Page 24 of Enduring Caine
Her shoulders caved in and she mumbled, “I’m homeschooled and my teacher lives here, so I don’t get time off.”
“Same teacher for all subjects?”
“Yes, one teacher my whole life.” She rolled her eyes. “She also taught Cristian, but my sister got sent off to boarding school because she didn’t pay attention. Her entire goal in life is to shop with my mom.”
“And that’s not what you want?”
“Papa says all Ferraros go into finance or the arts, like him and Cristian.”
Did she know what kind of arts they were actually in? The illegally traded kind?
“That’s what I want to do.” She leaned forward, her eyes sparkling. “When I told Papa that, he agreed to have one of his men teach me art history, because he knows more than my teacher.”
A weight settled in my stomach. I was pretty sure who she meant.
“Vincenzo knows so much about art.” Cesca sighed dreamily and I could have shaken her. She was a kid and he was a two-faced asshole, but who could temper the teenage heart? “He’s the one who walked you and Antonio upstairs last night. Isn’t he gorgeous?”
Thankfully, a knock at the door rescued me from having to formulate a polite answer.
“One sec.” I pulled the door open and the weight sloshed around in my stomach as I laid eyes on a hard face. “Leonardo, what a pleasure.”
“Francesca,” he called over my shoulder, like I wasn’t even there. “Time to go.”
She groaned and stomped across the floor, stopping next to me. “How’d you find me?”
“Johann told me he brought you two up here. And you’re supposed to keep your phone on you at all times.” Leonardo handed her a smartphone.
“What teenager leaves their phone behind?” I smiled down at her—she was roughly half a foot shorter than me.
“The kind that only gets messages like these.” She woke the phone and showed me the lock screen, with five messages from Cristian, all telling her it was class time. “Gotta go. Thanks for the food. Maybe it’ll get me through math.”
“Good luck,” I said as she hit the top of the wide staircase.
Leonardo watched her go, but didn’t budge from my doorway. Once her footsteps were no longer audible, he turned to me. “Sucking up to the family, I see? You and Antonio are quite the pair.”
“We are, as a matter of fact.”
“I couldn’t help but notice last night at dinner…” He stepped closer, his broad frame and the four or five inches he had on me inspiring the instinct to retreat. “You left when our handsome Vincenzo arrived.”
I held my ground. “Antonio and I finished an overnight flight to Rome, had to endure two hours at customs, and then the surprise drive here. I was tired and needed sleep.”
“Still, the way you looked at him…” He ran the back of his knuckles across his jaw, telegraphing that he was trying to bait me.
“Plus, I think your cologne was making me nauseous.”
“Tell me, my pretty little investigator…” His eyes eased down the too-short T-shirt Cesca had lent me from her sister while my clothes were in the laundry, angling to the side as his gaze skimmed over my hips. “How much has Antonio told you about our business?”
This was one of Antonio’s rules from the airport. Don’t let on that I know what they do.
“He didn’t have to tell me anything. We were greeted at the front door by men with automatic rifles in their hands and SIGs at their waists. Then we had to deposit all of our electronics into a Faraday case for security measures. It really doesn’t matter what you do, because it’s clear you’re not men to be trifled with.”
“Clever observations.” He stepped close enough his chest was almost touching mine, a dark scent of musk and sweat enveloping me. “You recognize the model of pistol so easily? And the Faraday case?”
“Hollywood movies.”
He snorted a derisive laugh. “Just because Signore Ferraro and Cristian see you as nothing but the brunette on Antonio’s arm doesn’t mean I feel the same.”
Back off, Sam. This is a dangerous game.“What’s your goal here, Leo? Intimidate me? Fine, consider me intimidated.” The wise part of my brain forced my stubborn body to step away, although it couldn’t convince my voice to sound scared, like it should have. “Now can we move on with our day? I’m apparently getting a tour of the ruins while you boys are out playing your mysterious games that I really don’t care about.”