Page 85 of Sin & Secrets

“Boss.”

Cas snickers at my side.

Teo’s eyes narrow. “Cassandra.”

“Hi, Teo,” she replies innocently.

“Do you need something?” I ask.

“I think you better come to the compound,” Teo declares. “If MissBellinican spare you for a moment.”

Ah.

Teo has worked it out, too. He surveys me carefully as if to gauge my reaction, but I merely shrug in response. “Duty calls, I’m afraid,Angioletta.”

I make a show of holding her neck as I kiss her softly goodbye.

She hums contentedly. “I’ll see you later.”

Teo doesn’t speak to me again until I’ve dressed and walked out of the brownstone.

“This just got one hell of a lot more complicated. I hope you know what the fuck you’re doing, Moretti,” he hisses as I reach my Bugatti.

I glance back at the house, where I can just about make out Cas waving down at us from her bedroom window.

“Me too.”

22

CASSANDRA

Idon’t think I could ever get bored of kissing Rocco.

When I’m not doing it, I’m thinking about it. When I am, I do everything I can to prolong it for as long as possible.

I feel starved when he’s not around.

And he’s not around one hell of a lot.

As the weeks of our second month fly by, I feel like I see him less and less. The time I spend waiting around pining or taking my frustrations out at the gym begins to wear on me.

I must have fucked Rocco in every room in this house, yet I’ve also sung in every room of this house, napped in every room in this house, and redecorated every room in this house.

To make it even more suffocating, every request I make to Donatella, or on the rare occasion, Teo, about leaving is always met with an awkward denial.

“Rocco?” I ask one morning as I watch Rocco dress for the day from his bed.

“Cassandra.”

I check my phone again to be sure. Despite everything, my first paycheck from theCandelabrawas deposited into my account. “I was wondering if I might go shopping later?”

His fingers freeze as he buttons up his shirt. “I’m er…a bit tied up the next few days. I’ll take you this weekend.”

“I can take myself,” I insist, sitting up and gathering the duvet to my bare chest.

“What did you want to get?”

“Just some sheet music. There’s this new mic I’ve been looking at for, you know, recording stuff at home, but,” I shrug. “I think Claudio still has my laptop.”

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