“Some sort of virus?” Marco asked, sounding knowledgeable. “You would think government computers would have the best protections against something intrusive like that.”
Stella held her breath, hoping Raine wouldn’t eat him up and spit him out. She didn’t. She smiled serenely, widening her eyes as if Marco were giving her the best piece of advice possible. “Why didn’t I think of that? I’ll have to talk to Peter about it.”
Marco was silent a moment and then he burst out laughing. “You are a true O’Mallory. Of course, you thought of it. So, not a virus.”
Raine smiled at him. “No, not a virus. Sometimes in a program, someone adds an enhancement and doesn’t think of all the combinations that might cause the program to crash. Sometimes a crash can happen due to a loss of connection while transmitting data and the data is unreadable.” She shrugged. “Not exactly the most exciting stuff in the world, but it’s a good job and good steady work.”
Marco nodded. “I don’t know much about how computer programs work, only that they do and we rely on them now.”
Raine had to agree. “Probably too much.” She sipped her coffee. “Lucio, you haven’t said what you’ve been up to lately. Judging by the suit, looks like your impressive skills have paid off.”
Marco lifted an eyebrow. “Which of your many impressive skills is she referring to, Lucio?”
“I have no idea.” Lucio sounded bored.
Stella studied his expressionless mask. His eyes weren’t lifeless. There was something hot and lethal smoldering beneath all that dark blue, a promise of retaliation that made Stella worry for Raine. Clearly, the two were enemies— bitter enemies. Marco seemed unaware of the fact, and Lucio didn’t seem inclined to enlighten him.
“When I was in New York, he was quite the ladies’ man, Marco,” Raine said. “He could lie with the best of them. Had women eating out of his hand. It was an easy way to climb the ladder, I think you said, Lucio. It’s been a long time, so I’m not quite certain, but I thought that was what your sentiment was. Women are so easy.”
Stella raised her eyebrow. “I suppose when we’re young we’re pretty gullible. We believe in all that fairy-tale crap.”
“Comes from being protected by our fathers, Marco,” Raine pointed out, ignoring the fact that Lucio hadn’t responded. “It’s better to know men lie than to learn the lesson the hard way, don’t you think?”
“Girl, you’re letting yourself be too cynical,” Marco objected.
“I don’t think so. I believe in being realistic, don’t you, Stella? I’d rather see the truth than be taken in by lies. Seriously, Marco, if you had a daughter, wouldn’t you want her to know the truth about what she was getting into when she was being married off to some man who would cheat on her? Or if she dated someone she believed loved her when he really was out to impress you? Would you want her to be so disillusioned that her world would come crashing down at some point? Better to go into it with eyes wide open, right?”
Marco frowned. “You young women are so independent. What do you think, Lucio? Do you believe women should be protected? Would you protect your daughter?”
Lucio’s white teeth flashed in a brief smile that failed to light those dark blue eyes. “I have no children, Marco, nor do I have a woman of my own. How could I possibly weigh in on this decision with any real wisdom?”
“I suppose that it is the wise man’s answer when he is with two beautiful women. We should go. Thank you for seeing us so early in the morning, Stella.” Marco stood and Lucio did as well. “It was wonderful to meet you both.”
“I enjoyed meeting you as well,” Stella said, walking the two men to the door. Relief poured through her as they moved off the porch and began walking toward their car. She hadn’t realized just how tense she had been with the two men in her home.
Once they were out of her sight, she closed her front door, leaned against it and faced Raine. “Thank you for staying. I would have had a very difficult time without you here. I know it put you in an awkward position. Clearly, you and Lucio have some kind of history.”
“I knew him back in New York when I was a kid. I was Irish. He was Italian. We were both Catholic. Suffice it to say the two didn’t mix.” Raine gathered up the coffee mugs and took them into the kitchen. “He was very aware back then of how good-looking he is and he’s just as arrogant now. He actually had the nerve to try to tell me what I can and can’t do the minute the two of you went out the door. Like we were still kids and he thought I would fall in line and do whatever he said.”