Page 31 of Mafia Bodyguards Obsession

“Even though he’s…. with the Rossis?”

I shoot her a glance. She’s looking at me intensely, her eyes narrowed.

“Yeah. I mean, they seem pretty decent, and they look out for us both.”

“Interesting,” she murmurs. It sounds like a cop-out for all the things she really wants to say.

I don’t know what to think. Caterina was my best friend in high school. I always felt like I could tell her anything, and I hoped that she felt the same way about me too.

But before I can ask what’s bothering her, she says a little too brightly, “Could I get my nails done for a party?”

“Okay.” I gesture to my station, trying not to let it show that I’m a little put out by her reaction to Romeo’s boss. “What kind of party is it?”

“An engagement party.” She studies her hands, the short, bitten nails, and the puffy skin surrounding them.

“Oh, that’s exciting. Tis the season, right?” I laugh, feeling a little guilty now for boasting about Romeo’s romantic proposal, when she probably feels as if everyone she knows is getting married. “Whose engagement is it?”

“Mine.”

Something in her voice makes me look up from her hands. I blink.

She kept that quiet, but maybe I was so caught up in my own story that I didn’t give her a chance to get a word in edgeways. She holds my gaze. She should be buzzing with excitement, but instead, here she is holding it together as if it’s just a regular day in the life of Caterina De Luca.

“Who’s the lucky guy?” I want to ask her why she didn’t tell me, but then I never told her about Romeo either. That’s life, I guess. She went to college, and I stayed behind. People move on.

Caterina takes one deep, stabilizing breath. She looks me in the eye and smiles. Finally.

“Elio Rossi.”