She blinked back sudden tears. “Excuse me, I don’t think it’s your job to lecture me. You don’t know my family dynamics so butt out.”
“You’re right. And I don’t care about your family dynamics. All I know is that someone is out there pretty pissed off at your family and looking to take it out on anyone they can get their hands on. But you have to wonder what is it you guys did to piss someone off that bad.”
“Who said we pissed anyone off? My father is a very rich, influential man. Sometimes people are just envious of his success.”
He shrugged. “Perhaps. Or maybe your dad stepped on too many people on his way to the top.”
“Look, you don’t get to talk about my dad that way. You don’t know him. He is the nicest man you’ll ever meet. He would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it. But he shouldn’t be made to apologize for his success. He worked his ass off to get where he is right now and it’s shady people who think that they’re entitled to what someone else has that has put us in this position.”
Her heated answer surprised him enough to soften a little. “All right, you’ve made your point. All I’m saying is that you’re not making anything easier with your bad attitude.”
“And it’s my job to make your job easier?”
“Maybe if you weren’t so difficult, people would be more interested in helping you.”
She cocked her head at him. “And by people, do you mean you? Because I’m not looking for your approval.”
“Whatever, princess. All I’m saying is... Hell, forget it. You can’t hear anything that you don’t want to hear anyway.” He went to the door. “Stay here. I’m going to get your food. Don’t leave.”
And then he was gone. For a long moment she just stared at the door, his words banging around in her head. Why did she care what he thought? He was no one. But knowing that he thought so little of her, that all he saw was a spoiled heiress, pinched her hard. She was more than that. And she hadn’t always been this way. Growing up for the first part of her life in rural Italy, she’d been like a lot of other girls. It wasn’t until her parents split up and she had to travel between two different continents that things changed.
It sounded like more poor rich-girl problems but no one knew what it was like to be raised by nannies, rarely seeing her parents. Her mother was never around, always too busy finding the next man of the hour to bother with a little girl. She lost herself to a moment of self-pity. No one understood—and that included Rian Dalton. Not that it mattered. She didn’t care what he thought.
5
STOP WITH THE DEBATES, he chastised himself. It was unhealthy and unprofessional—but he couldn’t seem to keep his mouth shut. She brought out the worst in him. Maybe he ought to call Kane and have him take over. But even as the sensible thought flitted across his mind, he couldn’t actually commit. He didn’t want anyone else handling this case.
Maybe because giving up would feel like a failure, or maybe it was because of something else, but he just wasn’t ready to let go. And the fact that CoCo was calling him on his bullshit was something that he hadn’t expected. Yeah, she was smart. She’d seen right through the fact that he was deliberately baiting her. Sure, the place was safe—he wouldn’t lie about that—but there were other places he could’ve picked that were just as safe but not as squalid.
The thing about the bed, though, that’d come as a shock. In the past when he’d used this place, there’d been two full beds. But it’d been a while since he’d come around and the management must’ve decided to spruce things up. He could try to switch rooms but he couldn’t give up the strategic position, and he wasn’t about to take chances with CoCo’s life even if she did irritate the shit out of him.
He made quick work of finding a burger joint, ordering enough food to last them for the night, and then returned to the hotel. This time, he told himself, he wasn’t going to let her get under his skin. He was a professional and he was going to start acting like one. With a quick look around to make sure that nobody was watching him, he let himself into the room.