Page 112 of Tristano

“Neither did I.” He places his hand on her back and ushers her out of the room.

“You heard her. Let’s get to work,” Lo says, taking charge.

“You can use the office here,” Gio tells me. “By the way, did you get anything off the phone last night? We didn’t get anything else from either of the men. His partner seemed to know even less than the main guy did.”

“Is this really the time?” Lo growls. “Our princess is being threatened. I know that’s important, but this takes priority.”

Gio glares at him. “It could be connected for all we know. We need to explore all options.”

“Hey, no need to fight,” I insist. “Enzo came and got the cell phone from me this morning. I was able to crack the encoder and got in, but I was hitting a wall on the trace for the phone number. Enzo was taking it to Greer so she could work her magic.”

“I’ll check in with her then.” Gio leaves the room.

Following, Lo falls into step by my side. “Sorry. She’s like a daughter to me.”

I don’t say anything. He has nothing to apologize for.

Tensions are high.

All I know is today is about to be a long fucking day.

ChapterTwenty-Two

“Thanks!” I wave as the delivery driver walks away.

Reaching down, I grab as many bags as I can and carry them inside. When Tristano left for the day, I didn’t know what I would do. After poking around in the kitchen, I realized we were running low on food, so I placed a delivery order.

With groceries put away, I’m still jittery, so I start cleaning.

“Alexa, please play music,” I call out as I look under the kitchen sink for some cleaning supplies.

“Playing T’s happy playlist.” Her robotic voice comes over.

The first song that pops on is “No Scrubs” by TLC and I can’t help but throw my head back and laugh.

Of course this would be on his happy playlist. Song after song, I sing and dance around the apartment as I dust. It gives me a dose of serotonin I didn’t know I needed. My phone vibrates on the kitchen island and I make my way to it.

Tristano: I like the way you work it…

I frown down at my phone not understanding what in the hell he’s talking about. Then I listen to the song that’s currently playing.

“No Diggity” by Blackstreet and Dr. Dre.

I laugh, shaking my head as I text him back.

Me: Of course you do. *wink* How’s it going?

I lean against the counter as I wait for his reply. Looking at the time, I’m surprised to see that four hours have gone by since he left.

Tristano: It’s going. Hopefully I’ll make it home tonight.

I frown at his text. I kind of wish I had gone with him now. I wasn’t thinking about the fact that he might not come home.

Me: Anything I can do?

Tristano: Not this time. I got to go. I’ll talk to you later.

Sighing, I set down my phone.

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