Page 188 of Diego

Victoria hides a smile while folding the blanket.

I point at Diego. “This is exactly what I’ve been dealing with.”

“It must be awful. Being catered to,” she says.

“Whose side are you on?” I accuse.

“At the moment? My own,” she says pleasantly.

Victoria takes the bag she brought with her and slings it over one shoulder before reaching for her son. Leonardo sees her coming and immediately tightens both arms around Diego’s neck.

“Oh, now you want to stay,” she says.

Diego looks smug. “He has excellent taste.”

“He tried to eat a piece of lint earlier, so I wouldn't take it as a compliment.”

“Irrelevant.”

Victoria holds out her hands. “Come here, troublemaker.”

Leonardo considers his options, then reluctantly allows himself to be transferred. The second he is against his mother, he settles there as comfortably as he had with Diego, one hand curling into her sweater.

Victoria looks at me. “I’m glad we finally met.”

“So am I.”

“And I mean it about calling if you need anything.”

I nod. “Thank you. For today too.”

“It was hardly a hardship.”

Her gaze flicks briefly toward Diego. “And now your official supervisor is back, so my work here is done.”

Diego sighs.

I grin.

Victoria kisses Leonardo’s temple and heads toward the entryway. Diego walks with her, and I hear the low murmur of their voices as he opens the door. A moment later, Victoria calls goodbye, the door closes, and quiet settles over the house again.

Diego returns to the living room and drops onto the sofa beside me.

For a few seconds neither of us says anything.

I look at him.

He catches me doing it. “What?”

“Nothing.”

His brows lift.

I look toward the windows, but the image of him with Leonardo stays with me.

Chapter Thirty Three

Diego