Page 77 of The Man with a Treasure

“She just reminds me of her mother, that is all.”

“And we’re back to running.”

“I’m not running!” I started to pace, trying to calm myself.

“Zeta was wrong, Angelo.”

That name set my nerves afire. “She has nothing to do with this.”

“She was a bitch who knew nothing of our line of work.”

“She didn’t have to. She doesn’t even have to work. She’s in the class of Giordanos. One I will never belong to.”

“Scarlett isn’t.”

“Now, who is insane?” I pointed to her bedroom. “She is Italian royalty.”

“She is a woman who cares nothing about such things.”

I yelled, “We don’t know that yet! She has so much to learn!”

“Her lack of education has nothing to do with the beautiful soul inside her, and you know it.”

I sneered, “How do we know that being born a Giordano hasn’t snuffed out many beautiful souls, Sal? Most of them seem like assholes to me.”

He took a step back, his mouth gaping. “You’re afraid.”

My own mouth opened. It closed. Opened again.

“Angelo, you have not let one woman in your heart since Noemi.”

“I have fucked plenty.”

“Never looking them in the eye.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because you have never fucked a woman without me by your side.”

I was a thirty-one-year-old man who had never laid with a woman without his best friend fucking her, too. “It doesn’t matter. Neither of us will ever be fucking Scarlett. When the coast is clear, we are to take her to her family. We are dispensable employees.” I walked toward my room. “That is something you need to remember.”

Even after paying another month of rent for the home, Sal and I had plenty of cash stowed away. All there was to do was to protect and focus on Scarlett. We all sighed when her bandages were removed, for good. It felt like we were succeeding in protecting her. No new physical scars would be made

Once her stomach started accepting more types of foods, she spent a lot of time with Sal in the kitchen. I told myself I was fine with that because Scarlett being entertained kept her away from me. I hoped twenty feet of distance would help sever the tie I had to her. So, when I turned a corner and saw her in his lap, his feet propped on the coffee table like he was a king, it shouldn’t have bothered me.

Naïve, Scarlett innocently waved. “Angel! A book!” And pointed. “Sal is reading it to me!”

I had been the one to show her the house’s small library—a bookcase of books. But it was Sal who was reaping the rewards, totally forgetting my crucial advice for him to remember he is merely an employee.

I shouldn’t have been jealous.

But I was.

Burying deeper into my heart, Scarlett looked absolutely adorable, trying to imitate my flaring nostrils. Letting her go, when it was time, was going to wound me.

Sal, poking fun at my glare, just smiled. “Angelo! Who was I to say no?”

Needing space and to get away from the beauty in Sal’s lap, I walked out the side French doors for some fresh air, all the way mumbling, “You hardheaded fool. You will get us killed.”