,” she spits back.
