Page 71 of Disarming Caine

“There are a ton of paintings in that house, but I found—”

“Real estate listing?” asked Cassandra. “Giving up on the apartment hunt?”

Samantha shook her head sharply. “It’s nothing. A friend of mine was looking to buy it and wanted my opinion.”

Lucy continued. “—three other photos that had been taken down.”

“Which friend?” asked Cassandra. “Someone from work?”

“Rhonda Wells,” said Lucy. “The owner of Mason’s Gallery.”

Samantha’s eyes narrowed at Lucy, who was not picking up a hint to be quiet.

Perhaps Lucy had enjoyed one or two glasses of wine too many. “Rhonda was checking out the house and saw a painting she thought was stolen. We were just looking. That’s all.”

Cassandra dropped her utensils on her plate. “Isn’t that dangerous stuff to get involved in?”

“Nah, it’s digital snooping only.” Lucy’s eyes lit up. “A few of them are really dark, so I’m going to sharpen them up before I send them.”

“Could this be enough to pass over to Special Agent Skinner?” I asked.

Cassandra sucked in a breath. “Special Agent? Are you—”

“You know Elliot?” asked Miller.

While Samantha calmed her sister, who thought this meant Samantha was headed back to the FBI, I responded to Miller. “Sì, I met him in Napoli in September. You know him? He helped us track down the—”

Samantha kicked me. “He went to dinner with us while we were there.”

What was she playing at?

She looked at me and scratched the scar at her hairline, using the hand to hide her bulging eyes from the rest of the table.Be quiet, that look said.

I did my best not to scrunch my face up in confusion.

“Lucy, email me the photos when you’re done. Cass, I’m doing some legwork before reporting this to the FBI, so they can get a search warrant. Nathan, before you even bother to go there, I’m being careful. And Kevin, thank you for just sitting back and watching everything go on.” Samantha gave a tremendous heave of her shoulders. “And can we get back to telling jokes or embarassing stories, because the kids are obviously bored?”

The children appeared fine. Logan had snuck his phone out and chuckled over something playing at a low volume, while Emma shoved fistfuls of cake into her mouth.

Miller cleared his throat, cutting off the discussion. “When do you go back to Naples?”

“A week from tomorrow.” The days were running away from me. It was my fourth night already. “Target completion for our project is April, but I’ll try to be home sooner.”

“That’ll go by in the blink of an eye.” He smiled that professional smile that made my stomach churn.Don’t hit him. Stay calm.

Cassandra leaned her elbows on the table, steepling her fingers. “You planning on tearing off to Naples again without telling anyone, Sam?”

Samantha’s foot stopped moving, and a tremor went through her hand.

“I mean, you have leave scheduled after New Year’s, don’t you?” Cassandra’s face was pleasant, but tight, and Samantha’s reaction indicated there was something much deeper.

“She won’t leave until your treatments are complete.” I brought my love’s hand to my lips, and I locked eyes with her.Thank youwas on her face. “Her priority is you right now, as it should be.”

The edge of Cassandra’s frost thawed slightly. That was my cue.

“And my priority—” I kissed Samantha’s hand again and stood. “—is to clear these dishes.”

Miller stood at the same time. “Trying to make me look bad?”