My jaw fell open further.“He abandoned them?”I asked in total and complete shock.Carlo really, really, really didn't seem like the kind of man who would dump his fiancée and new baby.Or let them live in squalor.
“Still not listening,” he said in a quiet voice while his eyes scanned my face.“She hadn't even met Carlo yet.”
A cold, sharp stab ran through my stomach.“What?Daniella isn't Carlo's?That's crazy.”And it was.She was completely enamored with her father—with Carlo.
“Oh, he's Daniella's father in all the ways that matter.He claimed her.”Stefan chuckled and looked off to the side of the room for a moment.“Or more like—” he cleared his throat, “she claimed him.”He shook his head and swallowed.“Anyway, Eve's going through it.Bad.And then here comes Giselle and her newborn.Scared and alone—”
I cut him off.“Why was she scared and alone?”My stomach started churning with worry.
Stefan sighed and shook his head.“That's for her to tell you.Not me.Don't get me wrong, she will tell you.Giselle thinks very highly of you.But that's personal and should come from her.”
He rubbed my back.“So, Eve's got her family, and then takes Giselle and her baby under her wing.Because that's what Eve does.And she can't fuckin' make ends meet.No matter how far she tries to stretch.Her dad's always causing trouble and needing to be bailed out.Basically, the money's spent before it's made.So, Eve decides on an alternative way to make money.”
Stefan briefly stopped speaking.
I shrugged and said, “I give up.She started pumping gas?”
He let out a short laugh.“Not exactly.She joined a high-class escort agency.”
My eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
And my heart stopped beating.
“What?”I asked, not believing what he'd just said.
But he nodded his head.“You heard me.She started there so she could feed her family.And help out Giselle.”
This was a lot of information that I would never have dreamed could have happened.“Holy crap.”I looked down for a moment and contemplated everything he'd just told me.And then something occurred to me.“Does Nick know this?”
Instantly—Stefan began laughing.
Again.
Even harder.
I rolled my eyes and waited for him to stop.
Sheesh.
“Francesca, that's how Eve met Nick.”
I needed a whiteboard to figure this out.Because it was getting way too confusing.“What?She met Nick—how?”
He grinned at me and lowered his voice.“My sweet, innocent wife.”His eyes danced across my face.“Nick was one of Eve's clients.”
Holy.
Crap.
“Nick was—” I said, breathless.
“Paying to fuck Eve.Yes.”
My poor brain was about to explode.This was a lot.
A lot—a lot.
“And then sometime later—much later—Giselle started working there, too.”
