“He thinks I am.” He glances over at me. “And you know what for.”
“The necklace,” I say, my throat tightening. “Did he know about me?”
“No, and as of now, he has no information to aid our search for the necklace, either. He just wants to get to it before Niccolo does.”
“Everyone wants what I held in my hands,” I say, checking the safety on my new gun. “Thank you again for this little piece of cold comfort.” I bypass the pouch and zip it inside my purse. “And the purse and clothes.”
“Don’t thank me,” he says, turning onto a narrow road lined with cars. “Every one of those things was for me.”
My lips curve. “The pur
se was for you?”
“It’s where you just put Annie, right?”
“Gucci does hold her quite nicely,” I say, stroking the lacy front. “I love this purse almost as much as I do her.”
“And you learned to shoot Annie from your father?”
“No,” I say, my brow dipping at the certain answer that isn’t supported by memory. “I think . . . it feels like a Ruger was the personal weapon I carried. I’m actually surprised I wasn’t carrying it the night you found me.”
“You wouldn’t have legally been able to carry, as an American.”
“No. I suppose not. Still, I think I had a gun.” I shake off the thought and change the topic. “Before we get to the party, Marabella told you about Gallo and Giada, I heard.”
“Yes.” He shifts gears and turns down yet another narrow road, where pedestrians force him to slow to a crawl. “And Matteo’s initial search shows no call records, but he’s digging deeper.”
“That makes no sense, Kayden. Marabella said he was holding Giada’s waist.”
“It could be that he was trying to seduce her,” he says, moving past the pedestrians and cutting me a quick look. “But I tend to agree. I have men following both of them.”
“I talked to her today.”
“Adriel told me, and it was quite the conversation, I hear.”
I cringe. “I was hard on her, and I spoke for him. I didn’t mean for him to hear it.”
“You said what I hadn’t, out of respect for Adriel.”
“And I guess I didn’t exactly respect that boundary.”
“I’m fucking happy as shit about it, too. It needed to be said. And Adriel is relieved.”
“Well, that’s interesting to know,” I say. “He’s hard to read and like I said, he hasn’t been overly receptive to my presence.”
“You can thank Giada for that,” he says. “She’s been nothing but a pain in the ass that distracts him, so he doesn’t, or he didn’t, see how you could be anything but a distraction to me.”
“Didn’t?”
“He thought you’d go ‘Giada’ on me today due to Enzo’s death last night, but instead you fought for me and him.” We turn onto a double-laned street lined by sidewalks, and he adds, “But you should have told me he was giving you trouble.”
“I won’t win anyone’s respect by your demanding it. I have to earn it myself.” My eyes light on a massive white building with a red carpet in front and cars everywhere. “Is that where we’re going?”
“That’s the party,” Kayden confirms, then cuts down a small street and parks by the curb.
“What are we doing?” I ask, the dim streetlight illuminating his stark expression.
“Every reason I’ve given you for bringing you to this party was true.”