Read Online Listed: Volume VI by Noelle Adams - Free Book Online Page A

to
testify against him. South Philly wasn’t what it used to be, but there was
still a lingering community loyalty that Emily would have intuitively fallen
back on. She didn’t like to be bullied, though, and her instinct was always to
resist all attempts to control her.
    Marino
had tried to do both.
    “You’re
going to testify against him now too, aren’t you?” Emily asked, trying to turn
around the momentum of the conversation. “What about your protection?”
    Paul’s
decision to testify against his father had been met with shock and controversy
in the neighborhood, with the locals evenly split between those who thought it
was the ultimate act of betrayal and those who thought it was the only decent,
responsible thing Paul had ever done.
    “I’ve
arranged for my own security,” he told her. “What about your aunt? Is someone
watching her?”
    “She’s
home sick in bed. She can’t seem to shake this flu. She doesn’t have any
important testimony to offer anyway—she’s just confirming what I say. There wouldn’t
be any reason to kill her.”
    Paul
rubbed his chin distractedly, a hint of bristles making a slight scratching
sound. “How can you be so casual about this? It’s your life.”
    She
met his eyes evenly. Paul was six years older than her, and until recently she
wouldn’t have dared to give him more than a trembling greeting. “Right. It’s my
life.”
    “Anyway,
the point is you need more security. I can—”
    “You
can what? Pay a bodyguard to follow me around? Don’t be stupid.”
     “I’m
not being stupid. I can easily—”
    “I
don’t care what you can easily do,” she spit out, suddenly angry at his
arrogant assumption that he had any say at all on her life. “I’m not a spoiled
rich boy who lives on a trust fund and wastes his life partying, sleeping
around, and jumping out of planes. I might have to work here every hour of the
day just so I can pay for things like clothes and college, but my aunt and I
don’t accept charity. We definitely don’t accept charity from you.”
    Paul’s
expression grew tighter and tighter as she spoke, and his eyes were cold and
hard when she’d finished. “What have I done to you to deserve that?”
    Emily
drooped, letting out her pent breath in a rush. “Nothing. You haven’t done
anything to me. I’m sorry if I was harsh.”
    The
truth was she was scared and defensive, and it rubbed her wrong to see how easy
Paul’s life appeared.
    His
mouth softened slightly. “I really wasn’t offering you charity.”
    “Then
what would you call it?”
    “Reasonable
measures to ensure the federal case against my father doesn’t lose its star
witness.”
    Despite
herself, Emily snorted at his dry, lofty tone.
    Paul
might be irresponsible and entitled, but he’d always been incredibly smart. He
finished college when he was twenty and went on to get his MBA. How he managed
to successfully earn his degree last month while still indulging his very wild
lifestyle she couldn’t even imagine.
    “Well,”
Emily said, forcing down her defensiveness since it wasn’t really Paul’s fault,
“It wouldn’t kill you to get a job.”
    To
her surprise, he didn’t laugh or shrug her comment off. “Believe it or not,
I’ve been trying.”
    Taken
off guard, she blurted out the obvious question. “Where do you want a job?”
    “Simone’s.”
    Paul
was neighborhood royalty not because of his father’s reputation, since many
thought Vincent Marino had abandoned his roots long ago. His mother’s family
had been equally important in the community—her great-grandfather having made a
fortune by starting Simone’s, a national department store chain, and her father
having been savvy enough to transition to successful online retailing just in
time to keep the company from going bust.
    Currently,
Paul lived on a trust fund from his grandfather. His mother had died six months
ago, leaving all she had to her son as well, but he couldn’t claim it or