Page 26 of Tormented Diamonds

And one who may very well be pulling the biggest con of all.

Chapter Eight

BECCA

Ichew my cheek, debating on whether I should say anything. But after everything that’s happened tonight, I can’t leave this idling on the back burner. “I met your sister.”

His flat stare makes me feel like a lone gazelle being watched on an open field. “Good to know Sera finally made her usual fashionably late entrance.”

“You never told me you had a sister.”

“You never asked.”

I grit my teeth.This is going great.Trying to have a deep conversation with this man is like trying to catch running water. “She’s nice.”

“She is. That’s why I’m fairly certain she’s adopted.”

“Gianni!”

He arches an eyebrow. “What? You met the source of the Marchesi gene pool. ‘Nice’ isn’t part of our DNA.”

Okay, that lead-in went completely left of center.

“I, uh, also met Cathalina Damiano,” I hedge.

“Is that right?” At my cautious nod, Gianni pulls back, a veil falling over his eyes. “And what did the princess of New Haven have to say?”

“Nothing I didn’t expect. She seemed congenial enough, in a plastic, silver-spoon-up-her-ass kind of way. She offered to bury a hatchet I never swung, so that was a little odd.”

“I’m not surprised. The whole Damiano family takes their social cues from The Bronx Zoo.”

I let out a nervous laugh and swallow the baseball-size lump in my throat. “But that wasn’t what set me on edge. She said something about Anton.”

He tenses. “What about him?”

“She said thatLaCosa Nostrais a man’s world, and women have to look out for each other because no one else is going to do it. Then she told me to watch out for Anton.”

“I trust my underboss, Doc.”

“That’s what I told her. To which she said, ‘so did Marcello.’”

His impassive stare hardens. “Did she say anything else?”

I think back to our awkward encounter. “No.” But then, I remember her strange comment as we stared at the herd of mob bosses. “Wait, yeah, kind of. It’s probably nothing.”

“Let me decide that.”

I groan, his mood shift making me regret I brought it up. “When she first said none of the men were going to look out for us, I asked her if that included her father, and she said, ‘especially my father.’”

I wait for a reaction, or some kind of follow-up. Instead, his hold on me tightens, and the next thing I know, I’m flush against his chest. “Becca, do you trust me?”

“Of course.”

“Then believe me when I tell youAnton can be trusted, and Cat is being a shit stirrer.”

I try to let it go, but a diabolical mix of untamed jealousy and unease drags my insecurities to the forefront. “Why would she bother if you two weren’t involved?”

“Because she’s a spoiled mafia princess who doesn’t like to share the spotlight.”