Page 88 of Revere: A Legacy Novel

“That, reginella, is a story for another day. Every man has his secrets. A few of us are lucky to know them, and so we choose to keep them safe.”

What?

“You know what, never mind,” Catherine said.

Her uncle was acting too strange for her to even bother.

“Do you remember when you were about, oh, fifteen or so? Your mother and father took Michel to Detroit to check out apartments for when he moved out that following summer.”

Catherine stiffened on the spot. “What about it?”

“You had the house to yourself that weekend. No babysitters inside.”

“Uncle Gio—”

“I came over to check on you, and there was flour all over the kitchen,” her uncle continued as though she hadn’t spoken at all. “You said some crap about a bug or whatever. I knew it was bullshit from the first word out of your mouth.”

Catherine could feel the heat rising in her cheeks. “So?”

“You do realize there were footprints in the flour, right?”

“Oh, my God.”

Giovanni nodded to himself. “Two sets. One very obviously smaller, and yours. The other larger, and I thought, likely—”

“Yes, Cross was there,” Catherine muttered.

Her uncle chuckled under his breath. “I thought so.”

“Why didn’t you say anything, then?”

He shrugged. “I figured I had probably scared the shit out of the kid enough.”

Catherine laughed. “Not nearly enough, though. He stayed all weekend.”

“They did say Cross was always … fearless. You don’t seem all that surprised to see me here,” Giovanni said.

He stepped away from her Lexus as she pulled the fob out of her bag to unlock it.

“Not at all, Uncle Gio.”

“Neither did Cross, really.”

“Nope,” she said.

“Apparently, I rolled my ass out of bed before ten for nothing,” Giovanni grumbled.

Catherine side-eyed him. “Daddy sent you over?”

“How did you know?”

Her uncle sounded both amused and sarcastic at the same time. It was one of the reasons everyone—young and old—in their family adored Giovanni. Though he aged, he still behaved far younger than his years. He did not take anything too seriously. And he was always the first to bend rules simply to make things fun for everyone else, including himself.

“Well, to start,” Catherine said, “I know what he’s been doing.”

“Oh, do tell. Amuse me.”

“Having Cross followed. Allowing his men to make public scenes. I think we would call that intimidating him. Although, frankly, he’s just pissing Cross off. Someone needs to tell Daddy that this is all pointless. I told him what I told him, and I meant it.”