Page 40 of Ruthless Boss

He surges to his feet, restless. “It doesn’t? You’ll never kill her. It’s obvious. So what’s happening? Are you using her as bait to reel in her husband? Then we torture him to get to Santini?”

“No,” I growl as I watch him pace in circles in the middle of my office. “Her husband is never getting close to her again.” I know I can’t be with Gia, that our time is ending, but despite all she’s done, I can’t make her face her ex again. I saw the fear in her eyes.

“Then what’s the plan?”

I scratch the back of my neck. “I’m figuring out.”

“I doubt it. I think you’re fucking her silly and not thinking clearly. She has you wrapped around her little finger.”

“That’s a lie. Look, she’s been through a lot,” I say, opting not to share what she told me about her marriage and life after her mom passed. A huge protective instinct kicks in, and I don’t shy away from it.

“Now you feel compassion. Bro, this is worse than I imagined.”

“What do you mean?”

His pacing comes to a halt, and he stands in the center of my office, looking at me. “You fell for the traitor.”

I wave him off. The idea isn’t that outlandish, but I can’t tell because I’ve never fallen in love with a woman. I love my daughter, and I loved my mom. But romantically, I never got to that point—and that was comfortable. I didn’t need to mess up my life.

Yet now it looks like I don’t have a choice in the matter. And opening up to Rocco and exploring these complex feelings isn’t an option. “Give me a fucking break.”

“Did she cry?” he asks, his eyes searching mine.

I slip on an invisible mask of nonchalance. I’ll need it later, too—when I’ll have to tell Gia about what I’m dreading. “Wouldn’t you?”

“What are you going to do with her? You can’t keep her hidden forever. And your daughter can’t stay at Massimo’s indefinitely.”

“I’m not killing Gia. She doesn’t have any information leading to Ross. Her husband is a lowlife who did petty crimes because he didn’t have what was needed to sit at the big kids’ table. I’m assuming anyone with half a brain wouldn’t trust him with important information.”

“What will you do with her? Do you trust her to be your nanny again? You’d be putting AJ in a dangerous spot. To be watched by someone from the other team—even if she’s innocent.”

My variety of solutions narrows to one. My heart thrums in my chest. “I know.”

The best solution is to give her the freedom she’s always wanted, even if that means never seeing her again.

22

Gia

I fidget with my necklace, tapping on the star at the center, nervous as hell. The jewel, besides the towel, is all I’m wearing. Dante has been gone for a few hours, and even though he uncuffed me, not knowing what’s happening has been driving me batty.

Am I on death row, waiting for my executioner to take me away?

I chew on my lower lip. If Dante wanted to kill me, he would have already.

Last time we had sex… Ifeltsomething. Like he cares for me. But that could be just the exhilaration of a good dicking.

I need a plan.

If I can get to my room, I can grab the money I have saved and leave. If it only were that easy.

I hear the change of guards at the door.

Frustration clutches my throat. I know I’m being watched. Leaving this place of my own accord isn’t a possibility.

But fuck… What can I do?

I hear the door opening and sit properly on the bed, pulling up the sheets.

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