Unraveled (Guzzi Duet Book 1)(25)

Gian cleared his throat. “Interesting way to put it.”

“Am I wrong?”

“No. You’re very right, actually.” He sighed, shifting beneath her a bit. “I don’t have time to grieve, in a way, because there’s much more happening, now that he’s gone. And that feels terribly shitty of me, that my focus can’t be on a man who practically raised me for a bit, because responsibility and duty wait on no one.”

Cara frowned. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. Believe it or not, but this break, is not entirely a break. I’ve thought a lot more about my grandfather this weekend than I would have been able to, had I stayed in Toronto. Less bullshit—less noise in my head and from other people.”

“I get that.”

“Now, your turn,” he said.

“For what?”

“A question that isn’t entirely safe.”

Cara stiffened. “Depends on what it is.”

“Too bad—I answered yours.” His hand landed on her bare hip under the afghan blanket, holding firm as if to keep her there. “Tell me about your sister. Not the kinds of things you tell other people. How you’re feeling. Certainly, not something to placate me. I’ll know if you do, bella donna. I am not a dumb man.”

No, he certainly wasn’t.

Cara barely had to think about her response, though. “She was not like me. Lea was the complete opposite of me. And maybe, sometimes, that left me feeling a bit left out when she could so easily fit in and I couldn’t, but I always had her, regardless. It took me a bit to realize after she had died that I depended on her for a lot more than being my sister and roommate. I didn’t know how to be Cara without Lea.”

“Oh?”

“I’m still not sure that I know.”

Gian’s lips pressed to the top of her head. “I only know you—what you let me know, of course—and I think you do Cara very well.”

She smiled. “I think you would have liked Lea, though.”

“I like you, love. And that’s the important bit.”

“Is it?”

“Sure.”

Cara fell silent, lost in the sensations of Gian stroking her skin under the blanket and the comfortable breeze coming in through the window. She hadn’t known how much she needed the quiet and a break from life and a city that never stopped moving. Sure, below them, another city was moving like the end was near, but she barely heard a thing.

It was only Gian’s speaking again that broke her from the daze.

“We should do this again soon,” he said.

“That might make it seem like we’re dating, Gian. We hooked up, ran away for the weekend, and now you’re planning the next one. I don’t get involved with your type of man—I told you that once.”

“It’s a little late for that, isn’t it?”

Cara bit her bottom lip. “Maybe.”

“We’re doing this again.”

It wasn’t even a suggestion that time.

“Are we?”

“Oh, yes.”





“Gian.”

He almost missed the call of his name by the familiar voice, as he started his ascent of the church steps. It was unusual for his closest enforcer—Chris—to call him by his name, as it was usually “boss” only to the man, but Gian understood why the sudden change.

Edmond clapped Gian on the shoulder as he continued climbing the church steps to a waiting Mass. When the boss was around, Gian could not be “boss” to his own men, as anyone in a higher position than him took precedence.

It hadn’t much mattered with his grandfather, but Edmond was not Corrado.

That was obvious to everyone.

“I messaged you this morning,” Gian said, turning to face the enforcer standing on the bottom step. “It’s not like you to be late, Chris.”

The barrel-chested man shrugged his wide shoulders. “Sundays are my off day—that’s what you always say, anyway. No business on Sundays. I put the phone away.”

“All right, I’ll take that.”

Only because it was true.

“You needed me for something?” Chris asked.

Gian ignored the passing people—many he recognized—as he reached for the velvet case inside his jacket pocket. Pulling the item out, he rested it on his palm. It was as long as his hand, and about as wide. “I need you to run this across town for me.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes. I don’t make you run errands very fucking often, so don’t start complaining now.”

Chris held his hands up, a silent apology. “No worries. Where’s it going to?”

Gian didn’t answer right away, instead, opening the velvet case to check the item inside for a fifth time since he had picked it up earlier in the week. He’d wanted to give it to Cara himself. He hadn’t seen her since the weekend before, but it looked like it was going to be another couple of days before he could drag himself away from the nonsense that had become his life. He figured the gift would be a nice way to tell her to look forward to a visit, and that he hadn’t forgotten about her.

In a way …

Inside the case, a black lace, Victorian-styled choker rested on crushed velvet. A small, oval diamond hung from the middle, giving it a bit of regal beauty to go along with the classic. He’d found the item by chance, when he had gone into his jeweller’s to pick up one of his Rolexes that needed to be fixed.