Page 47 of The Boss

“I’ve been told many times,” I grumble. “You’ve told me enough times.”

“Now we’ve established that, tell me, how many years has Mateo been telling you to ask her out?”

“Can I say all of them? I tried for years and things just happened–”

She cuts me off and starts, “Nope, I know what you 're going to say, and you deserve to be happy.”

“But—”

She cuts me off again. “Gino, no. We will get Mateo back. I fully believe that. I’m hopeful it’s sooner rather than later, but he will come back.”

I don’t know how she does it. She’s a light through all this dark. The man she loves, the man I basically forced her to marry, has been missing for months. He’s missed her entire pregnancy thus far; she didn’t even know she was pregnant until after he was kidnapped, which I think adds more to this. Since Mateo doesn’t know he’s going to be a father, it benefits him.

If he knew, he probably would have tried to escape and probably gotten himself killed in the process. He loves his wife fiercely. I’ve never seen him care about someone more. He was a certified bachelor before he met her and barely even looked at other women. I also know if the roles were reversed and I was in his position, he would do the same thing I’m doing. Looking for every way to find me without causing another war.

No one anticipated Lorenzo would do what he did. Anthony still doesn’t believe his son is capable of this, but we all know he is.

Pulling me from my thoughts, I hear Vanessa’s voice. “Can you help me with this?”

I look at what’s in her hands. She has some frames.

“What are these?”

“Photos of Mateo and I. I want there to be photos of him everywhere so they know what he looks like. Just in case.”

My throat is thick with emotion. “Yeah, where do you want them?”

“I think along this wall.” She points at the wall right behind us.

TWENTY-ONE

JULIET

Sometimes the best thing you can do is sit with your thoughts, and with everyone out doing what they can, that’s what I’m left with. And what better way to do so than with a good romance novel and soft acoustic music playing, while I sit in the library?

With the messages continuing, I’m forbidden to go anywhere alone. Only ever with Gino; his orders, of course. Everyone thinks it’s because of safety and that because we’re dating, we can’t keep our hands off each other. But dating is just a facade, and my safety is his main priority. The nickname and the authority I have now are just part of the show.

Well, that’s what I tell myself.

No matter what happened ten years ago, or two years ago, or even a few months ago when he started calling me Bella, it doesn’t feel real. We’ve always had a good relationship, leaning on and learning from each other, and neither of us wants to ruin that. But deep down, something always told me we’d get to this point where we didn’t know if we were more than friends. I’ve never told anyone how I felt the first time I met him, or how the last ten years of pretending our relationship was purely platonic felt like torture when I have been so deeply in love with him.

I remember the moment I realized I was in love with him. It was sophomore year, when Gino had presented his initial business plan to Mateo and I. He was so passionate about not being his father and forging his own path, you had to admire it. Once Mateo and I signed onto the plan, we knew we were all stuck together for life.

And now this all feels like it’s crumbling.

I’ve spent countless hours looking over every piece of data I can get my hands on, and still, nothing has gotten us any closer.

For the time being, the messaging has stopped, probably because they know we have someone on video. But Gino thinks it’s because they got what they wanted, which is me scared. Of course, I’m scared. Terrified, even.

I’m so close to telling Gino to call this whole thing off. I can lay low, but if someone’s targeting me, I want to know why. Gino was right that once it got around that we were dating, the messages would stop, and a lot of them have. But none of us were expecting more than one perpetrator.

I hear a soft knock pulling me from my thoughts.

“Hey,” I hear Gino's voice call from the doorway.

I turn and look at him. “Hey, how was Vanessa's?”

He rocks on his heels and puts his hands in his pockets.