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As I drove away from the house, I tapped my fingers on the wheel. “Ade,” I said. “I need to talk to you about your mom.”
“I told her to stop being so nosey.”
I sighed. “No,” I replied. “I misspoke. Something about the close eye they’re keeping on us is making me uneasy. And after finding out that your sister might be embezzling money…”
She stiffened beside me. “What are you saying, Tristan?”
I let out a slow breath, maneuvering the car through the busy morning streets. “I’m saying that we need to be careful, love. I don’t trust Carmen. And after everything that happened...” My voice trailed off.
“I know you don’t trust Carmen. But you don’t trust my mom?”
I wondered what the best way to answer this was. Whatever I said, I knew I was going to piss her off. “You’re the only Orsini I trust.”
Her silence was deafening as she stared at me, her eyes round with shock. It was as though I had slapped her, and I instantly regretted my harsh words.
“Adriana,” I began, my voice softening. “I didn’t mean it like that...”
“No,” she interrupted, holding up her hand to stop me. “I get it, Tristan.” Her voice was steady, but I could see the hurt in her eyes. “You’re right. You can never be too careful.”
“I’m not being crazy. We found evidence of her embezzlement. And she was acting real sketchy,” I said.
“Well, forgive me for not having time to look into her by being too busy growing two fucking humans,” she said. “I apologize I haven’t had the energy to look into my sister’s potential betrayal.”
“I wasn’t calling you out or anything,” I said. “I’m just saying that it’s something we needed to discuss. Your mom setting an alarm…I don’t know. All of that stuff. It adds up to being pretty weird.”
She took a deep breath, her eyes reflecting the morning sun as they bored into me. “Okay,” she said, her voice carrying an edge of steel I had never heard before. She straightened up in her seat, her jaw set firmly. “Then let’s investigate.”
I felt a small sense of relief wash over me at her response. There was no anger or resentment in her voice, just determination. “Alright,” I said, squeezing her hand in mine as we pulled up to the diner. “Let’s look into who broke into the Callahan estate first. Whoever did that had to be ballsy.”
“You don’t think it was an Orsini man, do you?” Adriana asked.
“Maybe a Rossi one,” I told her. “Nick is itching to get his hands on you again after I got you out. If he gets you, he doesn’t just get the Orsinis. Now, he gets the Callahans too.”
“Maybe your brother will know something about this,” Adriana played with the buckle on her handbag as she spoke.
“That’s what I’m hoping,” I responded, glancing over at Adriana. Her brows knitted together in a furrow of worry, and I reached out to take her hand, giving it a comforting squeeze.
We entered the diner hand in hand, the chime of the doorbell ringing our arrival. The place was comfortably familiar - worn-in vinyl seats, the smell of coffee and bacon wafting from the kitchen, and the sound of low chatter creating a soothing hum.
As we settled into our booth, a waitress came over with a friendly smile. “What can I get you two this morning?” she asked.
Adriana ordered for both us – coffee and pancakes for her, eggs and bacon for me. The second the waitress left, Adriana turned to me again. “Tristan,” she started tentatively, her fingers playing with the edge of the tablecloth. “Can we hold off on telling Kieran about Carmen?”
“Yeah,” I told her. “I don’t think anyone should know anything until we confirm.”
“Good,” she breathed out, sliding her hand back into mine. “One crisis at a time.”
I reached across the table to take her hands, my thumb gently rubbing over her knuckles. “I’m sorry if I upset you earlier.”
“It’s okay,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “This is a lot to handle.”
Before we could talk any more, Kieran had walked up to our table.
His dark eyes scanned over us, the usual aloofness in his gaze replaced by something akin to concern. “You guys okay?” he asked, pulling up a chair.
Adriana nodded, giving him a small smile. “Just discussing some things,” she said. Her gaze flicked briefly to mine before returning to Kieran.
He eyed us suspiciously for a moment before waving over the waitress. “Coffee, black,” he ordered brusquely before turning back to us. “What exactly are we discussing?”
