“What the hell was that? You’re in a relationship with her?”
“Yes.”
His eyes widened. “Have you gone insane?”
“No.” I frowned.
“She’s trouble.”
“I am aware.”
He groaned in frustration. “I am only looking out for you, E. You saw the ruckus she almost caused today.”
Sighing, I rubbed my eyes behind the reading glasses. “I tamed it.”
“Still, you have to draw a line; what she did was unacceptable.”
I nodded. “I will talk to her.”
“Why are you responding like you don’t care about anything I’m saying?”
I leveled him with a tired stare. “It’s because you are repeating things I already know,hermano. I appreciate your care, but you must also show her respect—”
He looked offended, appalled. “Like hell I will.”
I softened my voice. “She is my partner now.”
“And I am still convinced she tried to fucking kill me.”
“Casmiro,” I started, and he grumbled, shaking his head, not supporting my decision. “I won’t ask you to understand. The two of you certainly do not like each other for reasonsbest kept between you. I do not want to get involved because I care about both of you. But understand that she’s a part of my life now, and you’re also a part of my life, and you will have to tolerate it.”
He looked like he wanted to peel my words out of the air before they reached him. “What about your brother?”
“He is learning to tolerate it.”
“God.” He shook his head, remaining quiet for a few minutes before shaking his head again. “This is…” He trailed off, allowing another stretch of silence. “It’s none of my business, who you date, but I swear to God, one concrete piece of evidence against her, and I’m pulling this whole issue of my distrust back up, alongside a permanent solution to it.”
“I understand.”
“Good,” he said, hands going to the other files on the table. “Now about the other matters—”
“We… will have to postpone that for another time… because she’s in there… waiting.”
“This is work, political work, that you roped me into, and now I am swimming in endless fucking minutes of meetings that I have to oversee and find solutions to. I am talking about areas that requireurgentattention; I need your expertise.”
My gaze shifted toward the door before falling back to Casmiro. “I want nothing more than to sit down and discuss politics with you, but that woman in there will not understand, and I—”
He shot to his feet.
“Casmiro.”
“Let me know when you’re free,” he said, gathering all the papers without meeting my eyes, turning to leave before stopping, pinning a glare on the door, and then looking back at me. “Be careful.”
“I will.”
With a shake of his head and much hesitation, he made his way out of the lounge area.
I allowed a breath to fall through my lips as I looked back at the door. I knew why he acted this way. I knew he was feeling betrayed, wondering why I wasn’t doing more to get into the matter of his attack.
