Page 33 of Sweet Sin

But no.

This has to be done, and it has to be done now.

“Sorry, I need to talk to you now.”

“Yeah, sure,” she says through the squeak of a yawn.

“How are you holding up?” I ask.

“Not great. I miss her.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“Life goes on. What do you need?”

Jordan just lost her best friend, and now I’m about to tell her that her new boyfriend is lying in the hospital somewhere possibly fighting for his life. Oh…and he held Falcon and me at gunpoint, demanded I go with him to God knows where.

Somehow I’ve managed to keep the family business from Gert and Jordan. They still think I’m part of the Gallo wine empire.

If only…

“I just… Are you still seeing Giancarlo?”

“Yeah. I just talked to him last night. He’s supposed to call tonight.”

Yeah. That’s not going to happen.

“I think…you should stop seeing him.”

There. I said it.

“Why? Do you want him?”

“God, no.”

Not only no, but hell no.

“Then why do you care?”

I pause. What to say? What not to say? I finally settle on an amorphous answer. “He’s bad news.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Jordan, I’m going to ask you to trust me on this one. I can’t tell you why.”

“Oh…” She sighs through the phone. “It’s your job, isn’t it? Is he an ex-con or something?”

Good. This is fortuitous. I didn’t see it coming but I should have. Easy out.

“Like I said, I can’t tell you anything more.”

“What did he do?”

“Jordy…”

“Right, right. I respect your ethics, Sav. But I wish you could tell me. He’s been a perfect gentleman.”

“He has?”

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