Chapter 21 Giselle
GISELLE
My knees bounced with nerves and anticipation as I sat in the back of the Uber. I knew my mother wanted to come with me, but I needed to prove to myself I could stand on my own two feet without crumbling.
Gino had no idea I’d flown to Florida. If I told him, he would’ve asked a million questions.
And, I only wanted to answer them once I was in front of him.
I hadn’t told Thayer, either. He was off snowboarding in Big Bear, and truthfully, I wanted to tell him in person.
I wanted to see his expression when I told him the only person I wanted to be with was him.
The car pulled to a stop in front of Gino’s building, and I stepped out. “Thanks,” I said to the driver before closing the door.
I glanced up at the high-rise before me, the hot Florida sun reflecting off the mirrored windows.
I pulled in a deep breath and walked inside the building, my boot heels clicking on the shiny lobby floor.
I’d never been to Gino’s office before, but I checked the directory and found his suite on the twentieth floor.
I headed for the bank of elevators and waited, brushing down any wrinkles from my pink silk top.
Once the doors split apart, I stepped inside, my hands shaking as I gripped the strap on my cross bag.
The elevator accelerated faster than any elevator I’d been in before and stopped on the twentieth floor within seconds. When the doors opened, I inhaled deeply again and stepped out. I’d made it this far. I could do it.
Not sure which way led to his office, I turned right and checked the signs on the doors.
A dentist. A podiatrist. I turned and headed in the opposite direction.
That’s when I saw Marcone Industries. My heartbeat hastened.
My mother might have been the driving force behind me being there, but I’d wanted to do this in person.
I just didn’t know why I thought it would be easier.
I pulled open the door. The lobby was larger than expected, with a receptionist behind a semi-arc desk that hid the lower half of her body. She looked up as I entered. “May I help you?”
“I’m here to see Gino—Mr. Marcone.”
“Do you have an appointment?” she asked.
“No, I wanted to surprise him. Is he available?”
Her confused look told me she had no clue who I was. “He’s in a meeting.”
“Don’t interrupt him. I’ll just wait for him to come out,” I said, and took a seat in the waiting area. I busied myself on my phone, scrolling through Thayer’s feed to see what he and my brother had been up to in California. Lots of photos of him inverted filled his feed.
The door to Gino’s office eventually opened. I tucked my phone away and glanced up, expecting to see him, but instead a tall man about his age stepped toward the receptionist’s counter.
I was about to stand up when he spoke. “What do you say me and you hit up the clubs tonight, Simone?”
A shiver raced up the back of my spine, pinning me to my seat. That voice. I knew that voice.
“Is that a yes?” he continued.
My mind worked to place his face. But I couldn’t. The dark hair. The slanted nose. The square jaw. None of that was familiar. But the voice. I’d never forget that voice.
“You know I have a boyfriend,” she said.
“Dammit. I was hoping you ditched that guy,” he said, twisting toward the door. “Maybe next time,” he said as he walked out.
My racing heart was nearly jumping out of my chest. What the hell just happened?
“I’ll go check if Mr. Marcone is ready for a visitor,” Simone offered once he was gone.
I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t move. Time seemed to stall.
“Are you okay?” she asked, noting my eyes trained on the door the man just walked through.
“Who was that?” I asked, my voice a mere whisper.
“Carlo?”
“Carlo,” I repeated. He looked different without a mask. I racked my frazzled brain for any mention of Carlo’s name over the past few years. I couldn’t remember Gino ever mentioning him.
“Yes, he’s an old friend of Mr. Marcone,” she explained.
I gasped. Vomit crept up the back of my throat, and I prayed I wouldn’t puke right there. I needed air.
I needed to breathe.
I sprang to my feet and raced out of the waiting room. In the hallway, I froze. What if he was still out there?
The only part of my body capable of moving was my eyes.
They slowly shifted to the left. He wasn’t there.
They shifted to the right. He wasn’t there either.
I exhaled the breath I’d been holding. Once I’d waited long enough and I was certain he wasn’t nearby, I moved toward the elevator.
