Page 102 of Ruining Vanessa

Larry realizes his mistake immediately. “You are, sir. I’m going now. Sir.”

There’s a flash of something in Giulio’s eyes, and I brace myself for him to do something horrible, like stab Larry for taking too long to obey.

But after a tense moment, he lets Larry go. “Yeah. See you tomorrow. We’re going over to… ah, fuck, I actually forgot. What’s this about again, Damien?”

“You wanted to talk about the situation with the warehouses,” Damien answers coolly.

Larry doesn’t waste time getting out. He knows just as well as the rest of us that Giulio in a mood like this is a volatile, ticking time bomb.

Once the door closes behind Larry, Giulio wanders over to me and wraps his arms around my shoulders from behind.

I tense a little, settling my coffee cup on the kitchen island just in case he does something utterly unpredictable. I don’t want hot tea spilling all over me, after all, and this has the potential to go poorly.

He takes a deep breath and kisses the side of my head.

My eyes briefly catch Slayer’s, but he gives a tiny, almost imperceptible shake of his head as he stays out of this scene. He doesn’t look like he wants to be here at all, which makes me wonder just what the two of them had been up to.

Then again, I’m probably better off not knowing.

“You’re so fucking lucky, you know that?” Giulio whispers into my ear.

I blink. I don’t feel very lucky most of the time, though things have settled for the most part. They’ve turned almost domestic, giving me days where I can just relax and cuddle in front of the TV while Damien handles phone calls and emails between kisses and paying attention to me. It’s not even all bad, strangely.

But having Giulio’s attention on me, and with those ominous words in my ear… I shudder, but I don’t comment. I don’t know what he wants to hear, and I’m too afraid of saying the wrong thing when he’s so obviously unstable.

Then he lets go and wanders over to Damien and sets his arms on Damien’s shoulders. Since Giulio is shorter, he has to look up at Damien. Giulio’s grin never slips, even though Damien’s expression remains stoic.

“Where were you today?” Damien asks, somehow ignoring how Giulio is touching him.

Giulio snorts and leans up to kiss Damien’s jaw. “You would have hated it. Or loved it? Not sure. Anyway, I was thinking—”

“Giulio,” Damien interrupts. “You can’t disappear like that. You have responsibilities. Not just to the organization. But Vanessa—”

“Oh, fuck off.” Giulio pushes away from Damien, scowling now. “Whatever. Lecture somebody else, I’m not in the fucking mood.”

He stalks off toward the bedroom, fists clenched tight.

The door slams shut loudly.

I let out an unsteady breath, and some of my tension dissipates. Whatever is wrong with Giulio, at least he’s not in the room with me anymore.

Damien stares at the closed bedroom door before setting his attention on Slayer.

“Well?” Damien asks. “What did you do to get him into this mood?”

“I didn’t do anything,” Slayer says, looking resigned. “But I’ll admit I fucked up. I thought I was doing something fun for him, something he’d enjoy, but it… did not go as planned.”

I wince, looking between Damien and Slayer. Damien is obviously waiting for him to continue, but Slayer doesn’t go on.

“I know that Giulio trusts you,” Damien says, closing some of the distance between the two of them. “But I don’t trust you. Especially not if you take him out on trips, don’t even let me know where you’re going, and bring back Giulio in a worse state. He was doing fine this morning.”

“Fuck off, he’s a grown-ass adult and doesn’t need you treating him like some fucking kid,” Slayer snaps. “If he wants to go on a field trip without letting Daddy know, that’s his prerogative.”

“I’m not—” Damien starts, but he breaks off. “I just know how Giulio operates. He’s been volatile. This is a bad time to add more surprises to the mix.”

“Yes, I know he’s been volatile,” Slayer says testily, staring Damien down. “That’s why I thought we could let off some steam.” He glances at me, almost warily, and I don’t know why he’s looking at me like I have something to do with this situation.

I tense, trying to disappear into my chair.

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