Page 59 of The Price of Power

I could hear the soles of my mother’s sneakers smacking against the tile on her kitchen floor as she paced back and forth. Even a thousand miles away, I could sense she was trying to find a way out of this mess—a way that didn’t end with her sacrificing anything.

“What if we went to the police?” she tried.

“Oh God, no!” Even I knew that was the worst idea possible. “If you involve the authorities, Theo’s already as good as dead. Besides, don’t forget that the only reason we’re in this mess is because Theo committed fraud. Bring in the police, and they’ll arrest him.”

“Oh, I guess that’s true,” she admitted, sounding more disappointed than anything else.

“There’s only one thing to do, Mom,” I said again. “Sell something—either the house or the company. There’s no other way.”

“Easy for you to say,” she sniped.

Easy?

What part of this did she think was easy?

I was about to snap and ask her just that when I heard the sound of a stair squeaking through the closed door.

“Shit. I gotta go,” I said in a rushed whisper.

My mother’s muffled complaints were still pouring out of the earpiece when I hit the power button and threw the phone back where I’d found it. I’d just finished sliding the drawer closed when the door opened, and Letizia came in with a fresh mug of tea.

“I thought you might like another,” she said, placing it in front of me. Despite my attempt to smile at the gesture, my exasperation must have shown through on my face because her brows pulled together. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes. Of course,” I said a little too quickly. “It’s just these numbers. They’re frustrating.”

Even though I was generally a terrible liar, she must have bought the excuse because the creases along her forehead eased away.

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” she said. “I’m sure with a little work, everything will end up just fine in the end.”

“I certainly hope so,” I said with a sigh.

“Oh, I know so,” she said with such a knowing smile that I began to rethink just how ignorant of the truth the housekeeper really was. “I’ve never been wrong about this kind of thing before.”

Chapter Nineteen

OLIVIA

Gabriel didn’t take days off. I learned that quickly.

Every day, he was up with the sun and gone until the evening.

I didn’t know what he did during those hours. Honestly, I was afraid to ask. And it wasn’t as if I could jump on a phone or a computer to search through the news for his name.

All I knew was that sometimes, the men who came over to whisper in his ear during our nights at the club were scary enough to give me chills. But to their credit, they never once stared or looked at me sideways. They might have been the nastiest men on Earth, but even I knew they’d never risk angering Gabriel.

No one was that stupid.

No one except my idiot brother…and maybe me.

Even as days turned into weeks, I never stopped thinking about my phone sitting in his desk drawer. Every now and again, when I was alone in the office and the door was shut tight, I’d risk turning it back on for a few seconds to peek at the screen.

But there were never any notifications.

No missed calls. No new messages. No way of knowing if anything I’d said to my mother had made its way through the thick layer of denial she wrapped herself in for protection.

I wasn’t brave or stupid enough to try another call. I’d nearly been caught the last time, and that had just been with Mrs. Tarolli. I shuddered to think what might happen if Gabriel came through the door next time.

It didn’t matter that time hadn’t cooled the sparks between us. I didn’t fool myself into thinking I was safe just because he laid me down on his bed every night and made me feel things I didn’t know were possible.

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