Page 55 of Broken Prince

I nodded, smiling back. “Thanks to you.”

She waved her hand dismissively, turning an adorable shade of pink at the compliment.

“Is there anything I can do for you?” I asked as she kept looking at me silently.

She blinked quickly. “What? Oh yeah.”

It pleased me to see how she responded to me. She was genuinely attracted to me, despite everything… It was a true wonder.

“Your friend Matteo is here for you.”

I let out a scoff, turning toward Dom. That was a good one!

When I noticed Dom tense and pale a little, I realized it was not a joke they’d planned; it was the truth.

“Have you met him?” I asked, trying to keep my voice as cool as possible. Cassie meeting Genovese was probably one of my worst nightmares.

She nodded, apparently oblivious to the lead weight that had formed in both mine and Dom’s stomachs.

“Yes, lovely man. He’s in the kitchen.”

I nodded. Matteo Genovese had invaded my space—not something I appreciated. “Perfect, great, I’ll go see him. Why don’t you go with Dom?” Go anywhere as far as possible from Matteo Genovese and stay locked away until he left the property.

“Yeah,” Dom continued. “You deprived me of TV goodness while you took care of this one. I want to know who took that pregnancy test. My money’s on Brooke.”

She looked from me to Dom a few times, clearly not buying it.

“Cassie…please,” I continued.

She let out a sigh of surrender. “Fine.” She turned to Dom. “And it’s totally Hayley who's preggo.”

I waited for them to go upstairs before taking a deep breath and walking into the kitchen to confront my doom. Matteo never left the city and him driving over an hour to come here? It didn’t mean anything good.

I found him sitting at the kitchen island with a glass of milk and a red velvet pecan brownie—mypecan brownie—like he belonged despite looking like a freaking kingpin.

“She said it was your favorite,” he said to me, not looking up from the plate.

I studied him, dressed in his designer suit, his dark hair styled to perfection. To be fair, for as long as I’ve known Matteo Genovese, I’d never seen anything other than the picture of perfection.

He turned his head slowly toward me, his cold, emotionless eyes studying me as he finished his bite.

His eyes had always been unsettling and after years of not seeing them, it took some getting used to again. Most of us had dark-brown eyes, but his were the lightest blue I'd ever seen. There was even a story going around in our circles saying that his eyes were just reflecting the color of the ice that replaced his heart…the cruel king.

“Gianluca. You’re alive.”

I remained silent, not really sure where he was going with this opening.

He sighed, wiping his hands on the paper towel Cassie had given him. The perfect hostess. “I’m frankly a little disappointed. I hoped you’d be dead or dying because I don’t see any other reason for you not taking my calls and not responding to the message your puppy carried back home. The only other reason would be sheer stupidity and I expected a little more from you.”

“I’ve been busy.”

“Fucking the help?” He cocked his head to the side as if he was pondering the idea. “I could almost forgive you if it was the case.”

“Do. Not. Touch. Her,” I growled, my nostrils flaring. “She has nothing to do with anything.”

His lips curved up in a malicious smile; I’d shown him what he’d wanted to see.

He stood up. “We need to talk.”

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