Page 27 of Forbidden Bond

CHAPTER 9

Katie

My phone buzzes on my pillow beside my face, propelling me out of my dream and right into consciousness. And it’s a good thing, too, because my dreams involved light brown eyes and a mischievous smile, and were filled with actions I had no business conjuring up, not even in a subconscious state.

The call’s from my sister and I have the good sense to pick it up when it starts to ring again.

“I was making sure you got up early. It’s your first day of work, after all and you don’t want to be late. And you certainly don’t want to piss off your new boss,” she chirps in my ear.

I groan, rolling onto my side and clutching my pillow to my chest. I slept late last night because I was busy weighing the pros and cons of working with Topher D’Angelo. The cons made for a pretty extensive list, but the pros won because of one solid point.

I need money.

“I think it’s a little too late for that,” I tell my sister as I climb off my bed.

“What? What did you do? Please don’t tell me you’ve gotten fired already,” Tessa states.

“No! And what do you mean already?”

“Katie, you know I love you to death. But Dad was right when he said you were spoiled. You haven’t worked a day in your life and I’m just worried things will go wrong.”

“Oh, please,” I scoff. “I’ll be amazing at my job. I’m Katherine Malone, there’s nothing I can’t do.”

I wish I was actually as confident as those words sounded.

“That’s my girl. But what did you mean by it’s too late when I mentioned not pissing off your boss?”

“Oh, uh—” I pause and bite my bottom lip. I hate keeping secrets from Tessa, but she feels very strongly about the D’Angelo family. And the mafia in general. My sister’s the ultimate goody-two-shoes and there’s no way she would support me willingly hanging around a member of the family. “It’s nothing, don’t worry,” I tell her unconvincingly.

“Katherine,” she says in a low voice.

“It’s fine. Everything’s great. I’m going to go to work super early and be the best employee there.”

Most importantly, I’m going to prove to Topher that I’m more than just Daddy’s little girl.

“You still haven’t even told me where you’re working,” she points out.

“I told you, Cara took me there. It’s an auto repair shop. I’ll be an assistant, helping out with some administrative and management duties.”

“Hmm. Did you do any research to see who owns the shop? You know how dad can get.” Tessa presses.

I inwardly groan. “Tess, that’s inconsequential. It’s not someone you know.”

“Fine. As soon as I’m free this week, I’ll come check the place out.”

That might be a problem. But it’s a bridge I’ll cross once I get there.

“Dad said you haven’t been spending a lot of time at home,” my sister adds.

“I’ve been staying with Jamie.”

“And how is he? Jamie?” She tries her best to make her voice flat and unassuming, but there’s a slight hitch in her voice that tells me just how much she cares.

My heart aches watching two people I love in such an impossible situation and not being able to do anything about it. I don’t think even Tessa’s aware of just how much she cares about Jameson. All I know is that the two of them spent one night alone together, trapped in a snowstorm during our vacation to Canada three years ago, and after that, everything changed. The two of them have never talked about it. And I’ve never asked.

“Jamie’s… Jamie,” I say on a sigh.

She makes a noise of agreement at that. Like my answer makes perfectly reasonable sense. “I’ll let you go. Good luck at work today.”

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