Page 142 of Cara & Gian: The Guzzi Duet

“Wonderful.” Cara crossed her arms.

“I will take you home once you’re done with the boss.”

The boss.

Cara didn’t miss the man’s choice of words, in regards to Gian. Was that what had happened while she was gone? Was that what he had sent her away for, so that he could take over the new boss’s seat, and get his revenge for his grandfather at the same time?

She wasn’t stupid, of course, and she knew how volatile and dangerous things had started to become before Gian sent her away. Incidents that had come far too close to Cara and Gian. Still, he never talked details. He was always careful, in that sense, and only gave her the barest bones of information. Just enough to tide her over.

For good reason, her mind taunted, you’re not his wife.

Nothing Gian ever told Cara would be safe.

Not in court.

Goomahs didn’t get that sort of closeness with their men.

Whores got nothing.

It only pissed her off even more. Cara had thought she knew everything about Gian that was important, things a man who loved her should tell her. Even a man like him, involved in things that put a constant target on his back.

She thought he cared enough.

He clearly hadn’t cared at all.

“Your brother called ahead of time and let the boss know what time your flight would be arriving this afternoon.”

Cara wanted to be angry at Tommas over that fact, but she couldn’t summon up the emotion. All of her anger was being saved for the one person who deserved it the most, and she knew Tommas had only been doing what was expected of him, as he’d allowed Cara to return to Toronto before Gian gave the okay.

“Am I at least allowed to grab some food on the way?”

“The boss has a lunch waiting, if you’re hungry,” Chris said.

Cara scowled, and walked on past the guy. “Lunch he can choke on.”

“You’ll be heading up alone from here,” her escort said as Cara stepped into the elevator. “The boss said it would be better if no one interrupted you two for the next little while.”

Cara turned to face Chris who was holding the elevator door back from closing.

“If I wasn’t so pissed off, I would thank you, but …” She let her unspoken words hang in the air, unsaid. “You know how it goes.”

The man nodded once. “Given the circumstances, I understand.”

Cara frowned, her embarrassment rising. “Do you know the circumstances?”

“I’ve known since the day he married his wife. I was invited by his grandfather to attend, since I had kept an eye on Gian for a great many years before that day. I have been around for more things that I care to mention at this moment, and you happened to be one of them.”

Ouch.

Just another name to add to her list of people who’d known, while she hadn’t.

“You must have thought I was foolish, then.”

Chris’s expression gave nothing away. “I think you were happy, and you made him happy. So, what business is it of mine, to tell my boss that he shouldn’t be happy, when I’ve watched him simply exist for too long?”

“That’s quite a black and white way of looking at it.”

“Maybe so.”