‘How?’ His eyes were livid, his question a howl. ‘How do you know?’
‘Because I know you.’ She jabbed the fingers on her free hand into his chest. ‘I know you’re a callous bastard, and I know that you’ve got a few scruples missing, but I know, I know, that you’d never, ever have stooped that low.’
‘How?’ He said it again, not livid now, more bewildered. ‘How could you know that?’
‘You already know that I love you…’ Tears were coursing down her face. ‘What you’ve consistently failed to see, though, is that I’m actually a nice person—and I happen to have very good taste…’ She even managed a smile as she said it—could smile because he actually smiled a bit. ‘And I have my standards, and I trust myself, and I just don’t think I’d have fallen so hard for someone I couldn’t trust. Someone who wouldn’t do it to a friend leads me to believe that he would never, ever have done it to his own brother.’
‘Not here…’ His voice was urgent as he glanced around at the lobby—the lobby where they’d started this journey and should probably end it.
Only she couldn’t. She conceded one final demand and nodded as he gestured to the lift, joined him as they headed towards the office—and it actually didn’t bother her as much as she’d thought it would. Lazzaro’s issues were somehow overriding hers.
‘Roxanne did come on to me—and I was pushing her off.’ He spoke even as the lift took them skywards. They were standing at either side, staring at the door rather than looking at each other. ‘I told her to get off—and I am using your polite expression here.’ She did look over to him then, and even if it wasn’t a big one, there was a small smile as somehow they slipped into their own world, their own language, the bit that was just about them. ‘She was all over me—saying she’d always wanted me—she dated Malvolio too, you know…’
The lift door sliding open went unnoticed. Caitlyn was stunned at this revelation, yet as they walked into his office she knew it somehow made sense.
‘That was how she met Luca?’ Caitlyn asked.
‘Malvolio was her ticket to Luca.’
‘Unlike me.’ She gave a tight shrug. ‘I just went straight to the top.’
‘Never,’ Lazzaro said seriously. ‘Never again will I compare you to her.’
‘She was even a horrible little girl…’ Caitlyn rolled her eyes and let out an angry breath. ‘Always messing up my things, breaking my toys—anything I had she wanted. You know, I’m not excusing Malvolio…’ Caitlyn was thinking more than talking, thinking out loud. ‘But you can see now why he’d hate you so—hate me too…’
‘I don’t want to think of him at all,’ Lazzaro interrupted. ‘I don’t even want to try and understand his twisted mind.’
And she didn’t want to think about him either. She wanted to think about Lazzaro, wanted to try and finally understand.
‘Why didn’t you tell your family what really happened?’
‘So I could humiliate Luca all over again?’ Lazzaro shook his head. ‘How, with his body still warm, could I tell my family that he had nothing? That the one good thing he thought he had in his life—?’
‘So you took the blame for him?’ Caitlyn said. ‘You let them think that it was you coming on to Roxanne instead of the other way around?’
‘Luca said that I took everything from him—maybe I did. I just couldn’t take that last piece.’
‘Luca blamed you because that’s what he did best—blamed you for his mess because it was easier than blaming himself, easier than admitting he had a problem, easier than facing up that his life was a mess. Luca knew what had happened as much as I know what happened,’ Caitlyn responded firmly, nodding her head as he shook his. ‘Hell, yes, he was jealous, and he probably wanted to think it was you, but he knew—he knew exactly what happened that day. He just didn’t want to face it—the same way he didn’t want to face anything…’