“Why mine?”
Her eyes twinkled
“You’ll have to listen to him complaining.”
I groaned and rubbed my face.
“I’m used to it.” Dropping my hand to her face, I stroked her skin. “What do you say we ditch Mr Miserable and dance instead? They’re starting up over there.”
Theia raised her eyebrows.
“You can dance?”
“No, but you can teach me.”
She grinned and took my hand, pulling me over to where a band had started up, and people were beginning to congregate.
“Oh, this will be fun.”
I shook my head as I followed her. If I got to see Theia smile like that, I’d just about do anything for her, including dancing, which I rarely ever indulged in. I had insisted she attend with me. The least I could do was make it fun for her. And maybe… just maybe… this evening might turn around for me too.
Thirty Three
Gilberto
Zayn had messaged me several times and left a couple of voicemails, so I decided to kill two birds with one stone the next day. Theia needed to go to work, and I needed a conversation with my brother. I took her in rather than leaving it to one of the men to do. She’d come around to having a bodyguard since they tried to be as unobtrusive as possible when they were with her. And so far, we’d had no more issues with the sex trafficking group.
I walked into Zayn’s office after kissing Theia goodbye. Didn’t matter to me if anyone saw us. Theia was mine. I wanted the world to fucking well know it at this point. I never thought I’d be possessive over another person, but I was with her.
Zayn was frowning at something on his desk. He looked up when I walked in, his eyes narrowing when he saw it was me. I shut the door behind me and went right up to his desk.
“So, you are actually alive, and just ignoring my calls.”
I shrugged.
“I was busy.”
“Clearly.”
I leant a hand on his desk and looked over at the sofa on the wall, knowing he would broach the subject rather than me having to bring it up.
“Are you going to tell me why you wanted to know Ari’s mother’s name? You know I’m not very fond of guessing games, Gil.”
My brother preferred to get straight to the point, as did I.
“I was at Pippa’s gala last night, and I saw a woman who looked far too much like Ari for it to be a coincidence. Before you ask, yes, I did speak to her, and she told me what happened. Why she gave Ari to Bennett. And no, I don’t think she has any intention of contacting Arianna, so you don’t have to worry about that.”
When I turned my gaze back to Zayn, his mouth was a thin line, and he looked troubled.
“I can tell you exactly what she said if you would like.”
He nodded, so I did, making sure not to leave any details out. He sat back when I was done, folding both his hands over his chest before he looked up at the ceiling. I didn’t say anything else, waiting for him to get his thoughts together. It wasn’t like I would have ever kept this information from him. Zayn deserved to know. Ari did too. Julia was the one who had given birth to her. I didn’t want to call her Arianna’s mother, since she hadn’t been in her life.
“I don’t know what to say.” He let out a sigh and met my gaze. “She’s not going to like this.”
“You’re going to tell her?”
“How can I not? I’ve already kept the fact I know who her mother is from her.”