“You don’t.”
My stomach lurched because there it was. The truth. No matter how much therapy I received, or how safe I felt when Thayer was around, I’d never be completely safe again. “Wow. I expected another lie.”
He said nothing, and his silence was deafening.
I ripped my hand from his hold. “So, he’s your friend?” I scoffed coldly. “Is that why I never met him? You had this planned all along.” I was finding my voice. My strength. My courage.
“No,” he said. “He’s not my friend.”
“But your secretary said?—”
“That’s what he told her. And because he visits me often, she has no reason not to believe it.”
“Who is he?”
He shrugged.
“Gino,” I pressed.
“I owe some pretty bad people a lot of money.”
“What?” I said, his words not making sense. My business was very lucrative, as were many of his other business investments—at least that’s what he’d told me.
“He makes sure they get their money by any means necessary,” he continued.
I sucked in a breath. This was not what I was expecting to hear. “You’re not working with him?”
“What?” He asked, shocked by my question. “No.”
“You’re sure?” I asked, knowing it’s what I’d been thinking since seeing Carlo at his office. I tried not to think it, but seriously? What else could I think?
Gino’s eyes cut to mine, but he didn’t respond. I could see it then that he was telling the truth—ironic given there was so much he hadn’t told me.
“Then pay them back,” I said matter-of-factly; my safety depended on it.
He shook his head. “I don’t have that kind of money.”
“G?” Thayer said.
Both Gino and I looked to the door where Thayer and Kason stood glaring directly at Gino.
How much had they heard?
35
GISELLE
“All done?” I asked Thayer and Kason, trying to act normal when my mind was reeling.
“Just waiting on you,” Kason said, his eyes locked on Gino. Oh, they definitely heard.
Before I knew what was happening, Thayer flew across the room, his forearm jamming into Gino’s neck as they crashed into the living room wall.
“Thayer!” I screeched.
“You did this,” he seethed into Gino’s face. “You brought your shit to Giselle, you motherfucker.”
“Get off of me,” Gino fought to get loose, but Thayer held him against the wall.