Page 32 of Forbidden Bond

He looks me in the eye for several seconds. When he’s certain I’m telling the truth, he lets out a soft breath.

“Getting involved with Malone’s daughter will inevitably get messy, Topher. Regardless of your intentions. The man despises us, and with good reason. Plus, he has a lot of power in New York.”

“I know,” I tell him.

“Good. Just be careful, okay? I’ll try to make sure Christian doesn’t find out, but it’s only a matter of time before he does. Any chance I could get you to fire her?”

“She hasn’t done anything wrong,” I grumble. “We haven’t done anything wrong.”

Other than the heated glances and stares that seem to last moments. But they don’t mean anything. I can’t let them mean anything.

“Alright. Have it your way, then.”

“Are you done railing into me?” I question and he nods once. We start walking back to the garage. “Good. Now when the hell did you get together with Cara?”

Carlo grins. “We ran into each other coincidentally once, and we saw each other casually for a couple of weeks. She broke it off. I never pushed her. The end.”

“And you never told me?”

“Why did you need to know?”

“Cara’s my employee and she’s my friend. You should have told me, Carlo.”

He opens his car door and turns back to me. “I’ll let you know the next time we decide to have sex.”

My lips curl into a smile and I give him a playful shove as he steps into the car. Carlo chuckles softly, turning the ignition.

“Don’t forget what I said, Toph. Be careful.”

He leaves, and I head straight for Katie’s desk.

“What’s going through your mind right now, princess?” I question, giving her an appraising look.

Outwardly, she looks pretty calm, which is why I can’t tell what she’s thinking.

“Nothing,” she says gently. “Your brother who is most definitely a murderer just walked into the garage and I’m almost certain he knows who I am. Right now, I’m considering the consequences of staying here. You know just in case they decide to kidnap me in order to force my dad’s hand, threaten him or whatever.”

Something lodges in my throat at that. “I wouldn’t let anyone hurt you.”

“You can’t protect me from your own family,” she says, her eyes bright and fierce.

“My family would never hurt you. We’re friends, and trust me, they don’t give a fuck about your dad.”

I hope. Truthfully, I know nothing about what’s going on in the mafia world right now. All I know is that there’s some kind of trouble Christian and Carlo are keeping under wraps. It’s possible the trouble involves the authorities. But Carlo would have mentioned it if it were like that.

“That’s good, I guess, but trust me, my dad certainly gives a fuck about you and your family.”

“They’re not going to hurt you, Katherine,” I repeat, staring into her eyes to let her know I mean it.

“Okay. I’m going to trust you on that. Because being near you makes me a target, and I don’t want to be a target.”

“You won’t be.”

We end up working late into the night. Katherine’s trying to straighten out the technicalities involving the shipments of some car parts from Asia. But she keeps hitting a block because it won’t get here in time.

She’s still on the phone by the time I’m done, trying to convince a customs agent to let the goods enter the country faster. I gesture for her to give me the phone and, after a moment’s hesitation, she does. All I need to do is tell the man on the other end my name and he starts stammering out apologies.

“I expect clearance for the shipment in three weeks or less, Mr. Stene,” I state.

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