Page 12 of Caterina
I laugh again, sharper this time. “Unbelievable.”
“He comes highly recommended.”
“I don’t care.”
“You should.”
“I do not.”
He folds his hands on the desk. “Teresa recommended him.”
I stare.
“Teresa.”
“Yes.”
My mind jumps ahead before I can stop it. Teresa’s family. I love her. I do. She is smart and steady and one of the few people in this family who can say difficult things without turning the room into a war zone.
She’s my sister-in-law and the mother of my new baby nephew, Cristiano.
But right now, I could cheerfully strangle her.
“Who is he?” I ask.
“Her cousin.”
I blink again, slower this time. “Her cousin.”
“Yes.”
“Teresa’s cousin is my babysitter?”
My father lets out a slow breath, and I know he’s exasperated with me, but has immense control.
I push back from the desk and start pacing, because if I stay still, I am going to say something that will have consequences that even being his youngest won’t get me out of.
“So let me get this straight. There’s a threat against your children, there are rumors of a traitor somewhere in the ranks,our own men can’t fully be trusted right now, and your solution is to bring in Teresa’s cousin from Texas to follow me around?”
“He owns a successful private security firm.”
“I’m thrilled for him.”
“He is former military.”
I turn on him. “That does not make me feel better.”
“It should.”
“It doesn’t.”
My father’s eyes narrow just slightly, not in anger yet, but in warning.
I know I am pushing. I know it.
But this is my life he is rearranging. My schedule. My movement. My goddamn breathing room.
I have spent years fighting for every inch of professional credibility I have, every bit of independence, every sign that people at the casino answer to me because I know what I’m doing and not just because I’m Luca Conti’s daughter. And now I am supposed to walk into meetings with a stranger looming two feet behind me?
