Chapter 236

I shrug, a little coy, and look Gio over from head to toe. Because as much as he presents himself as outside of his family – someone who does not dress like them, who is clearly in a trade, and who has garnered both his father’s and his grandfather’s disappointment Which is something I’ll have to keep an eye on in our future interactions. I don’t trust him, even if he is close with Daniel. Not until I know what it is he wants.

– Gio has learned some tricks, hasn’t he? He’s quite adept at reading people.

So, I simply smile and neither confirm nor deny what Gio has said, making Daniel laugh and wrap an arm around my shoulders, looking towards the door. “Must you really go?” Gio asks Daniel, frowning, his face genuinely sad, even pleading. “I wanted to catch up.”

“We do have to go,” Daniel replies with an apologetic twist of his mouth. “But we’re not disappearing. We’ll be back – there will be time to catch up.”

“Yes,” Gio says, giving us both a little smirk. “I have a feeling there will be.”

And then Daniel pulls open the door and Gio gives us both kisses on our cheeks – I keep forgetting to turn my head for the second, and make a mental note to start getting used to that – before waving to us as we head for the car.