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“Someone like him then?” I tilted my head and she smiled in answer.
“You know… Enzo is looking pretty hot these days…”
“Did Gio put you up to this? Or Cami?”
“No! Just an observation,” she smirked into her latte.
“Hmm,” I leaned forward on the island and studied the ice in my glass. I was dying to tell Liv about Panther, but I didn’t know if I could trust her not to say a word to Gio.
“What’s going on?” she quizzed, her eyebrows pulled down to her nose.
“Nothing,” I lifted my glass to take a sip.
“I know you, Elenora! There is something you want to tell me, so what’s stopping you?”
Damn her! She was so observant. Or maybe Panther was right. I really am a terrible liar. I looked up into her pretty eyes and felt my resolve to keep this a secret falter. I sighed, dropping my head to my arms to hide my face.
“I may have met someone.”
“WHAT!” She bellowed so loudly that my head snapped up and I raised my finger to my lips to ‘shhh’ her. “You met someone? Who? When? Where?”
Ah shit. I had not thought this through!
“Just through a mutual friend. You know Sephie?” I quickly thought on my feet.
“Right, what’s his name?”
My lips drew into a tight line. I didn’t know his real name. Only Panther. That was the fun in the mystery. But I couldn’t tell her that, she would think I was insane.
“Rico,” I quickly said. Her eyes widened and I realised I had made a horrible mistake.
“The stripper? From my hen party? You are dating a stripper?”
“No! Well, um, maybe.”
“Oh my god! Gio is going to go mental!”
“No, he is not! Because you are not going to tell him! And we are not dating. We are just… talking. Texting. It’s completely innocent,” I argued as my mind flooded with images of the not so innocent things I had done with this man already. “Please, Liv. Promise me you won’t tell Gio. I am not even meeting up with him or anything. We are just getting to know each other. I am taking it slow and if I really think this could go somewhere, I will tell him. I promise.”
She regarded me carefully as I made begging hands towards her and she finally caved. “Fine. I won’t tell him. But you seriously need to be careful, Elle. Does he know who you really are?”
I shook my head. “No, I lied and gave him a different name. I told you; I am being sensible. Only if I think this is a guy I really like, will I speak to Gio about it and take it from there.”
“Okay,” she said slowly. “Only because it seems harmless and you deserve a little fun. But the moment it gets serious or you are thinking of meeting the guy, you tell me!”
“Promise,” I smiled.
Suddenly, Gio and Max entered the room looking extremely pissed off.
“What do you promise?” Gio asked, looking between us both.
“Oh just… the next time you leave your honeymoon early to return to work, I’m going to go out there and take your place!” I teased but his face remained tense, his jaw ticking uncontrollably. Cazzo, I hadn’t seen him this mad in a long time.
“What’s happened?” Liv asked, sliding off her stool and making her way over to him, reaching up to cup his face in her hands. He looked down at her and his eyes softened slightly, but he was still rigid. I glanced over at Maximus who was running his hand through his long brown hair looking just as angry.
“We just lost a major deal,” Gio gritted through his teeth. I never paid too much attention to my brother’s job. I mean, I knew what he did. I knew where our family got all our money from. But I had never really been involved in any of it. It was one of the main reasons I wanted to get a job for myself and earn my own money. “A deal that was extremely important to hold the territory of Venice.”
“What I can’t get my head around is how the fuck the Leones swindled this? How the hell did they offer Veril that? They don’t have that kind of money or influence,” Max unleashed his pent-up aggression with long strides in the kitchen.
