Page 23 of Savage Heart

At least I know she’s safe. Her brother will want to keep her alive and well so he can marry her off. What conditions he’s kept her in for the past few days while he’s held her here are unclear as of yet. I can only hope that Matteo Rossetti honors something of the family ties he and his sister share.

I listen to the chatter at the tables around me as hotel guests talk about the Angeloni get-together and how he never fails to throw the best parties. Two men at a table directly behind me can’t wait to enjoy the sights which include the gorgeous women he always has working as servers whenever they go to his home.

This guy sounds like some Italian version of Hugh Hefner, for fuck’s sake. The more I listen to the men talk, the more I wonder if getting into his home tonight will be as dangerous as I initially thought.

Gideon sits down in front of me with a bottle of something clear and sets it down between us. Staring at me while I eavesdrop on the conversation at the next table, he looks like a combination of amused and irritated.

“Listening in on my guests?” he asks sharply, as if I’m doing something egregious that breaks some unwritten hotel rule.

I wave off his question as the men behind me talk about some time when they were at Angeloni’s villa for a party and the entire thing turned into an orgy. Fucking Hefner wannabe.

Finally, the men laugh and get busy eating their meal, so I turn my attention to Gideon not so patiently waiting for me to finish my prying. “Do you ever just people watch here? You must get some very interesting people coming through this place.”

“I’m a little busy for snooping on people’s private conversations. This place doesn’t run itself, as much as I wish it would,” he says in a distinctly disapproving tone.

“I’m trying to find out all I can about this party tonight,” I say in a hushed voice. “It’s not really snooping if you’re doing it for a good reason.”

That makes him laugh, and with a wicked smile, he shakes his head. “So noble. Have you found out anything useful, or just the usual gossip about the host tonight?”

I look around, glancing back at the men behind me who now seem completely distracted by their cell phones, and then return my attention to my cousin. “The guy sounds like he’s trying to create the Amalfi Coast version of the Playboy mansion. I heard the word orgy used at least twice.”

Gideon rolls his eyes. “I guess if the Marquis de Sade was running the place, then maybe. I’ve been to a few of his parties. Always beautiful, half-naked women roaming around with trays of exquisite food and drink. That’s not a bad thing, of course, but that’s not what I’m ever there for myself.”

Curious about his seemingly disdainful attitude toward what sounds like a good reason to attend a party in the first place, I ask, “If you’re not there for beautiful women, then what are you there for?”

A wolfish smile lifts the corners of his mouth, and I swear I see a sparkle in his eyes. “Information, of course. I may look like the man in charge of the Villa Aurelia, but my real job here, as I’m sure you know, is to be the eyes and ears of our family’s business in Italy. Helix Rule can’t be here, so that’s where I come in.”

I study my cousin for a long moment and shake my head. “You know what they say. All work and no play make Gideon a very dull boy.”

“Don’t worry about me. I get my fun when I want it. Tonight, though, won’t be one of those times.”

For the first time since he sat down, I straighten myself in my chair. “No, it won’t be. We need to find Sienna and get her away from him before he and her brother do something that hurts her.”

Gideon leans forward toward the middle of the table and whispers, “About that. From what I’ve been told, her brother has her holed up at the family estate. It’s not the best accommodations and certainly not how I’d treat my sister, but she’s okay. They haven’t been beating her, for the most part, and she’s unharmed, generally.”

My hands curl into tight fists as I try to temper my anger at hearing Sienna’s only generally unharmed. When I get my hands on Matteo Rossetti, the same won’t be able to be said about him, that asshole.

“Great fucking family she’s got there,” I mumble.

My cousin leans back in his chair and looks up toward the crystal blue sky and bright midday sun. “Not one I’d want. How bad did you go off on my father and Uncle Nick for letting them get her?”

As close as Gideon and I are, I know whatever I say next will go directly back to my two uncles, so I weigh my words carefully as I decide how to answer. “It wasn’t entirely their fault. They checked out the boyfriend, and he cleared. Her family must have gotten to him. Fucking Trent. I’ll get him for this after I finish things here in Italy. Asshole.”

Lowering his head, Gideon smiles. “Trent? He sounds like an asshole. I think I remember a Trent from school. If I’m thinking of the right person, Alex and he got into it more than once his last year.”

I laugh at Gideon’s statement, as if his brother so rarely fights. “Alex gets into it with everyone. I swear to God he’s fueled by pure rage ninety percent of the time. Where’s he get that? It’s not like you or your parents are like him,” I say.

With a shrug, my cousin answers, “I have no idea. We aren’t exactly best friends. I think he might be a vampire with the way he spends all day in bed and only comes out at night.”

Considering that Alex runs one of Helix’s nightclubs, I guess it’s normal that he prefers to sleep during the day. Not that I think anything about that cousin is normal. When he’s not so full of anger that he’s practically growling at people when he answers them, he’s silent and surly and ignores anyone who dares to be around him.

“Well, he probably has to be a bit of a night owl to do what he does for a living, don’t you think?” I ask.

Gideon simply shakes his head. “I guess. My older brother and I don’t seem to have a lot in common, so I can’t honestly tell you why he is the way he is. Let’s just say the way you two get along, or don’t get along, is barely worse than the way we get on.”

His brother reminds me of my older brother, and I say, “You know who he’s most like in our family? Goddamned Sebastian. They’ve had every opportunity in the world, and still they walk around like their entire lives are fucking miserable.”

“The curse of the firstborn?” Gideon asks with a chuckle.

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