Page 56 of Corrupted Deception

“Even if you figured out which keys, there were still more than one hundred and fifty thousand possible combinations,” I said, becausethatwas what my brain had decided to focus on. Not the creepy fingerprint thing.

He shrugged. “Thirty-four, sixteen, twenty-seven—your locker combination.”

My jaw tried to drop; I barely caught it in time. That he remembered my high school locker combination—a combination I’d never told him—left a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach. Time to move on to something else.

I curled my hands into fists and walked barefoot into the kitchen—because it was my damn kitchen, even if it did feel a whole lot smaller with these two men standing in it.

Ray decided to wait by the stairs.

“When I mentioned a great big Luciano reunion, I wasn’t serious,” I said, looking back and forth between Cielo and the newcomer.

Both men smiled. Glad I was so amusing.

“This is Aurelio Carbone,tempesta,” Cielo said, motioning to the man who was giving off serious Mr. Rogers vibes with his kind eyes and cardigan.

“It’s a beautiful dayin this neighborhood…” flitted through my head as I tried to recall what Cielo had told me about Aurelio Carbone because the name was definitely ringing bells.

“Aurelio,” Cielo went on, “may I introduce Charlotte Santoro?”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,SignorinaSantoro,” the man said with a polite nod and a warm smile.

Shit. Don’t I feel like a jerk?I didn’t actually make a habit of being rude to strangers, but nor was I accustomed to waking up to them in my home uninvited.

“It’s nice to meet you, too,” I replied. It came out kind of flat and insincere, but again, there was an uninvited stranger in my home. “Do you suppose I could talk to you for a minute, Cielo?” I asked, nodding across the space to the living area and heading over there without waiting for a response.

His footsteps followed close behind me, and Ray followed right behind him like the two of them had done some serious dog-human bonding while I was asleep.Awesome.

“I’m not sure if you know this,” I hissed quietly as I spun on Cielo, “but I’m not actually big on strangers in my home while I’m sleeping—hence, the security system.”

Cielo shrugged. “He’s not a stranger. Aurelio’s been with my family a long time,” he said like it was a perfectly reasonable explanation.

Aurelio Carbone...“’He’s the kind of man who knows how to get answers’—that’s what you told me once.”

He nodded. “You remember?”

I chuckled dryly. “It was all riveting stuff for a sixteen-year-old girl, kind of hard to forget. But that doesn’t explain why he’s here.”

“I have business I have to tend to. Aurelio will stay here while I’m gone.”

Stay here? Like a babysitter?

Oh, that’s what you think, I fumed silently while my spine stiffened reflexively until I was standing up so tall, I nearly reached Cielo’s chin in my bare feet. I had to fight the urge to shoot up onto my tiptoes just to get right in his face.

“That hard-on you had for me last night says you’re well aware I'm not a child, Cielo, and I sure as hell don’t need a babysitter.”

The corners of his lips twitched. “He’s not here to babysit you; he’s here so you can bring him up to speed with what you know about Miguel Silva and your father’s disappearance.”

I opened my mouth to object, but he put his index finger over my lips.

“Before you tell me it’s not Aurelio’s problem,” he said while I seriously contemplated taking a bite out of his finger, “it’s about time you realize there’s nothing wrong with accepting help,” he finished more gently as he ran his finger along my lips, then dropped his hand.

My lips were tingling even as my skin writhed at the prospect of accepting help. Very contradictory feelings.

“It’s too early for this. I need coffee,” I said, then headed back toward the kitchen, discreetly rubbing my lips as I went.

Cielo’s phone rang, and he strode toward the stairs that led to the roof to answer it, leaving me alone with Aurelio Carbone who was sitting at my breakfast bar… in my kitchen… looking perfectly at ease. Dear lord, this was weird.

“Coffee,Signorina?” he asked.

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