“She’s done a great job.” He nods toward the house. “It’s hard work, both physically and mentally. I’d never be able to do that. I’d go nuts if you dump me in the middle of that chaos and tell me to put an order to it.”
I go inside, my feet instinctively leading me to the lounge where Tatiana is washing the windows. She doesn’t acknowledge me, so I walk around the room and study the photos that are pinned on a notice board leaning against a wall. Polaroid pictures show what the interior looked like before Tatiana has started.
Reino is right.
Only one word can describe the former state of the house. It’s been a mess. Junk was piled up on each surface and knickknacks crammed into every corner. Whoever lives here must be a hoarder.
Being a minimalist myself, I find the idea incomprehensible. I bet the tidiness isn’t going to last long. I give it six months—tops—before the place looks exactly as it did before. People don’t change overnight.
I glance at Tatiana where she’s scrubbing the grimy windows. Even in leggings and an oversized T-shirt, she looks like a queen. She’s tied her hair into a high ponytail. Blond wisps that escaped the elastic feathers around her face. The curls stick to her temples where perspiration from the exertion beads on her skin. She wears the same scarf from yesterday. I don’t think she’s doing it for Jasper or my men. My guess is she doesn’t want Noah to see the faint blue bruises in the shape of fingerprints on her neck.
My gaze slips to her naked wrists. She left the Rolex on the nightstand on my side of the bed, making a clear statement that the gift is unwanted.
The watch was more for my benefit than hers. Despite what I said about marking her, the sight of those welts on her perfect skin bothers me. I understand her better than she thinks. I know why she needs this to be different than before. She can only let me touch her if it doesn’t remind her of the past. And I’ll rather mark her than not touch her at all.
She must become aware of my staring, because she stops scrubbing and looks over her shoulder.
Her question is hostile. “Is there something you wanted?”
I go back to studying the before-pictures. “You’ve done a great job with the place.”
She dunks a scrubber in a bucket of soapy water and squeezes the excess water from the microfiber. “Shouldn’t you be running my father’s mafia empire?”
Far from getting to me, the jab makes me smile. “I can run it from here. All I need is my phone. And it’s my empire.”
She paints S-shapes over the window with the scrubber. “A thief is never the owner of what he stole. It always belongs to the person from whom he took it.”
I walk closer. “That’s not how it works in war. Your father started it. I’ll finish it. What I gain in the process is simply a byproduct of a greater objective.”
She spins around, facing me with a wry smile. “And I’m just the spoils of war. Is that what you’re saying?”
“You’re not really interested in what I’m saying. No matter what I tell you, you’ll twist it into what you want to believe. When you’re truly ready to listen, we can talk about it again.”
She hisses angry words at me. “Hell will freeze over before I listen to you.”
A quirk tugs at my lips. “And here I was trying to compliment you.”
“I don’t need your compliments, and I’m trying to work. Don’t you have somewhere else to be?”
I shove a hand in my pocket. “Many places.”
She gives me a saccharine smile. “So why don’t you do me a favor and go to one of those places?”
“You’re my first priority.”
She laughs. “How lucky for me.”
A puddle of water has soaked into the carpet where the scrubber is dripping at her side. I motion to the growing wet stain. “You’d want to dry that before it gets moldy. Do you need a hand?”
“I can manage, thank you,” she says in a sharp tone.
I take the new credit card from my pocket and put it on the side table next to her. My banker couriered it yesterday. “This is yours.”
She stares at the black card with suspicion instead of gratitude. “Why?”
“If you or Noah need anything.” I cock a shoulder. “I may not always be around to get it for you. You can ask Reino or Ulysses to drive you anytime you have to buy something.”
Her cheeks flush pink. “I don’t need your money, Dante. I can take care of myself.”