Page 67 of Forging Caine

She ripped her hand from mine and flung her arms around my neck. “You’re kidding? You’re giving me an office?”

Claude, no doubt accustomed in his role as a security consultant to being in the background of people’s lives, averted his eyes.

“Bella.” I laughed, hugging her back. “I can only give it to you if you set up your fingerprint.”

She leaned back, took my face in her hands, and planted a tight-lipped kiss against my mouth. Something Samantha Caine didnotdo in public. “This is seriously the best present anyone’s ever given me.”

Claude was fighting back a smile. “If you can apply your finger to the panel?”

Samantha released me, nodding her head rapidly. “Of course.”

“I didn’t know if you needed biometric or key or what, so I had him install the best system he had.”

She and Claude went through several fingers and her thumbs, processing them from every angle. The lock clicked and whirred. They opened and closed the door. He explained how to manage the system, how to add me, if it became appropriate. Once they finished and we’d walked Claude out, she held me tight once more.

“I’m serious, that was the most thoughtful—oh my god!”

“We can move the piano to one of the other rooms, maybe move some of the books elsewhere, as I expect you’ll need shelves for your reference library.”

“I’m going to get the pawnshop box right now!” She darted out of my arms and up the stairs, two at a time, even more excited than I’d expected.

While she was upstairs, a phone rang from the direction of the bedroom. Cristian’s burner phone. It was almost three o’clock and Jason would arrive soon. Did Cristian have a warning to pass along?

I dashed into the bedroom, to where I’d left the phone on my bedside table and flipped it open. “Ciao?”

“What news with the painting?” Cristian’s voice was sharp, fast, lacking the control and command it usually possessed. He must have expected me to call with the details.

“It was a fake.”

“And Fiori?”

“Took it better than expected.” I walked to the great room when I heard Samantha coming down the stairs. “He asked me to authenticate another piece.”

Cristian muttered a curse under his breath. “Of course he did.”

She paused on the bottom step when she saw me and mouthed,Cristian?

I nodded and waved her to continue. The box of papers and photos was heavy—I’d stored it away in the morning—so the last thing I wanted was her lingering around while carrying it. “Jason didn’t tell you?”

Samantha’s excitement over her new office had already faded with this call. And perhaps with the crushing reality that Jason was almost there with the mysterious painting.

“No. He normally only checks in every month or two, but I expected more frequent, considering Fiori was messing with you.”

I leaned on the back of one of the dining chairs where I had a clear line of sight down the hallway. My body wanted to pace, but that wouldn’t inspire the calm I needed. “Jason’s bringing this new painting to us and Fiori said something about him watching over it.”

Cristian was silent.

“Wecantrust him, sì?” If Fiori truly meant for him to remain in the condo until I was done, I needed to know. Were we safer with him than any other of Fiori’s bodyguards? “There’s no question of his loyalty?”

Samantha came out of her new office, closed the door, used her fingerprint to unlock it, opened it again, and closed it. For all the stress and worries, she was still excited about this small thing.

“I trust him with my life,” said Cristian. “And with yours, otherwise I wouldn’t have demanded he stay in place.”

Samantha’s fingers drifted to her neck, where she clasped the diamond necklace I’d given her for Christmas. Then she opened and closed the door one more time. She was playing with the lock.

“Alright.” My smartphone buzzed in my pocket, with an alert from the front desk.

Samantha pulled hers out and typed something into it before turning in my direction. “Jason’s here.”

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