Page 38 of Damiano De Luca (The Five Syndicates)
Protect yourself.
“Renata? Renata!”
“Sorry. Someone was talking to me.”
Another lie for the books.
Maman cleared her throat. “What were the demands?”
I hesitated. “There were none.”
The conversation between Damian and the woman ended, and Damian turned back to me. Our eyes locked, and I stuttered a shaky breath out.
Maman gasped. “What do you mean?”
He was nearly here.
“I mean”—I took a deep breath—“no one requested anything in exchange for the peace period. They just… agreed to it out of respect for Vincent.” Silence filled the line. I couldn’t imagine what went through her mind as I spoke. “Maman?”
A few more steps now.
“That’s great.” She cleared her throat, and my heart tightened for her and chastised me for focusing on Damian when my mom needed me. “I’ll, uh… I’ll log the transcription into the archives when you drop them off.”
Damian stopped in front of me, and my eyes traveled from his shined shoes, to the way his tailored pants stretched across his thighs, to the perfect fit of his white button down, to his defined jawline, to his eyes, which stared at me with an arched brow.
He mouthed, “Stop checking me out.”
My jaw dropped a bit. I made a point of rolling my eyes and swiveled, so he faced my back, breaking the spell.
What had Maman and I been talking about? Right. Logging the transcription.
I cleared my throat. “Will it bring attention to Ariana De Luca?”
“No.” A ruffling played on Maman’s end. “I’ll make sure of it. And don’t think I don’t know that you’re only interested in Ariana because of her brother.”
I ignored the last half of her words. “Thank you.” My eyes cut to Damian’s as he walked around me to stand in my line of sight. “I have to go.”
“Remember to drop those walls, Renata.”
“Bye, Maman.” I ended the call and slid my phone into my clutch.
Damian crossed his arms. “What’d she say?”
“Nothing.”
In no scenario would I tell Damian that my mom all but begged me to drop the walls I had built around me. For him, no less.
“She’s my sister, Knight. Don’t I deserve to know what your mom said?”
Oh.
Right.
Of course, that was what he was talking about.
“She said there’d be no problems. Everything’s good.”
He nodded, taking my word just like that. His eyes skimmed the ballroom. “Does this remind you of prom?”
