Page 73 of Ruining Vanessa

I meet his eyes, keeping my expression blank. “Rest assured, I know how to be discreet. I am not Giulio.”

“Which is part of the reason I’m here and not with him,” Slayer says with a curt nod. “Usually, I could trust him to just absorb the situation then have you deal with it, but…” He trails off, glancing in the direction of the living room, where Vanessa is so peacefully resting.

I don’t respond. Slayer isn’t wrong about Giulio, and I can already imagine him going after Nilo in a very public manner. Not to mention what he’ll do to find out who snitched in the first place.

“You shouldn’t have cut her as badly as you did. The wounds are only just starting to heal,” I say with some reproach.

He looks at me steadily as he takes another sip of his coffee. “Giulio threatened to take over if I didn’t do a good enough job. I didn’t trust him. I at least know where to cut to prevent permanent damage. He doesn’t.”

I’d tried to downplay some of Giulio’s rage to Vanessa, but I don’t doubt Slayer.

“He’d have been less upset if he didn’t care as much,” I say, as if that’s any excuse. “It’s good that he likes her.”

“Try telling her that,” Slayer says with a shake of his head. “You know it, I know it, but he fucked with her head pretty bad.” He runs a hand through his hair, pausing, as though trying to think of what to say to me. We aren’t close, but it seems like he’s about to tell me something personal. “Look, I’m not saying I’m perfect, or I didn’t get off on it, but expecting me to do aftercare? He’s not usually that…” He pauses, waving a hand like he can’t think of the right word.

“You didn’t see him after Emilio disfigured Elena. She meant—means—a lot to him. I had my hands full preventing him from doing something that would get him killed.” I still remember the way Giulio had raged, how badly he’d wanted to disfigure his own father.

That might have been when my loyalty had started to shift. Emilio had paid me well, and he could be charming when he wanted to be, but he didn’t care the way Giulio did.

I’m trying to think of what else to say when I notice Vanessa’s hands are curled tightly around the blanket.

I tap Slayer on the shoulder and point, and it only takes a few seconds for him to realize it too.

Vanessa is awake.

“Fuck,” he mutters, low enough to where only I can hear it. “I doubt she wants to see me.” To my surprise, there’s a little bit of wistfulness there. “Should I go?”

Is it possible he’s starting to care about her, too? She does have that way of getting beneath someone’s skin.

Part of me wants to send him away. Vanessa isn’t for him. She’s for Giulio.

But, with how Giulio is right now… it would be helpful to have somebody else around to rein him in.

“Do whatever you want,” I answer, getting up and walking over to the couch. I see Vanessa flinch and attempt to smooth out her expression, but despite all the practice she’s been getting lately, she’s still not a great actress.

“How long have you been awake?” I ask her.

Her eyes dart past me to Slayer, and there’s wariness there—not fear, exactly, but she’s bracing herself, and it’s clear. She shrugs a little. “Not long. I wasn’t… I wasn’t trying to listen to your conversation,” she says.

Slayer follows me over to the couch. “Want some coffee?” he offers.

She shakes her head. “Thanks, but no.” She sits up on the couch, stifling a yawn with the back of her hand. She looks again between the two of us, then asks in a small voice, “Where’s Giulio?”

“Asleep, I hope. He has a 10 a.m. meeting.” I sigh loudly. “A meeting he assures me he’ll be on time for, and that I should enjoy my well-deserved days off.”

They aren’t really days off, since I’m still making calls and following up on business, but I haven’t actually left my condo for more than an hour at a time since Giulio dropped Vanessa off here. My main job right now is playing nursemaid to her.

It’s not a job I resent, but I can’t help worrying about what Giulio is getting up to without me. Thankfully, the men he takes along on business are eager to report back to me.

Vanessa relaxes a little, something I can’t help but notice. It makes me frown. I want her to look forward to her visits with Giulio, not dread them. I especially don’t want her more comfortable with Slayer than Giulio.

“Riiiight,” Slayer drawls. “I’m sure he’ll be on time for a ten o’clock meeting.” He knows as well as I do that that’s not likely to happen. “Did you tell him it was for nine?”

“Yes,” I answer, sitting down next to Vanessa. “It doesn’t matter what time of day the meeting is for; he’ll find a way to be late for it. The only reason he wasn’t late for Emilio’s wedding to Lucia is because I promised him a reward afterward.”

“A reward, huh?” Slayer smirks at me.

Vanessa looks between the two of us, and there’s a little bit of confusion in her expression. She says nothing of it, though, instead pulling the blanket a little bit higher against her chest. She’s wearing a t-shirt and panties underneath the blanket, but she still looks uncomfortable.

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