Page 47 of Unbroken Promises

“I. . . don’t know.”

“Justtalkto him, girl. You owe it to yourself to try to find closure if nothing else. And the best medicine for healing on from a broken heart? One last mindless fuck-fest with said heartbreaker. Doctor’s orders.”

I can’t help my chuckle, though it’s completely devoid of humor. “Right. I’ll get right on thatDr. Crawford.”

“Good. And I need all the gory details once you finally do hit that fine piece of ass. Now I’ve got to go; but so help me God, if I have to find out important details second-hand from QT again, I really will fly back there and kick your ass myself. Love you.” And with that, she blows me a kiss and hangs up, leaving me to stare blankly ahead, too lost in my own thoughts to notice the topic of our conversation has walked into the room and is now leaning casually against the doorframe.

Chapter Forty-Eight

Theo

So. Yeah.

That just happened.

Clearly there is a lot of shit to unpack here, judging from what I was able to overhear of that conversation thanks to her too-loud, and nosy-as-fuck best friend. I didn’t mean to interrupt what was meant to be a private conversation, but when I came up to check and see if my girl was awake and justhappenedto hear my name mentioned, I froze. It’s not my fault she had the damn phone on speaker for the world to hear.

Pushing myself off the wall, I make my way across the room until I am standing at the foot of the bed. I pause, waiting for her to notice me.

Still nothing.

Okay then.

Taking a deep breath, I try to steady myself for the conversation that clearly needs to be had. As I clear my throat loudly, I have to fight back a grin at the site of her damn near jumping off the bed in shock at my sudden appearance.

“Il mio passerotto?”

Her face is drawn and tense, her shoulders raised in a defensive posture, before she lets out a breath and they drop in defeat.

“Please tell me you didn’t hear that?” Her words are a statement, but I hear the question in her voice. The desperate need for menotto have heard that intimate conversation between my girl and one of her mosttrusted confidants.

There’s no point in denying it though. I can’t lie to her anymore. Not about the past. And not about this. Besides, with how loud her friend was over the line, it would have been hard for anyone in passingnotto have heard the whole conversation.

“I heard.”

Her gaze drops to her hands, which are fidgeting uselessly in her lap on top of my duvet, lips trembling as she fights back tears. “How much?”

“I’m assuming pretty much the whole conversation. Somewhere around your friend singing about us kissing in a tree? It was kind of hard not to hear, actually. She is quite. . .” I pause, trying to find the right word, “expressive.”

“Ha! Yeah, she certainly can be.”

Danica gazes up at me once more, and I can’t help but reach out to touch her cheek. I hate seeing the look of defeat written on her features; the tears welling in her beautiful green eyes.

“Hey. Shh. It’s alright.”

A tear falls now, and I brush it away with my thumb, gently caressing her cheekbone as I smooth away the wetness. “Listen, I think we need to talk. Clearly, there are things that were left unsaid that we need to address and I-”

I’m cut off abruptly by the ringing of my phone and I swear under my breath in frustration. I want to ignore the damn thing, but there are very few people who actually have this number, and they know not to call unless it’s important.

I cut a sheepish look in apology to Danica before pulling my phone roughly out of my pocket. Swiping to answer, I bring it to my ear. “What?”

Thirty Minutes Later

“Goddammit, Theo! They hit my fucking restaurant!”

I scowl at my cousin, running a hand through my hair in frustration. “You don’t think Iknowthat?”

Tony stands in the middle of what had been the dining room of his restaurant. When he texted me last night, saying that there had been another hit from myblackmailer, I figured he meant there was another note left for me, or that maybe his men had caught someone in the act of trying to make another drop. And I was right. There had been a note, left at the restaurant. It’s one of very few places I don’t have on complete lockdown at this point. Due to the nature of the business, it would be damn near impossible and the blackmailer knows it.

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