Page 51 of Enduring Caine
“It’s not like the police investigated.” My right arm throbbed, as though reminding me of the pain of being shot, and I withdrew it from her waist to hold it against my stomach. I should have worn the sling. “I called Mario from the hospital, while I was still high on whatever painkillers they’d given me. He was there four hours later and didn’t leave my side until I was at his place in Napoli.”
I didn’t even know if the jeweler ever paid.
“So…” She was distracted, watching my bad arm tremble. She slipped one hand under the forearm, under the guise that she was caressing my abs. My nurse, yet again. “Why would Leo react like that? Do you two have some sort of past before that?”
“We do.” He and I had been friends until a woman came between us. I couldn’t remember her name, let alone her face. I removed her hand from my arm and brought it to my lips, then my neck. “Man stuff I’d rather not discuss.”
“Long term man stuff?”
“Very short term and not one of my wisest decisions.”
She ran a hand over her cheek and forehead. “I don’t think I want to hear it.”
“You don’t seem as bothered by this as I expected.”
“I’m not happy about it, but you already gave me the broad strokes, so it’s not like any of it’s a surprise.” She blew out a long breath. “It’s part of what made you who you are, right? Like you said Monday night on the balconies—my past with Vin is part of what made me who I am.”
“For better or worse?” I said with a grin I couldn’t hold back.
“It’s funny.” She leaned her weight against the wall, rather than continuing to press into me. “On the plane, Elliot told me it’s okay to be angry with Jimmy and the Scotts for what happened in Brenton, while still feeling sorry for all of them.”
“Meaning, I need to appreciate the man I became because of my experience here, even though I’m still holding onto the anger for how it happened—let alone how it ended?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
“This is rather perceptive for someone who spends so much energy bottling up her feelings.”
She scrunched her nose. “Just because I don’t talk about them doesn’t mean I don’t have them.”
I dipped my head closer, running my nose along her jaw. “I have some other wonderful feelings for you to experience, if you’re interested?”
She pushed back gently, and I straightened to see her. “After I share my other news.”
Chapter 22
Antonio
“MorenewsaboutVincenzo?”For all her patience and understanding through my story, it was unlikely I’d react as well to news about the handsome art historian and bodyguard.
She shook her head slowly, frowning. “I recognizedThe Magdalen.”
“What do you mean? You saw it in someone’s house or in a museum at some point? At an auction?” I knew none of that was true, but I’d hoped Zio Gio was telling the truth about changing. If she recognized the painting from a stolen art database, that was a mark against him.
“Do you want me to get your sling?”
The trembles in my arm had grown stronger and a bead of sweat rolled down my temple. “It’s fine—I’m just—”
“Stubborn.”
I threaded my good arm between her and the wall, pulling her against me again. “I’m taking lessons from a master.”
With a shake of her head, she slipped out of my grasp and out of her sweater. “It was one of the case files I had on my first day.”
I cradled my bad arm, taking the weight off of it. Perhaps I should have done that ten minutes ago. “I thought you were in Boston for the Gardner Heist?”
She chuckled. “If only the FBI actually worked that way. One case at a time? But no, Elliot saw to it I had a pretty deep stack.” A darkness formed over her, the same one that always did when she spoke of that period in her past.
“And I assume the case file was not about it being purchased legally by a Brazilian art dealer?”