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It’s only my respect for my brother that stops me from outright lying to him. Instead, I just hold his gaze. Gabriel groans, looking away.
“For fuck’s sake,” he hisses darkly. “She’s Massimo fucking Carveli’s wife.”
“I’m aware of that,” I mutter back.
“Are you? Because this is beyond your usual devil-may-care bullshit, Alistair,” he snaps. “This is a death wish.”
“I know what I’m doing, Gabriel.”
Such a lie.
“I’m going to go in your place to Massimo’s thing tonight.”
“You weren’t invited,” I fire back with a snarky smile.
Ostensibly, I was invited because I’m a name partner at the firm, and the cocktail party at his penthouse is, I gather, a who’s-who of business associates of his.
Except neither Taylor nor my brother got an invitation. Just me.
“The invite is to the firm,” Gabriel insists. “He just wants one of us there to show off to his mafia buddies.”
“Funny,” I smile as I slip my hand into my jacket and pull out the little white card with gold foil lettering on it. “Because it’s specifically my name on the invitation.”
Gabriel’s jaw sets. “If there is any chance Massimo knows what you’re up to with Eloise?—”
“There isn’t.”
He gives me a look. “Can I take that as confirmation that you’re currently involved with her?”
“That’s leading the witness.”
“Fuck you. Objection.”
“Sustained. The defense rests.”
Gabriel’s lips curl even as he looks away and rolls his eyes.
I step closer to my brother and pat him on the shoulder. “I’ll be fine, Gabriel.”
Probably.
19
ELOISE
I feel sick.
It’s not the dress, which is slightly too tight. And it’s not the several—I’ve lost count—glasses of champagne I’ve already knocked back.
It’s the war going on inside my chest, twisting me up and leaving me gasping for air.
“What you’ve gathered so far is a good start, Eloise.”
Guests have already started arriving for this disaster of a cocktail party Massimo has insisted on throwing. But I’m not playing hostess yet. Instead, I’m sitting down in Massimo’s private home office with my husband and a man I’ve just been introduced to simply as Tony.
Tony is a lawyer, though not “officially” Massimo’s attorney. He’s more of a strategist, as he told me five minutes ago when Massimo dragged me in here.
“But we need more,” Tony says casually to me, trying to smile like he’s my friend.
