Page 32 of The Forbidden Secret

I didn’t give her words weight. “If you say so.”

She clicked her tongue and straightened.

“I got a read on your sister relatively quickly. I understood her to an extent. It surprised me when she revealed she had been planning to betray the Rissis to help your father. I thought I had misread her until I learned she did it to protect you and your sister. It made me realize that Ididread her right. I just didn’t have all the information at the time. You, though…” She paused. “I can’t get a read on you.”

“People can’t be read like books. They’re too complex.”

“That’s not true, and we both know it.”

“No.” I shook my head. “I don’t think you’re right.”

“Why do you say that?”

“My entire life, people have assumed that I’m ignorant. That I’m socially unaware. I’ve been called dense and stupid. Even my father stayed away from me because I was never a threat. Just because I don’t respond the way that people expect doesn’t make me any of those things. I show different faces to different people in different situations. Your read on me is going to be different than anyone else’s.” I shrugged and exhaled a deep breath. “So, I think that reading people is bullshit.”

Jaimie didn’t reply for a long time. She only stared at me before finally nodding. “For most people, that’s true. But for those of us who grew up as ghosts with unreadable faces andstories, it’s easier to see past the bullshit. I think you would understand that more than anyone.”

I didn’t need to say anything as I realized how true her words were.

It seemed there were a lot of things I could learn from Jaimie.

Chapter Twelve

Zeke Coleman

I barged into Giovanni Rissi’s office, leaving the door open and slamming into the wall behind me. I passed the liquor cart and stood right in front of the wide desk as I scowled down at my boss.

“What the fuck?” I shouted. “Why is this not settled yet.”

Giovanni looked unfazed as he looked up at me with a stern expression. “Zeke, I don’t tolerate outbursts like this unless there is averygood reason. For your sake, I hope that’s the case.”

“Why has Evelina not been given more protection? Why am I still moving her from safe house to safe house when the threat is more extensive than either you or I can handle on our own? Why thefuckare we still hiding from a brute like Clide-fucking-Newton.”

Heavy feet pounded down a hall and stomped into the room, and a hand pressed into my chest, shoving me back and away from Giovanni a few steps.

I looked into the eyes of his nephew, Enzo. He stood the same height as me, but he layered on substantially more muscle. In a fight, I wasn’t sure which of us would come out on top.

I was prepared to find out, though.

“Calm down,” he snarled in my face.

“I want answers.”

“If you’re not careful, you’ll be taken off this job, andneitherof us want that. Aria will kick my ass if something else happens to her sister, even if you’re the one to blame.”

The words sunk into my stomach like a rock. I didn’t have to be assigned to this job. It seemed like Giovanni wasn’t involved in this because hewantedto be. It was because of his nephew’s wife that he bothered to send me into the fray in the first place. If I wasn’t here—if I wasn’t willing to take on this job—his hands would be tied.

I exhaled and loosened my posture enough to show that I wasn’t a threat.

Enzo patted my chest and stepped back.

“Why don’t you try this again?” Giovanni asked.

“Evelina is still in a great deal of danger, and nothing has been done to end it.”

“You’re being paid handsomely for this job, are you not?” He leaned into his desk. “Does the timeframe matter to you?”

I realized at once that he had no ideawhat Evelina meant to me. It was a mere coincidence that we had been paired together, and if I let it slip how much she meant to me, I wouldn’t put it past him to take me off the detail. The last thing he needed was his best hitman tied down by a woman.

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