He was the best guy I knew. I hoped one day I would be able to repay him somehow. “So, where do we start?” The only thing standing in our way was her family, and that was an obstacle that seemed impossible to overcome.
She stared at me for a long time, clearly not having an answer. “I don’t know…”
“I intend to keep working at the casino until we figure it out. When the time comes, I’m prepared to walk away…but I’m not going to do it prematurely.” She already had my commitment, so the second everything was ready, I would honor what I’d said. But it didn’t seem fair for me to give up everything when we didn’t know what would happen with her father. “I hope you understand.”
“I do.”
“Do you want me to approach your father? I will if you want me to.”
“Oh no,” she said with a slightly deranged laugh. “No, no, no. That’s a terrible idea…”
The only reason I didn’t tell her I’d already met her father was because I’d told her father I wouldn’t. If I said he marched down here and tried to pay me off, it would hurt their relationship. That was the last thing I wanted, to come between a father and a daughter. But that also forced me to be complicit in a lie. “Then where should we begin?”
“I guess I’ll talk to him…just the two of us. I don’t want to blindside him by bringing you along. I don’t even think I’ll get my mother involved in this.”
I wondered how Cane would handle it, if he would pretend he’d never met me. He didn’t seem like the kind of man who would lie, but he also wouldn’t risk upsetting his daughter either.
“I’ll talk to him first. See what he says. And hopefully…the two of you can sit down together, and we can go from there.”
We’d already sat down together, and he told me he wanted me to disappear. I wasn’t good enough for his daughter, despite everything I did for her. Maybe stepping away from this lifestyle would change his mind. Maybe it wouldn’t. “Alright.”
“Let’s talk about it more in the morning.” She patted my thigh then left the couch. She sauntered away, her sexy body shifting as she walked in my t-shirt. She headed down the hallway until she rounded the corner.
My phone started to vibrate again. This time, it was a number I didn’t recognize.
I answered. “Bosco Roth.”
His voice was unmistakable over the line. “Did she stay?” Deep, magnetic, and constantly full of threat, Cane Barsetti sounded just as harsh over the phone as he did when we spoke three weeks ago.
I dreaded the sound of his disappointment. “Yes.”
Cane was quiet, dead silent.
“She—”
Click. Cane Barsetti hung up on me, not giving a damn about anything else I had to say.
12
Carmen
Vanessa walked into my shop first thing in the morning. “I called you twice last night.”
I hadn’t looked at my phone until I left for work today. “I know. I didn’t notice it until I got out of the shower this morning.”
“Because…?” With both hands on her hips, she walked toward me, her attitude shining in her eyes. “Were you busy last night?”
She wasn’t going to rest until she heard the words fly out of my mouth. I set my tools aside and sucked it up to tell the truth. “I was with Bosco last night.”
“Oh my god, so you’re staying?” She leaned against the counter as she looked at me, her belly a little bigger every single day.
“Yeah.”
Vanessa sighed. “What about everything you decided on?”
“Well…” I told her that his drivers took me to the house he’d bought, along with the box that contained his letter and the diamond ring. “He said he was willing to give it all up for me…so I came back.”
Speechless, Vanessa stared at me with her mouth gaping open. “Oh my god…”
I couldn’t believe it either, even when I was staring at the words on the page.
“He’s gonna walk away from everything?”
“Yes…once we’re in the clear.”
“In the clear?” she asked.
“With my father…your father…the entire Barsetti clan.” Each member of my family was just as close to me as all the others. No one felt distant. Conway felt like my brother as much as my own brother did. Our closeness was both a blessing and a curse.
“I see,” she said. “Add Griffin to that to-do list too.”
“Are you at least on my side?”
She shook her head slightly, like I’d asked a stupid question. “This guy offered to walk away from his world for you. I think he’s redeemed himself in my eyes. Plus, he didn’t attack my husband even when he had every right to. The guy is a saint. Of course, I’m on your side. But when it comes to our fathers, I’m not sure how much that will help you.”