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“I’ll call you, okay?”
Astoria nods but she can’t seem to make eye contact. Not that I blame her. I step into my car and drive away from the Bianchi mansion.
Mission accomplished. But why does it feel like I just changed the rules of the game?
* * *
I’m exhaustedas I walk into my apartment building, taking the elevator up to the fifth floor. I barely pay any attention to my surrounding as I open the door to my home mechanically. My mind is elsewhere as I remove my jacket and undo the first few buttons of my shirt. The lights in the apartment suddenly flicker on. I barely register surprise before my hand closes around my gun and I point it in the direction of the body in the room.
Christian grins. “Nice reflexes,fratello.”
I blow out a breath before placing the gun back into the back of my shirt. “What the fuck, Chris? I didn’t give you a key so you could sneak up on me like that.”
“No, you gave it to me so I could let myself in whenever I wanted. Which I did,” he states, dropping the remote that controls all the lights back on the table. He walks over to me, his eyebrows raised. “Why were you so lost in thought?”
“No reason,” I mutter, sinking onto the couch.
I rub my forehead slightly, feeling a headache creeping in. Christian’s still standing, watching me curiously. “Where were you?”
“With Khalil,” I reply.
While he and Christian have never met in an official capacity, he knows of him and vice versa.
“Really? I thought you’d be with Astoria Bianchi.”
I hate the way my body reacts to the sound of her name. I haven’t seen Astoria in over a week. We’ve exchanged a few texts, but they were light and straight to the point. It’s pretty clear we’re avoiding each other, which is honestly the right thing to do. Because I have no idea how I’d act in her presence.
“So?” Chrisitan prods and I look at him, eyebrows raised. “How are things going with her?”
“Fine,” I reply.
My eyes flutter shut as the pain in my head increases. I don’t open them even when I feel him take a seat beside me on the couch.
“You know, when I said we had to acquire the building at all costs, this wasn’t what I had in mind.”
“Mmm.”
“You don’t even know her. And you don’t like most people. In your words, you prefer to keep human contact to a minimum. I’m just saying, maybe this is a bad idea.”
I make another non-committal hum. He already said all this when I told him my plan, but leave it to my brother to continuously reiterate his arguments whenever something happens that isn’t within his control.
“Come on, Lo. Are you even listening to me? What if Salvador finds out? He might be a good man, but we both know how he has treated those who have crossed him in the past. He wasn’t best friends withPapafor no reason.”
“He won’t find out,” I say, my eyes still closed.
“I still think it’s a bad idea.”
“I know. Now go. Don’t you have a wife to go bother?” I ask. It’s been a long day and I’m exhausted.
“She’s pissed at me. Why do you think I’m here? She kicked me out of the house.”
“What did you do?”
“I bought one of her paintings behind her back. It didn’t sell at the last art show and she seemed upset, so I asked someone to purchase it for me.”
“I fail to see how that’s a problem.”
“Exactly!” Christian exclaims. “But apparently, me buying it behind her back was deceitful and she wanted to sell it because someone loved it, not because her husband was pitying her.”
