Page 26 of The Roman's Woman (A Singular Obsession)

“This dress is worth thousands of dollars,” Kelly pronounced, fingering the fine cloth of the black dress lying across Sophia’s bed.

She hadn’t showed it to her before. It didn’t occur to her that the thing might be worth anything until Kelly had asked to see it.

“So how many billions do you think he’s worth?” Kelly asked, still stroking the dress as if she couldn’t help herself.

Sophia shrugged. The shock was wearing off, but the anger hadn’t come. Not yet. It would, but what she felt at the moment was confusion. Disbelief.

“You know he probably bought this just for you. It’s exactly your size.”

Suppressing a shudder, she took the dress and looked at the label. Kelly had found the designer online. It was an exclusive brand, someone astronomically expensive and way out of her budget.

“I don’t understand,” she muttered, passing a hand over her face.

“Well, I think I’m beginning to,” Kelly said, turning to Sophia’s laptop.

Kelly had been reading everything she could find on Giancarlo Morgese, but Sophia didn’t have the heart to look at any of it. Her head was still spinning. She reached for the glass of wine Kelly had poured for her, and winced as it burned on the way down.

Kelly frowned and took the glass. “Maybe you shouldn’t have that, after all.”

Rolling her eyes, Sophia took the glass back. “Don’t even think about it. Right now I need this more than I need you.”

Kelly grinned, and then hit her with a pillow. The doorbell rang, and she jumped up to answer before Sophia could stop her.

She put her eye to the peephole, and then turned to raise her eyebrow at her. Kelly didn’t even have to say the words.

He was here.

“Do I let him in?”

Sophia wanted to say no, but she couldn’t avoid him forever. He’d given her millions in grant money. Money she needed…

“Let him in,” she rasped.

It was time to get some answers.

****

Gio held his breath and waited for Sophia to answer. An excruciatingly long minute passed. Just when he decided that she wasn’t going to open up, the door swung open to reveal a short woman with sandy blonde hair. Her hands were on her hips, and she was glaring at him.

“You better have a damn good reason for doing what you did,” the woman said with a scorching glare.

“Um…” He stared down blankly at the woman. Did he have the wrong apartment?

Enzo, who had accompanied him and the lung doctor he had just hunted down, whispered in his ear.

“Oh, hello, Kelly,” he said with a heavy sigh.

This was going to be harder than he thought. Behind Kelly, off to the right, there was movement and he looked up to see Sophia watching him from the doorway with her arms crossed protectively over her chest.

“Did you receive the questionnaire from the real Giovanni?” he asked in a low voice.

Kelly twisted her lips, but it wasn’t a smile. “I got it,” she said.

“I see you brought the whole entourage this time,” Sophia said in a low voice, nodding at the men at his side.

Well, at least she wasn’t shouting at him. Of course, she couldn’t. Not with the lung damage she had suffered, according to the EMTs.

The yelling would doubtless come later, but they needed to take care of something first. He gestured, and the man on his right came forward with an awkward smile. Enzo nodded at the ladies and headed for the stairs before he and the doctor stepped forward.

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