Page 207 of Cara & Gian: The Guzzi Duet

“I saw the guys leave. I thought I should check on you.”

Right.

“I’m fine, about to head to bed.” With that, he stood from his desk, closing his laptop down and putting away his papers. All the while, Elena never moved from her spot in the doorway, forcing Gian to come incredibly close to his wife as he passed her by. Her hand coming up to press against his chest over his dress shirt stopped him for a moment. “What, Elena?”

“I don’t interest you at all, do I?”

His gaze lingered over the delicate column of her throat, to the peeks of her breasts at the top of the robe, and then down over her trim waist and the expanse of her legs. “You did once, but it was a game you used to hurt me with. Nothing about that interests me at all, Elena.”

“Why her, then?”

Gian stiffened. “I beg your pardon?”

“What about Cara Rossi is so special? She’s pretty, sure. Red hair, tall, slim. But she isn’t … spectacular, is she? Or did I miss something?”

He realized in that moment how delicate of a line he was walking with his wife. It was not one he wanted to walk at all, but it seemed Elena was not going to give him a choice in the matter.

“Cara—”

“Did you think I wouldn’t know about her visit when you were in jail? Or how curious it is that you are bringing her to visit … not to mention, when she’s pregnant? Or that you hole yourself up in her place for days, hiding away from the world?”

“Elena, that’s enough,” Gian warned. “This isn’t your business, and you have no reason to care, either way.”

“Someone told me she was pregnant,” Elena continued, not heeding his warning in the slightest. “I had to see, so I did. I approached her in the grocery store. I don’t think she even knew who I was, or if she did, it probably wasn’t until after. A boy, she told me. Marcus for a name, maybe. You’re going to give your bastard—even if he is a firstborn boy—your family’s name? And not even for a middle name, but a first name, his given name. I don’t understand, I guess, what about her that does it for you. Like I said, nothing about her is spectacular or amazing. She’s just a woman.”

“Because she isn’t you,” Gian said, “she is the complete opposite of you, Elena. And that is everything. Stay away from Cara, understood?”

His rage simmered through his bloodstream, but he managed to hide it for the moment. How long that would last, he couldn’t say.

How dare she approach Cara?

How dare she seek her out?

Had Cara even realized?

“I will make your father look like a saint, if you hurt that woman or my child,” Gian murmured in Elena’s ear. “We both know the only reason you’re still a problem for me is because of your father. You have things in this life that she doesn’t, where I’m concerned. You have my last name, my homes, my money, and my grandmother’s rings on your finger. And you don’t deserve a single fucking one of them. You know it, too. So, try not to let your need to play games with the lives of others cloud the smart part of your brain that knows you’re safe and comfortable in your good little life here, Elena. I don’t love you and you will never have my children, because those are things she has. And if you try to take them away from her because you are jealous or bitter, I will scatter you from one end of this city to the other.”

Gian smiled, but Elena stayed stone-cold.

“Just so we’re clear,” he added.

Elena stayed where she was in the doorway. Gian went to bed. Cara, however, got an enforcer to watch her the very next morning.