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Enzo acknowledged this with a nod. He tried not to betray his anxiety even as he asked, “What do you think of him?”
Giovanna took rather longer to answer than Enzo felt comfortable with.
“He seems quite fond of you,” she said at last in a tone which suggested this was not necessarily a virtue.
And yet Enzo couldn’t prevent himself from replying, “No less fond than I am of him.”
Giovanna tilted her head to serve him a studious gaze. “What are your intentions towards him?”
Enzo hadn’t the first idea what she meant. He understood the words, of course, but what she wished to glean beneath the surface remained beyond him. He endeavored to answer her question at face value. “To make him happy for as long as he’ll permit me.”
Giovanna furrowed her brow, which Enzo thought unwarranted. “Why shouldn’t he permit you?”
Enzo could sense a trap forming around him but knew no way out except through. “He has other plans.”
Giovanna’s brows arose. “What sort of plans?”
Against his better judgment, Enzo replied, “Plans to find a wealthy gentleman who will support his retirement.”
“That sounds rather like making him happy,” Giovanna observed.
Enzo shrugged.
Giovanna’s gaze grew, if possible, even more pointed. “You are a wealthy gentleman.”
Enzo admitted as much.
“Do you intend to support his retirement?”
A dangerous question. Enzo attempted a sideways answer. “He will not permit me.”
“You have offered, then.”
Enzo, thoroughly ensnared, could only nod.
A slight sigh escaped Giovanna. Wistful, Enzo hoped, rather than disapproving. “And he has refused you.”
Enzo nodded again.
“On what grounds?” Giovanna mused. Her gentle tone belied her pointed enquiries. “Does he believe your fortune insufficient to support him—even after all he’s seen here?”
Her words were light and teasing, but not outright dismissive, which was better than Enzo had hoped for. “He would prefer the support of an older gentleman.”
“Whatever for?”
“So that his patron may predecease him rather than abandoning him for another.”
Giovanna stared at him for a long and silent moment.
Enzo knew not how to answer her look save with another shrug.
“And,” Giovanna said at last, “how is this plan unfolding so far?”
Enzo didn’t like the realization that he didn’t have an answer. He ought to have asked. Someone who cared for Fiore doubtless would’ve done so. Someone better than Enzo. Someone who actually deserved Fiore.
Giovanna understood the answer in his silence. “Are you certain this remains his plan?”
Enzo found it more difficult to meet his sister’s gaze with every passing moment.
