What a giant clusterfuck. But, honestly, what did I expect? This thing between Karina and me wasn’t meant to happen in the first place, so why did I feel so shitty knowing I’d hurt her?
I glanced up at the open cabinet and stared at the pinned picture of every member of the Valenti family, including her. The picture of her father was right at the top, her mother, Antonio, and Dante below him. Then there were a ton of pictures of her, pictures I had no right taking. Pictures I took while I had her followed. Such an invasion of privacy, but as a detective, I didn’t give a fuck or care. But now, as a man, I did give a fuck, I did care.
About her.
Chapter 17
KARINA
It had been four days, fifteen hours, and twenty-two minutes since I stormed out of Lorik’s apartment. Yes, I was that pathetic.
He hadn’t texted, or messaged, or tried to make any kind of contact with me, which was probably a good thing.Then why am I checking my phone every ten minutes?
Every morning when I woke up, my phone was the first thing I reached for, only to be disappointed at the lack of messages received—or rather, from whom. There was no explanation why I felt the way I did. I was the one who stormed out of his apartment feeling hurt and betrayed. I was the one who couldn’t stand to look at him for a second longer without feeling like my heart was being ripped in two. But what bothered me most was that I felt that way, and that I reacted the way I did.
I knew he was a cop who investigated my family. It wasn’t like he hid that little tidbit of information from me. He summoned me to the goddamn station and let me wait for him in the interrogation room for fuck knew how long. It wasn’t exactly a state fucking secret he had his claws out for my family. It wasn’t like I went into our little—I wasn’t even sure what you’d call it. Two-night fling? Weekend fuck buddies? It definitely was not a relationship, since it didn’t even last seventy-two hours. But it wasn’t like I went into it completely blind. I knew Lorik was investigating my family, and I still ended up with him between my legs. I had no one to blame but myself. The giant fucking hole inside my chest was all because I longed for a man who I knew was off limits right from the start.
I thought I could handle it. I thought I had my big girl panties on and had it all under control. But seeing how deep Lorik’s obsession in bringing down my family went hit me like a damn wrecking ball. When I searched for one of his shirts, I did not expect to find a cabinet filled with pictures and information regarding every member of my family. All those pictures of me, taken without my consent or knowledge, forced such a strong sense of betrayal inside my chest that I struggled to take a breath. But it wasn’t only the betrayal, it was that I had once again managed to get myself in one fucked-up situation where my actions had the potential to hurt my family.What the hell is wrong with me?
I took a sip of my Negroni cocktail at—I glanced at the old grandfather clock in the corner—two in the afternoon. Lucky for me, my family owned this damn restaurant, and no one who worked in Paradiso would question my motivation for drinking a cocktail this time of day.
“It’s a bit early for you, isn’t it?”
Except Dante.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. According to whose standards, mine or yours?”
He took a seat next to me at the bar and eyed my cocktail. “Negroni. Gin. That’s some hard liquor.”
I ignored him and took another sip.
“Everything okay?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” He held up his hand, signaling to the bartender to give him one of his usual—bourbon. “Maybe it’s because you’re not a big drinker, and you hardly ever come down to the restaurant.”
I placed my empty glass on the counter. “Or maybe I’m just not a big drinker according to you, and maybe I finally realized my life isn’t family-orientated enough, so I decided to surround my whole goddamn world with everything Valenti, including my breakfast, lunch, and fucking dinner.”
“Whoa,” Dante held up his arms, “where did that come from?”
Paolo, the bartender, placed a new cocktail in front of me like he could read my fucking mind.
“Thanks.” My heart was pounding so damn fast, my anger levels bordering on explosive, hence why I downed more than half of my new cocktail.
“Karina, what’s going on?”
“Nothing. Everything is just goddamn peachy.”I hate my life.
Dante turned in his seat to face me. “Does this have anything to do with that cop?”
My gaze snapped up to his, and I narrowed my eyes. “What cop?”
He laughed, but it wasn’t an amused laugh. It was more like an I-call-bullshit laugh. “You know exactly what cop I’m referring to. Detective Stone, the guy who face planted Enzio against the wall.” He cocked a brow. “And also the guy you spent last Saturday night with.”
Right at that moment, I took a sip of my cocktail and almost choked to death. I grabbed the red and white checkered napkin and cleaned my face. “Oh, my God.”
Dante weaved his fingers together in front of him, staring at me like I was a child who got caught in the act.