They’re not willing to risk it.
Nevertheless, by the time I get home and fall into bed, it’s almost night time.
I check my phone only to see a text from Carmine.
Staying in. Don’t need you watching.
Thank fuck. I need a night’s sleep, maybe a full twenty-four hours actually.
I shoot him a quick reply.
Got it. Stay outta trouble.
There’s very little trouble he can get into in his own mansion, but as I saw in the library on the camera the night before, there’s at least some.
I shuffle out of my clothing until I’m ass naked and crawl under the covers.
It’s so easy to fall asleep after everything that’s happened in the last 24 hours, but as I fall asleep, I think about the pain in Carmine’s eyes.
Secrets that linger there, unknown, untold.
It strikes me as I’m drifting off that maybe what this is all about is simpler than I realized.
Someone hurt Carmine.
Someone hurt him, and he’s still suffering the consequences.
A burden I know all to well.
Guilt climbs me.
I shouldn’t care about this. I shouldn’t care about him.
After what I set up this afternoon…there’s no turning back.
Right?
“How often am I going to have to see your face?” Alessio Dresvanni says as I’m walking through the front door. He looks even more exhausted than Carmine usually does.
“Forever baby,” I smirk crookedly.
I look to the side and see Carmine standing there, his expression looks conflicted, and his hands are curled, almost in fists.
“Ugh. Just…please promise me if you rip each others faces off, do it outside. We don’t need any more décor smashed,” Alessio mumbles before disappearing in the other direction.
“Can’t promise anything,” I reply in the same tone.
Carmine sighs and motions me down the hallway. “Come on. We need to talk.”
“Oh, talk. How very serious of you,” I say as I follow him into his office. His private study that’s hardly been changed since his father’s death. I know because I’ve been keeping an eye on any changes around the house. It’s good to know my surroundings.
“What’s your problem today?” he asks me as he shuts the door once we’ve both stepped inside.
“My problem?” I ask him. “The last time I saw you, you were acting like you were ready to call this whole thing off.”
He scoffs. “No. I might not want to…engage in that again, but this is all more important than that.”
“Engage…” I mumble. “I guess you could call it that.” I sit down in the chair on the opposite side of the desk while he sits in his.
