Page 56 of The Boss

“Hey, Gino,” she says, walking into the kitchen. She looks around. “Where’s Juliet?”

“Out,” I grumble.

“Oh shit, did you two get into a fight?”

“You could say that,” I mumble.

“Gino, what did you do?”

“I’m an asshole.”

“Well, I know that,” she says flatly.

“She found out about how I’ve been paying her bills⁠—”

“Gino,” she chastises.

I notice Alonso has left the room for this conversation. We all know Vanessa will call me out on my bullshit, just as Juliet does, but Vanessa has a way of doing it that only a sister can.

“Seriously, that’s an invasion of privacy.”

“Mateo does it.” The mention of my best friend and her husband makes me tense for a second because I am no closer to finding him.

“For starters, he told me that he was paying for everything before he did,” she says.

Damn it. Why does he have to be so honorable?

I grumble. “Your husband tries too hard to please you.”

She smiles. “No, he doesn’t have to try. But Gino, why did she think you weren’t paying for things?”

“I never told her. She’s fiercely independent like you. And she isn’t someone to allow for someone, especially a friend or partner, to handle things for her,” I say.

“Are you sure about that? I’m independent, but the second Mateo started handling things for me, buying things, and just being there, I allowed myself a different kind of independence. An independence where I didn’t have to think about the day-to-day and I could enjoy life,” she explains.

“When did you become wise?” I ask.

“I say I get it from Aunt Lucy.” She grins at me.

Lucy has become a de facto mom to all of us, but most definitely my sister. Lucy raised her after her mom died, just like Mateo’s mom did for me.

She looks at me flatly. “Seriously, why didn’t you mention anything to her? If you knew all of that about her, why didn’t you tell her when you started dating?”

“Because we aren’t dating,” I mumble, waiting for the onslaught of my sister’s anger.

“I’m sorry, what was that?” she asks, extending her neck, thinking to have heard me wrong. “Did you just say you aren’t dating? Did you two break up?”

“No, technically, we were never dating. We pretended to date because of the messages she was receiving. I thought it could protect her, and then you were so excited, so we’ve kept it up for the last few months,” I explain.

“Well, that doesn’t make this worse at all,” she says sarcastically.

“How does it make it worse?” I ask, sighing and pinching the bridge of my nose.

“She's going to think the only reason you want a relationship is to have more control over her.”

“Are you not mad?” I ask hopefully.

“Oh, I’m pissed. Why did you lie? You could have just said something, and I would have gone along with it.”