Page 34 of Broken Promise
“You know as well as I do that your sister is no angel anymore. This is the girl who ditched her security by dressing one of the girls in her office in her clothes so she and JJ could hit a club.”
“Oh yeah, that night when I tried to get her back. You should have done something about that.”
“Like I could stop her. Have you ever tried to get between Lucia and something she wants? Not if you want to keep your balls.”
I chuckled. I had to admit that despite being such a good kid, Lucia was really good at getting her way. She could just turn those big gray eyes on you and you’d cave and give her whatever she wanted. But not like this. She’d always been more… persuasive than sneaky. Nothing like I was seeing with Diana.
“You’re right. She could be a handful when she wanted. I blame JJ.”
Noah barked a laugh. “You know what, I’m inclined to believe that, but I think sometimes JJ just gives her permission to do things she always wanted to. She sent me a strippergram here at the office when she was pissed at me one time.”
“Wait, what? Lucia sent strippers? Why didn’t I know this?” I wasn’t sure I wanted to continue the conversation. There were certain things I just didn’t want to know about my sister.
Noah’s laughter carried through the phone, and I couldn’t help smiling too. Although it did make me a little sad, as it always did when I was reminded just how long I’d been gone, just how much my time with ORUS had really cost me.
“I don’t think I need to know too much about my sister as an adult. I’ll just keep thinking of her as a little pip-squeak with pigtails.”
Noah’s laughter finally trailed off. “That’s probably best. But in short, the answer to your question is yes. Lucia has lied to me before. Sometimes when it’s minor, and sometimes when it can get her killed. But it’s always because she feels like she’s doing the right thing.”
I suddenly wasn’t sure I wanted to borrow Matthias anymore. What the hell was I doing assuming my relationship, or whatever you wanted to call it, with Diana was anything like what Noah had with Lucia? They had known each other for years and had been through a lot together. What did I have with Diana?
“Woman troubles, Rafe?”
I grunted. Noah had always been an intuitive bastard. It was part of what had made him such a great assassin.
“I’m just not sure I can trust her. She’s different from any woman I’ve ever met. Nothing between us has unfolded in the usual way, and I’m not sure how to handle her.”
Noah was quiet for a while. I didn’t rush him. From experience, I knew that Noah liked to look at things from all angles before he offered an opinion.
“Do you think she cares about you? Because in my experience, when the woman you care about lies, it’s because she’s scared. Your girl have a reason to be scared?”
“Yeah, but she doesn’t trust me enough to tell me why yet. Some asshole hurt her. Right now she’s not telling me a thing about him.”
“Until then, it might not be a bad idea to put a tracker on her.”
As soon as Noah suggested it, I wondered why I hadn’t already done it. Damn, I was getting soft already. “Definitely doing that today.”
“I can give you ideas for some really good trackers that she won’t even notice. But most important, keep your eyes on her. You’ve always had crazy good instincts. If there’s even a chance that this girl is into something bad, you might be her only chance to get out of it alive.”
* * *
Diana
I took another bite of my Pad Thai and chewed mindlessly, not tasting a thing. I glanced over at Rafe. This had been the weirdest day. Ever since we’d woken up, I’d been getting a weird vibe from him. It wasn’t that he’d treated me any differently or ignored me, but the previous open, raw intensity I’d gotten from him was gone.Cautious. That was the best way I could describe the way he seemed now.
Like I’m any better.
I put down my fork with a sigh. It was entirely possible that Rafe was just reacting to my shifting emotions. How was I supposed to reconcile the man responsible for my father’s death with the same man who seemed hell-bent on protecting and sheltering me?
“Is it good?”
I jerked my gaze up at the sound of his voice. We’d been eating our takeout on the couch, watching a movie, but I hadn’t paid attention to any of it. Rafe didn’t look like he much cared about it either. He’d been sneaking glances over at me the whole time but hadn’t said anything to me directly until now.
“Diana? Are you okay?” Rafe’s eyes narrowed slightly as he looked me over.
“Yup. I’m great.” I winced at the cheesy response. “Just really hungry.”
His eyes dropped to my almost-full plate of food. I’d been pushing the same pile of noodles around for the past half hour. He didn’t call me out on the obvious lie though, just took the plate from me and placed it carefully on the coffee table in front of us. Then he knelt on the floor at my feet and took my hand, my fingers small in his larger ones.
