“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I’d been digging on the wrong continent this whole time. I’d been trying to track them down in the States, but the Santoros’ stronghold must be somewhere around here. They’re a crime family based in Italy.”
Which meant I needed to get Nettle away from here as soon as possible.
Anger and contrition vibrated inside my chest. I’d spent the last twenty-four hours indulging myself and getting swept away in a fantasy, completely missing that we’d stumbled into a hornet’s nest. I should’ve done some investigation on my own when we first landed before bringing Fabiana with me today, and yet I’d been too busy getting lost between her legs.
It had been a mistake to let go for even a minute. A mistake that could have terrible consequences.
But no more.
I wrapped my palms around her shoulders. “You’re going home first thing tomorrow, and I’m bringing in reinforcements. Once I have my men here, I’m going back to that workshop and having a very different kind of conversation. The only way I’m going to get any information from anyone here is by making them more afraid of staying silent than of speaking up.”
Fabiana looked aghast. “You’re overreacting. This is a peaceful town, Cosimo.”
“I’m not overreacting. It’s what has to be done.”
She pressed her palms to my chest. “I’m telling you that I can get more from Nunzio. We just need to go back there when Salvatore isn’t around. We don’t have to force it.” She reached up and cupped my cheek. “Look, I know you’re frustrated. But let’s cool down, have dinner, and get some sleep. We can go back to Nunzio’s workshop tomorrow. This time, just let me handle it. Actually, let me go alone. I’ll play the role of the bride who really wants the souvenir, apologize for your behavior?—”
My stomach tightened. “Apologize for my behavior?”
“It’s a complicated situation?—”
“It’snotcomplicated. At all. I know exactly what needs to be done, and I don’t need your input.”
Hurt flashed across her face. She took a step back, her brows pinching together. “I don’t understand why you’re talking to me this way. We’re partners. We’re working toward the same goal.”
Partners.
The word might as well have been a vial of poison poured down my throat. It burned through me like acid, and every alarm that had been quiet for the last twenty-four hours went off at once.
“We’re not partners,” I snapped before I even had time to process what I was saying. The words came flowing out of me, driven by a protective instinct that just took over. “This is my investigation.”
Vita’s voice rang in my ears.“Your father and I are partners. He puts his full faith in me to discipline you as I see fit.”The scars on my arms burned. I hated that word. Hated the way it’d blanketed her in his approval and protection. The way it’d made her invincible.
Fabiana stood stock-still except for her hands twitching at her sides. “The only reason we’re even here is because of a lead I got you,” she said.
“That doesn’t give you the right to interfere with what I do with it.” Inside me, everything shook. “We have a deal, but that doesn’t make us partners.”
“I see.” Her voice had thinned. “I suppose I misunderstood. I thought maybe we were becoming something more than two strangers using each other.” A short, humorless breath escaped her. “I guess I was just being naive again.”
Something cracked open inside me and began to bleed.
I wasn’t going to repeat my father’s mistakes. I couldn’t. Not when so much was at stake.
Fabiana picked her purse up from the bed and slung it over her shoulder.
“I’m going to have dinner downstairs. Alone.”
She walked out and slammed the door behind her.
I stood there for a moment, then I crossed to the window and smashed the heel of my palm against the frame.
CHAPTER 41
FABIANA
We didn’t sleepin the same bed that night.
