Page 65 of His Obsession
“Do you?”
I cut him a look. “Careful.”
“I am being careful.” He sets the tablet down. “That’s why I’m telling you before something happens.”
I don’t answer right away because he’s right, and neither of us needs me to say that out loud. Getting Val out of LA is the safest move. It also happens to be the move most likely to make her hate me.
This is going to be a problem. Unfortunately, I’m running out of options that don’t sound like problems.
When I get home, Nico’s car is already in the driveway. I find him in the kitchen eating imported cheese straight off the board my chef probably arranged with more care than Nico deserves. Val is in the library on a vendor call, her voice carrying faintly down the hall.
Nico points the cheese knife at me. “You look like shit.”
“Good to see you, too.”
“I came to see my sister.”
“Clearly.”
He takes another bite and studies me. Nico may choose to stay out of my business, but he isn’t stupid. He knows how to read the difference between a normal bad day and the kind that gets people killed.
“What happened?” he asks.
I glance toward the hall. Val’s still talking. She sounds irritated, which means the vendor is alive and probably deserves to be.
“Adrian is getting too close to my properties.”
Nico’s expression changes immediately. “How close?”
“Close enough.”
He sets the cheese knife down. “Sebastian.”
I lower my voice. “He has information he shouldn’t have. I’m handling it.”
“I don’t care about your properties.”
“I know.”
“I care about Val.”
“So do I.”
He looks toward the hallway, and for once the anger in him burns off fast enough to leave the worry underneath. “She seems better here.”
“Sheisbetter here.”
“But not safe enough.”
I don’t answer.
Nico drags a hand over his mouth and lets out a hard breath. “Get her out of LA.”
Hearing it from him irritates me more than hearing it from Matteo. Probably because Nico has no operational reason to say it. He isn’t thinking about leaks or camera coverage or New York pressure. He’s thinking about his sister, and he still lands on the same conclusion.
“For a few days,” he continues. “A week. Whatever. Somewhere Adrian doesn’t know. Somewhere she can breathe.”
“You think she’ll agree to that?”
