Page 52 of Scarlet Angel

“She the only one?”

“I spoke to Orlando today, but I called him.”

“What have you told them?”

“They both know I hate our life. They suspect I’m hoping to never return home.”

Never, huh?

“Has the investigation started?”

“No.”

Questions and worry fill her deep green eyes.

“If Massimo had any inkling of the impending storm, our conversation would’ve gone differently.” Might not’ve been a conversation at all.

“Right,” she says.

“He sees you as his property. But if he knew what you were about, I don’t think he’d bother with a call.”

“Orlando said someone would be sent to retrieve me.”

“Is that right?”

I need to meet with Ash and review plans for further increasing security on the grounds.

There’s a bench up ahead, and I gesture to it, asking her to sit for a bit. It’s a cloudy day with a nip in the air, but there are blue patches between the clouds, and the faint scent of burning wood lingers from some cleanup work the grounds crew did earlier this morning.

Scarlet takes a seat on the bench, quiet. Intriguingly so.

“So what else did the young Gagliano say?”

“That he’s committed to the family.”

“Did he question your loyalty?”

She snorts. “He knows I’m not loyal. When the investigation begins, he’ll be the first to pin me as the culprit.”

“Have you asked him to leave? To join you?”

“Many times. He won’t. He’s his father’s son.”

“Can’t fault a man for being loyal to his father.”

Her nose scrunches as if she’s tasted something rotten.

“You disagree?”

“You don’t know these men.”

“Don’t I?”

Her eyes narrow with pointed evaluation. In this light, there’s a blue tint.

“Are you dangerous?”

What a question. “I pose no risk to you.”

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