Page 84 of Chasing Caine

“She’s an insurance adjuster.”

“Really?” He scratched the stubble on his chin. “Gallery insurance? Historic sites? Museums?”

“Cugino!” came a voice from across the small street. It caught my attention and I turned to spot Cristian walking toward us, his two thugs a conspicuous distance away.

I thrust a hand in Thomas’s direction. “See you Wednesday afternoon.”

He nodded, taking the hint, and headed off on his own.

Cristian marched straight up to me, arms and smile wide. I clenched while we hugged, scanning the area to see if there was a third man following him. Sure enough, I spotted him further down the street, eyes on us.

“How dare you show your face here,” I whispered.

Breaking from the hug, he tilted his head, the smile still in place. “I came to offer congratulations. And this is how you greet me?”

“Congratulations?”

He continued holding me by the upper arms as he spoke. “I hear you and your girlfriend caught someone stealing from your site.”

“We found him—” I’d suspected Cristian was behind it all based on our conversation at the nightclub, but the look on his face had me doubting myself. “—but he got away.”

“I’m leaving for Roma today. Since you refuse to come visit, we must talk now.” He kept one hand on me, guiding me toward the wall by the gate. His men’s heads swiveled back and forth, sweeping the area. His voice remained low. “I did interrupt your delivery—”

“Cazzo! Are you kidding?” I slammed my hand against the stone wall next to us. “That put me behind by two weeks!”

He raised a hand, and his thugs stopped their movement toward us. “I apologize. It will arrive Wednesday morning, as you requested.”

My stomach churned, and I flexed my jaw, trying not to bare my teeth. “Two additional weeks I have to be here. You don’t understand how difficult you’ve made things for me.” Two extra weeks I’d be away from Samantha. More time for her to change her mind about me or find someone else.

“Antonio, listen to me.”

“No, you listen to me.” I raised a finger to his face, and he kept his hand up for his guards. “This contract is important to my father. Tellyourfather that. Tell him to leave it alone. No more thieves, no more delays, no more distractions. I’m tired—”

“Stop.” He glared, with the look of a man used to having people obey him. “I was trying to flush them out.”

“What do you—”

“I heard rumors someone would try to steal from your site. That was all I knew. So I delayed your equipment, hoping they would make a move with the time I bought them.”

“And they did.” Some of the tightness in my chest eased. Was he on my side, after all? Was this related to what Papa had told me of the stolen painting in Roma and the other details he couldn’t speak of? Was this part of a larger game? And was I a pawn or a rook?

He nodded slowly. “Papa’s shifting business models.”

“What do those things have to do with each other?”

He turned my body and did the same, so we were speaking toward the wall, heads together for additional privacy. “When a vacuum exists, something will always move in to take up the space. They think they can mess with our family, but they’re mistaken.”

“I don’t understand, Cristian.”

“They were testing the waters. Can they take something from Papa’s nephew and get away with it? I was here to ensure they didn’t.” He grinned. “However, you are apparently too clever for them and found the man responsible before I could. Which provided me with a lead.”

Again, everyone congratulating me for her work. “Mostly my girlfriend.”

“The auction was her as well?”

“Sì, it was.”

Cristian’s eyes fell away from me, a fist covering his mouth. “Tell me she does not work for the authorities.”