Page 52 of Unraveled

Her hair was wild. Her eyes were sleepy. She had shoved on his forgotten dress shirt instead of her clothes because it was easier. She needed coffee, food, and a shower, and then she might be half presentable to the public.

Gian’s hand tangled into her messy hair as he brought her closer for a kiss to her cheek. “Shut up and take the compliment, Cara.”

Well, then …

“Fine, but I’m all fucked-out, so don’t think you’re getting laid for that one this morning.”

His laughter came out dark and heady, waking Cara up even more. “Fucked-out, that’s a new one.”

“I need more time being awake to properly converse like a real human.”

“Well, let’s get some food in you and then see how you feel,” Gian said.

Cara followed behind him as he headed toward his penthouse’s kitchen. “Now is probably the best time to ask this, then, huh?”

“Ask what, Cara?”

“Who that guy—Frankie—was last night, and why he called me Lea.”

Gian’s steps came to a full stop.

Cara damn near ran into his back.

Slowly, he turned to face her, his amusement from earlier gone entirely. “You’re not going to drop that, are you?”

“As much as I like you on your knees, eating my pussy like it’s the last thing you’re ever going to taste, no, that’s not going to work today. If that’s what you meant to say.”

Gian’s lips pressed into a thin, unimpressed line. “Cara—”

“I dealt with the distraction last night. Try the truth today, please.”

“I don’t know a lot about it.”

“Tell me what you do know, Gian.”

He crossed his arms, and Cara matched his posture in the hallway. She wasn’t moving a damn inch until he started talking. Simple as that.

“Sometimes, Frankie runs in the same circles as me, but we’re not friends, not like Constantino and I are. But like I said, sometimes we run into one another. As far as I know, from passing mentions or seeing them out, Frankie went out with Lea for a while a year back or so. Those were the few times I actually saw her or came in contact with her.”

“Like a few dates, or …?”

“I think it was more than that,” Gian admitted, “but I can’t say for sure, and there’s certain things men don’t ask each other in this business, when women are brought around.”

Cara’s brow furrowed. “I don’t understand. Lea didn’t have a boyfriend before she died, and even before that, there was no one she talked about.”

Sure, her sister went out and did her own thing. Lea had a social life that didn’t include Cara a lot of the time, because she wasn’t into that sort of thing. But a man? A boyfriend, for months? Cara didn’t think so.

“As far as I know, it ended a couple of months before Lea died,” Gian said with a shrug. “I only know that because … well, because I do.”

“Because why?”

Gian scowled. “Because Frankie got married to the broad that ended up pregnant with his kid; he married her, and it was the right thing to do. That’s what a man is expected to do when he knocks a woman up—marry her as soon as possible. I don’t know the personal details because that shit is private. I know what was presented to me like it was to everyone else.”

Cara suddenly felt like someone had sucked all the air out of her chest. “What?”

“Sometimes, it’s better to drop things, Cara.”

“Did Lea know he was running around with someone else?”