“Leigh’s.” He corrected himself. “Larkin’s, I guess.”
Confusion lined Gia’s brow. “Come again?”
“Leigh and Larkin are sisters. Half sisters.” Though why he bothered to make the distinction he couldn’t say.
Gia’s mouth dropped open. “Is this some sort of joke?”
“I wish.” He gave her the short version. “Now she wants her bracelet. Once she has it, she’ll be on her way. She can use it to try to find her father, or sell it, or do whatever the hell she wants with it.” He flipped the case closed with a loud snap. “And that brings to an end my very brief Inferno engagement.”
“I don’t understand. Why does any of that put an end to your engagement?”
He glared at his sister. “What do you mean, why? Because she’s Leigh’s sister.” He grimaced. “Half sister.”
“So? It’s not like she’s Leigh. You only have to talk to her for five minutes to realize that much.”
“She lied to me.”
“Did she? She claimed she wasn’t Leigh’s sister?”
“Half sister,” he muttered.
“I’ll take that as a no.” She waited for him to say more, blowing out her breath in exasperation when he remained stubbornly silent. “Fine. Be that way. But you can tell Larkin that if she needs somewhere to stay while she searches for her father—”
“Assuming there is a father and she’s actually searching for him.”
Gia inclined her head. “Assuming all that. She’s welcome to crash at my place.” She slipped off the desk. “Larkin loves you, you know.”
He stilled. “She used me.”
Gia shrugged. “It happens. But I’ll tell you one thing…” She paused on her way out the door. For some reason she wouldn’t look at him. “I’d give anything to have what you’re throwing away.”
Rafe returned home to find Larkin perched on the edge of a chair in his living room, dressed in one of her old outfits. Kiko lay at her feet, the dog’s graying muzzle resting on her paws. Her brilliant gold eyes shifted in Rafe’s direction and she watched him with unnerving intensity. He caught a similar expression in Larkin’s gaze. Beside the dog sat her backpack. It didn’t take much thought to add two and two and come up with…Larkin was running. At least she’d done him the courtesy of waiting until he returned home. But then, it wasn’t likely she’d leave without her bracelet.
She drew in a deep breath and blew it out. Rising, she gathered up her backpack, shifting it nervously from hand to hand. “Do you have it?”
He removed the box from his suit-jacket pocket and held it out to her. Without a word she accepted it and turned her back on him, her spine rigid and unrelenting.
“That’s it?” he asked, though he didn’t know what more he expected.
“Thanks.” She threw the words over her shoulder. “But if it’s all the same with you, Kiko and I will be on our way now.”
He let her go. It was better this way. Easier. Cleaner. Safer.
An instant later she slammed her backpack to the ground. Whirling around, she came charging toward him. “Rafaelo Dante, what the hell have you done to my bracelet?” She shook the box he’d given her under his nose. “What are you trying to pull? You were supposed to give me my bracelet. Not this…this…thing.”
“That is your bracelet.”
Larkin popped open the top and held out the glittering spill of gold and gems. “Look at it, Rafe. What happened to it? It’s ruined!”
How was it possible that she could put him on the defensive with such ease? “Leigh had me switch out the stones. Don’t worry—it’s even more valuable than it was before.”
“Valuable? Valuable!” She stared at him as though he’d grown two heads. “What has that got to do with anything?”
“I just thought—”
Larkin’s eyes hardened, filling with a cynicism he’d never seen there before. And something else. Something that twisted him into knots and filled him with shame. It was disillusionment he read in her gaze. It was as though he’d told her there was no Santa Claus. No Easter Bunny. No magic or fairies or wishing on stars. As though he’d taken every last hope and dream and crushed it beneath his heel.