Page 191 of Cara & Gian: The Guzzi Duet

He had come to a few conclusions when he was kept from her—more so than when he had chosen to stay away before. She was the blood in his body, the breath in his lungs, and the sun in his life.

She just was.

Everything, for Gian, was Cara Rossi.

Gian had always known those things, of course, but it was a much more intense understanding to come to when a man was alone with nothing but his thoughts and feelings. He had never done particularly well with feelings, after all.

More so, Gian now wanted to make sure Cara understood that she was all of those things to him and more. He wasn’t sure if he had properly explained all of that to her, and didn’t she deserve to know?

Maybe if she did know, then Cara might finally understand why details never mattered to Gian where they were concerned. The only details that had ever mattered to him were her.

Gian also needed to make sure he kept his ass out of jail, because he had too much time to think, and he didn’t want a repeat. He was tired of jail-house nonsense, their fucking schedules, and going to bed when he was told to.

This was fucking ridiculous.

He wanted home, Cara, and a good meal.

It didn’t have to be in that order.

So, as he slipped into his clothes, fixed his jewelry to his wrist and slid his rings on his fingers, Gian was more than ready to get his freedom back.

“Sign here,” the nasally-voiced woman behind the Plexiglas window said.

Gian scribbled his name across the dotted line.

Just a few steps away now.

Freedom was so close, he could taste it.

Gian collected the folder with his release papers and headed for the doors that separated him from the outside world. It could have been worse, he knew, as those five months could have just as easily been spent in a prison.

It didn’t matter.

He was ready to be out.

He wanted his life back.

“You’re looking terribly happy about something, boss.”

Gian smiled at the voice that greeted him as he walked out of the jail doors. Chris waited there for him, as that was who he had requested pick him up. He didn’t want an affair for his release. As it was, his mother wanted a dinner, and he had men to meet and greet after being locked away for five months. Because of those things, he already had to put off seeing Cara for at least a day or two, which was bad enough.

“It’s a nice day for the end of April,” Gian noted, glancing up at the bright sky. “Tell me you brought the SUV with the sunroof.”

“I did,” Chris said.

“Good man.”

“I also brought your wife.”

There went Gian’s good mood.

“What?” Gian asked, feeling the beginnings of a migraine. “Why would you do that?”

Chris jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the SUV. The windows were tinted too dark for him to see inside, but he had no doubt that Elena was sitting in the back seat.

“She had to come,” Chris said, “and apparently her father knows you’re getting out today, and wanted a meeting before you did anything else. According to Elena, he requested she be there, too. Sorry, boss.”

“I don’t answer to Gabriel Canali or his fucking wants, and he knows it.”