Page 54 of Ruthless Contract
“And...The person he went to pick up was his cousin, Rome Cattaneo,” Ms. Tina explained.
A gasp escaped me, and my heart almost stopped beating at the sound of his name. Rome Cattaneo had returned to the States. Would I end up running into him? Probably not. We’d never run into each other in the past.
Why should we do so now? Right? Right! Even if we did run into each other, he wouldn’t recognize me. He had no idea who I was, and I needed to keep it that way.
“Did you hear me?” Tina asked.
“I did,” I told her, forcing myself to remain calm. “Rome is back. Okay. What does that have to do with us?”
“He’s only been back a couple of days, and he’s already asking around, searching for the person who provided their enemies with info on Marcel Cattaneo,” Tina told me.
Fuck... fuck... fuckity fuck!
“When you hacked him, did you find anything on his laptop that pointed to us?” Ivy asked me.
I shook my head, mind reeling as I tried to process everything Ms. Tina had just told us. Rome was back, and he was searching for the people who’d provided his enemies with information about his cousin Marcel.
If we hadn’t covered our tracks well, that search would lead back to us. But we’d covered our tracks well. I was sure of it. He would not find Kelly. He would not find this shop. He would not find... me.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
BLOSSOM
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Rome Cattaneo was back in the United States.
That thought was on repeat in my mind. He was back. He was here, in Biloxi. Closer to me than he’d been in a very long time. And that was both scary and exciting. I stood near the front door with my hands buried deep in the pockets of my floral apron.
My fingers gripped my shears tightly as I retraced my digital steps, making sure I’d done everything needed to keep us off his radar. I could feel Ivy’s eyes on me as she stared at me from behind the register, waiting for me to say something.
Tina’s too, as she stood with her hip resting against the glass display case. They were both waiting for me to speak, while I stood there, tongue-tied, my mind repeating the same thing over and over again.
Rome Cattaneo was back in the United States.
Tina snapped her fingers in front of my face to get my attention.
“Now is not the time for daydreaming. How are you going to handle this, Blossom?” she asked.
“Oh, uh. I have a plan. It’s already in motion,” I told her.
I wasn’t lying. I really did have a plan. It was our backup plan in case Rome didn’t give up on searching for the intel provider. And it was a good one. But it would take time to see if it actually worked.
“Well?” Tina drawled. “You going to tell me this brilliant plan of yours, or are you going to stand there staring at the floor all day? Blossom, you do realize how serious this is, right?”
“I do. And I wasn’t staring at the floor. I was staring at your heels,” I lied. “I love them.”
Smiling, Tina lifted one foot. “Though I know you’re lying, you do have taste. Thank you.” Lowering her foot, her smile faded. “Spill it. What is your plan? I want to make sure it’s something that could work and keep you girls out of trouble.”
“Women?” Ivy corrected her.
“Little Ivy, I still smell breast milk on your breath,” Tina drawled, rolling her eyes.
“I’m pretty sure that’s cum. I was with my boy toy last night,” Ivy stated, flipping her hair over her shoulder.
Tina burst out laughing. “You are shameless, and I love it. You’ll have to tell me all about him later.” Facing me, Tina’s smile faded again. “Spill it. What’s the plan?”
“I found someone to shift the blame onto,” I told her.