With a shaky finger, I managed to press the button, and the elevator arrived within seconds—thankfully, it was empty.
I slipped my phone from my back pocket. I was shaking so bad that I dropped it. I trembled as I crouched down and picked it up. It nearly fell out of my hand again as I clicked Thayer’s contact number. I waited as it rang. And rang. Then, it went to voicemail.
Dammit.
I tried Kason. But his phone rang until voicemail picked up, also.
The elevator came to a stop. When the door opened, I froze. What if he was still out there? I inched out, looking left and then right. When I didn’t see him, I crept into the corner of the lobby behind a tall topiary.
When I finally stopped with my thoughts, my mind whirled. Haphazard thoughts came at me from all directions. Gino knew him. Why had I never heard the name Carlo? If he was his friend, why had he never mentioned him? Had he never called while we were together? Did Gino know what he did?
My phone rang, startling the shit out of me. I looked at the screen, half expecting it to be Gino. But I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw it was Thayer.
“I need you,” I said.
“What’s going on, G?” Thayer asked.
“I’m in Florida—”
“Oh,” he said, clearly getting the wrong idea about why I was there.
My words rushed out of me. “I came down here to break up with Gino. I wanted to wait to tell you because I didn’t want you worrying about me when you should be focusing on Big Bear.”
“G,” he said, as if he couldn’t believe what I’d done for him. For us. “Then why do you need me? What’s wrong?”
Tears welled in my eyes, the enormity of the situation hitting me like a freight train. “He’s here.”
“I know Gino lives in Florida.”
“No,” I said, my voice a whisper. “He’s here.”
“Who?”
“Carlo. The man who robbed the boutique.”
“What?” I could practically see his eyes narrowing in confusion all the way across the country.
“I know it sounds crazy,” I said.
“How do you know it’s him? You didn’t see his face,” Thayer said.
“But I heard his voice.”
“Why would he be there?” he asked.
“He was at Gino’s office. The receptionist said they were old friends. I heard him speak, Thayer. It’s him. Gino knows him.”
“That son of a bitch,” he said. “Where are you now? Are you safe?”
“I’m in the lobby. He left before me. I’m not sure if he’s still in the building or not.”
“Jesus Christ,” he said. “Did he see you?”
“I don’t think so. Thayer, I don’t know what to do. I need you to tell me what to do right now.”
“I don’t fucking know,” he said. “If you call the cops, they’re going to doubt the credibility of your claim. You’re a victim who thinks you heard their attacker’s voice.”
“Don’t you believe me?”
“Of course I do. I just know how the law works.”
“Shit,” I whispered, ducking into my spot in the corner. Carlo had stepped out of a restroom and walked through the lobby, his long strides transporting me back to that night.
“What?” Thayer asked.
“He’s leaving,” I whispered into the phone.
“Do not follow him.”
“I won’t. But I’m going to try to take a picture.” I snuck out from my hiding spot and moved to the window.
Carlo walked away from the building into a red car parked out front. I snapped some pictures with my phone. It wasn’t likely that I got the license plate, but I tried anyway until the car was out of sight.
“I got a few,” I told Thayer.
“I want you to go back to the airport and take the next plane out of there.”
“Okay.”
“Find a security guard. Tell him you think your crazy ex is following you. Ask him to stay with you until your plane departs.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll be there when you get off the plane.”
“You’re in California.”
“I don’t care. I need to be with you.”
I glanced around, planning my exit.
“G?” Thayer asked.
“Yeah?”
“I’ve never felt so fucking helpless in my entire life.”
“I’m fine,” I assured him, though I wondered if it was me who needed reassuring.
“I’ll stay on the phone. Just get to the airport,” he instructed.
I spotted a taxi parked outside the hotel next door. “There’s a taxi. Let me call you once I’m at the airport.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re gonna be okay, G.”
“Promise?” I asked.
“Promise,” he assured me.
While everything in me wanted to believe him, life as I knew it had again been flipped on its head.