Page 35 of King

And the truth was that I still loved him. I still had hope that he’d change his mind and I didn’t want to do anything to risk ruining that.

Of course, during my pregnancy and after my son was born - I fell in love with being a mother. The pain left over from Giovanni was still there, but I was able to ignore it most of the time.

Outside the office, a sound comes from the hallway and both Giovanni and I turn towards it.

Laughter.

It’s such a strange sound to hear in the house lately. Tensions are so high, and nothing seems to be going right. Laughter seems out of place.

Giovanni walks towards the door and tugs it open, peering through it.

“What is it?” I whisper, standing at his side to see as well.

Down the hallway, walking away from us, Guido and Dante are walking side by side, carrying a pizza, laughing and joking about people who are stupid enough to put pineapple on pizza. “Let’s go to the sunroom upstairs. It’s got a great view.” Dante says, turning off and gesturing for Guido to follow.

“Good idea.” Guido says.

I knot my brows in disbelief. Both Giovanni and I step back into the office.

“They’re getting on really well.” I say, more to myself than him.

“Ye, Dante was asking me about his brother the other day. He’s a good kid.” He sighs, pressing his fingers into his eyes.

“What was he asking?” I ask.

“He’s the youngest, you know, and I think he was angry at himself for just blindly following his older brother’s lead. He never wanted to push Guido away. I’m glad he finally found the confidence to do what he feels is right. Older brothers can be very influential on the younger ones.” He shrugs.

I smile, my heart warming. At least something good is happening. Finally. Guido has a friend in this place and that, despite everything else, is enough to make me really happy.

But I still have to deal with the issue at hand.

Turn to face Gio and try again to get to the bottom of this issue with the cameras. There has to be a way to see who logs in when and where they log in from. If we can get to the bottom of it - if it is Santino or Romeo spying on me - at least I’ll know, and I can put it down to more of their stupid tricks. But if it isn’t them, then I’m worried that someone else has access to the cameras - someone who shouldn’t have. And that is a danger that Giovanni can’t ignore.

ELEVEN

giovanni

Zina takes a deep breath and folds her arms across her chest. “Can you please do me a favor?” She asks.

I narrow my eyes at her. I’ve only just confronted her about an anonymous warning I got that she’s here to do more harm than good - and now she’s asking me for favors. What the fuck?

I glare at her without answering. I won’t say yes, but I am curious what she wants from me. She’s standing just in front of my desk. She looks uncomfortable. Nervous. She’s fidgeting and knotting her fingers together.

When she realizes I’m not saying anything she goes ahead and asks what she wants of me.

“Giovanni, on your security system - is there a way to see who’s accessing the cameras?” Her mouth tight as she bites at her lower lip.

“Why the hell would I give you information about my security system?” I snap.

“Please, just do this for me - I want to know who was linked to the system between 2:30 and 3:30 this afternoon. Someone is watching me, and I need to know who. Why don’t you want to know? Aren’t you worried about who’s linked to your system?”

“No one is linked to my system, Zina.” I say in frustration. “I have state-of-the-art firewalls. No one can get through them. You’re imagining this.”

“Stop being so fucking stubborn.” She shouts. “Why do you always have to be like this?”

Anger spikes inside me.

“Like what?” I growl, walking towards her, closing the gap as my patience disintegrates and I have an intense urge to grab her around the throat and shake her, demanding to know she’s up to. Why someone would feel the need to warn me about her. Why is she asking me about my security system?

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