Page 247 of Cara & Gian: The Guzzi Duet

“Do you have a rat?”

“A big, fat one.”

Tommas grunted disgustedly. “But you’re not as concerned about the rat as you are—”

“Gabriel. Exactly.”

“And why is that, now?”

“He’s pushed every other button he thinks I have, Tommas,” Gian said, “and it earned him nothing. I only have one thing left for him to come after, to make his point loud and clear.”

“You’re talking about Cara.”

“Every part of me wishes I wasn’t.”

“But you’ve told me you keep her presence quiet, and that you’re quiet about coming and going from here. You said you were careful, Gian.”

“I can never be careful enough, I can only be mindful now.”

“What does that even mean?”

“It means I have been watching and waiting for him to try and push that button with me, because he knows very well that it’s there. I do all I can to keep her safe, because I put her in this position, even if she doesn’t know it.”

“Why not just kill him?” Tommas demanded.

“It’s never that easy. Another person on my shit-list shows up murdered. I don’t need the fucking attention it’s likely to bring, unless he doesn’t give me a choice. I’ve managed Gabriel this long, when others wouldn’t have bothered at all, I can manage a little while longer. Surely. We’ve been entangled in this mess for years. I know his games.”

“So just kill him.”

“Tell me, why didn’t you just kill the person standing in your way, Tommas?”

Tommas cleared his throat. “It wasn’t that easy.”

“My point, merci.”

“And if he does go after Cara?”

“I’m doing everything I can to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

“But if he does,” Tommas pressed, not even posing it as a question.

“Then I’ll slaughter him. It’ll turn all eyes on me—it’ll cause a war between organizations. It’s everything I can’t afford to have happen right now, given the state of my freedom and famiglia.”

“But?”

“I’ll do it. I’ll burn the whole fucking world down for her. Imagine what I would do to just one man.”

Jenny’s face lit up with pure joy as Cara turned the infant car seat so that a wide-awake, one month and a half old Marcus was visible. “Look at him!”

“I do,” Cara said, laughing. “Every day, all the time.”

“Oh, my God. He is too precious.”

And just like that, someone else fell in love with Cara’s son. She couldn’t really blame people. There was something about Marcus’s sweet face and gold-flecked brown eyes that just did it for everybody. When he smiled, they all melted.

“He looks like his father,” Jenny noted. “Those eyes are just unreal.”

“So everyone keeps saying.”