“Well, hi, asshat. Nice of you to call and see how I’m doing.”
“I’m in the middle of my workout, and Lilah is dropping silent clues like I don’t pick up on that shit.”
Of course Dom called right then. I rolled my eyes. “Now Dom’s calling. Literally nothing is happening. She’s just taking the heat off herself. You guys are so overprotective. Please stop.”
He sighed like he didn’t want to worry about me, but he did.
All of them did. Because I’d made them worry too much before. “So you’re good?” he asked, and my heart squeezed. Declan was the closest to me in age other than Lilah. And he would have got on a plane immediately if he thought something was wrong.
“I’m fine, Dec. Go back to your workout. Tell the fam you talked to me, too, so they don’t all keep calling.”
He agreed that he would, and I heard some texts go through as I hung up.
Lucas was at his door, smiling like he hadn’t seen me in ages. “No bears ate you!” he exclaimed.
I punched him in the arm, and he pulled me under his shoulder. “I’m not working at all today. Cade told me he’d see me at the campfire, so I say we take today to have some fun.”
“Our itinerary literally says to do so and there’s food and drinks all day.”
I scoffed at how easygoing it seemed. “I’m surprised this isn’t more by the book.”
“I think Mrs. Stonewood is in charge of these events, and she believes people work best with a team they trust, positive reinforcement, and low stress levels. I’ve talked with her a few times because I host the mindfulness group.”
“She sounds like she has the right idea.” I shrugged as we meandered over to my original cabin and Rodney waved us in. We met with his bunkmates, Melanie and Lorenzo. We all sipped the coffee Rodney made, and he told us he was excited for the rest of the day.
We went swimming and paddleboarding, met more of the team, and enjoyed what felt like a vacation. There were sixteen of us, so we could hang with some in the cabin if we didn’t want to swim, grill with others if we didn’t want to sunbathe, or catch up with old friends if we didn’t want to engage with new ones.
Cade texted once to tell me to come eat, and I rolled my eyes because it was probably a reminder that I hadn’t gone to have lunch with him. Was he watching me out here with everyone? Was he at all interested in coming out to be part of the fun?
Lucas caught me staring at our cabin while we sat in the sand, munching on a few leftovers from the grill. He nudged me. “How’s living with the infamous Cade?”
What did I say to that? “He’s definitely different from what I thought he would be.”
“I want more than that and you know it.” Lucas nodded as a few people passed us and waved.
“I don’t know. He works a lot, obviously. He’s mostly on his computer. But he eats cereal, which... I didn’t exactly expect.”
“You know, when he’s with his brother and Dante, they seem different,” Lucas muttered, pulling up pictures on his phone. That was the life Cade lived. He’d be photographed with his family because they were the Armanellis, but when he was alone, people let him be.
I shrugged as I looked at a picture of him laughing with a little girl, security surrounding them. The headline read, “Rare Spotting: Billionaire Tech Mogul and Alleged Mobster Caden Armanelli Enjoys Day with His Niece, Ivy, Heiress to the Bratva.”
“So, he loves his infamous family,” I murmured, but the words and the picture stirred something in me. Something a lot like insecurity started as a tiny snowball and rolled down the hill, growing and growing in size. He had this big life, this family that he never talked about but obviously enjoyed, and I wanted to know more about it. More about him.
The feeling scared me. We were supposed to just be having fun.
“Right? He looks so damn human here other than the men in suits around him. Seeing him every day, the concepts of tech billionaire and mobster fit, but he’s not as happy as this picture shows. Unless he’s with his niece, maybe.”
To most of the world, though, he wasn’t human. He was like a mutant that could hack into all their data, and everyone feared him for that.
“I wonder if it’s hard for him to know everyone’s secrets and be normal?” I pondered out loud, thinking of the conversation I’d had with him in the cabin. We all had our crosses to bear.
“Maybe if we get him to participate in some of the trust exercises later this week, we can ask him.” Lucas chuckled, like the idea was ludicrous.
Quite frankly, it was. Seeing that picture of him had reminded me how out of my depth I was with him. I was fooling around with a mobster, a billionaire, and a man who could cause destruction to just about anyone he wanted.
Instead of going back to my cabin, I avoided him. I avoided the situation. I reminded myself that indulging in my stupid desires was what had gotten me into trouble in the first place years ago.
I wouldn’t do that again.