Page 129 of Entangled

Blood was pooling across her bedroom floor.

“I don’t know what just happened,” Cara whispered.

“He was going to take you away from me.”

“But why?”

“Because he thought I took Elena,” Gian said.

Cara didn’t entirely understand.

She didn’t think it was all that important.

Once again, the familiar ding of the elevator rang through the penthouse. Cara’s frantic gaze darted to Gian, but he looked a hell of a lot calmer about an unknown someone coming into their place than she did.

“Calm down, it’s probably just—”

“Boss!”

“Stephan,” Gian finished with a sigh.

“Boss!”

“In the fucking bedroom, Stephan.” Gian held his arms out to Cara once more. “I know you’re scared and hurting, but I would really like to hold you right now, mon ange. Please.”

Her skittish nod sent him moving fast across the floor. She felt better the second she didn’t feel anything but him. His gentle fingers skimmed over her face, and through the tangles of her hair. He looked at the marks on her neck, muttered about a busted vessel in her eye, and mentioned a doctor that would come in and look her and the baby over once they had the mess cleaned up.

Cara didn’t care, as long as Marcus was still happy in her arms and Gian was there.

“Holy shit,” Stephan said from the doorway. “How did you make it here before me? I was closer by fifteen minutes, at least.”

Gian shrugged, but didn’t let go of Cara. “I drive fast.”

“Chris always said you drove like a bat out of hell, boss.”

“He understated it,” Gian said deadpan. “This needs to go away, Stephan. This mess—the body. It needs to be gone, it can’t be found.”

Cara chose not to ask about that, either.

“I can do that,” Stephan answered.

That was that.

Cara found Gian sitting on the middle of their bedroom floor, his suit jacket discarded, and his tie hanging loosely around his neck. He sat in the same spot Domenic had damn near killed her, and then subsequently lost his own life. Gian fiddled with his finger, and as Cara came closer, she realized he was spinning the wedding band around and around the digit. She rarely saw him wear the piece of jewelry—he said he didn’t like it, and only put it on when necessary.

She supposed today would have been one of those necessary days.

Elena’s funeral.

The last two weeks had been especially trying for Gian, she knew. Perhaps had it been any other man he’d killed, and not his brother, the heavy weight he carried around wouldn’t be so present and obvious. She had gone along with him when he chose to tell his mother and father that Domenic would not be coming home ever again. Gian hadn’t needed to do that, because as far as Cara knew, by Gian’s request, Stephan had taken care of the body so that it wouldn’t be found. As sad as it would have been for Gian’s parents to realize something had happened and not have answers, Gian was not required to give one.

Yet, he had.

And the sound.

Oh, God.

The sound of Celeste Guzzi’s heartache still resounded in Cara’s mind. It was as though the woman’s whole world had just fallen apart entirely. It had been a tug of war in the mother’s eyes as she listened to Gian explain and apologize. Cara did not think she was as good of a woman as Celeste seemed to be in the moments that followed. A woman who faced the reasons why, and forgave all the same. A woman who loved a murdered child, and the child who had done the killing.