Tangled In Strings

Chapter Nineteen

"Norman, it's a few questions. I'll be careful, of course."

"No."

I blink back my disbelief, having expected relief from him, considering the huge step forward this has taken us, when since the start, we've been in the back lane. He only regards me with sternness. "Norman."

"Your P.I. can go check on them, from a distance. But in no way am I letting you anywhere near these guys."

I click in my seatbelt, a ticking anger rising up from its slumber. "It's hilarious that you think you can forbid me from anything."

"I'm not doing all this to put you in more danger, Scarlett. I'm trying to take care of you. Now is not the time to make stupid decisions."

"Stupid?"

"Yes. Stupid. In a perfect world, you'd show up in front of those guys, they'd tell you what you need and they'd let you leave without so much as a question. But, a pretty woman showing up at their door, asking questions about her former cop husband's drug preferences will make them shut the damn door on you. And that's best case scenario."

"I don't have the luxury to be afraid. Every day we wait is a day Dixon gains more power against me. Against Giovanni."

"Your fear is warranted. But there are other ways, less immersive ways, to get ahead. You have an investigator. Use him."

My silence is truly loud, vibrating throughout the backseat.

"I know you want this for yourself. You want to be the one to hurt him, but at some point, you have to think about your own life. You don't, far too often. Giovanni has made his decision. He knows how fast this could go wrong and he's accepted it."

I shake my head, my nerves and irritation strangling my sense of hope. "We won't survive something like that. Even if Giovanni were able to get past losing everything, his family would never let him."

"He wouldn't be losing everything," he retorts. I peer at him beneath thick lashes and he shrugs. "If he loves you as he says he does, he'll realize what he fought for. Winning or losing will mean nothing."

I roll my eyes. "Your wisdom sounds like a damn Hallmark movie."

"Your romance is far too complicated for Hallmark, darling."

His smile begins to break my resistance but I conceal my wavering rage, focusing on the yellow taxi speeding to make the light beside us. We slow to a stop, hearing blaring horns and shouts from vendors from a short distance away.

"Whether you believe it or not, I know what I'm talking about. I have loved a great deal in my life—"

"You're talking about my mother?" I turn my attention to him, pointedly. "That was a cheap trick, sending me to the cabin with no explanation, no warning."

"I figured you wouldn't go if you knew."

"I probably wouldn't have."

"She and I were extremely happy in that one-bedroom house. My happiest memories were there." He swallows. "I-I remember when she told me that she was pregnant—"

My eyes shut tight in an effort to steel myself. He's determined to make her real.

"Norman, please."

"I'm sorry," he says, after a moment. "I just wish you would listen."

I lean into the leather with a long sigh. As much as I don't want to get into this, I know we're about to.

"I know you were in love. And yes, I could sense the happiness there." The car surges forward again and turns. I reach out to steady myself. "It... looks as though you haven't been there since she died."