Page 11 of House of Lies

“No.” My voice is sharp. There’s no other way to hide the rage inside.

“I don’t understand.”

I despise how small she tries to make herself at times as if occupying less space allows her to breathe quietly and remain unnoticed by him. Dark circles haunt her weary green eyes. I do my best to anchor myself in place.

“I’m going to give you everything I promised I would.”

“Without asking for anything in return?”

Mattia has already taken everything from her. I have no right to demand anything for selfish reasons. She is not to blame for the attraction I feel toward her. I try not to stare for too long, not to make her uncomfortable. She can barely stand being in the same room as me without flinching.

“Without asking for anything in return,” I confirm.

“Nothing you’ve done recently makes any sense.” She shakes her head.

“I’m trying to do better. Nothing can change the past or the wrongness of it all. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry. I know it doesn’t change anything.”

“It doesn’t,” she confirms. “What do you want from me, Mattia?”

“I want you to stop seeing me as your enemy.”

“You are my enemy.”

Caelia closes the fridge, leaning against it with her arms crossed over her chest.

“I am also your husband.”

A cruel smile tugs at her lips. It’s the last thing she needs to be reminded of.

“Is this what you want, Mattia? Do you want to give this marriage a chance?”

Is it? I have no fucking clue. She’s not my wife. She’s too fucking young. I know nothing about this woman beyond the sorrow she carries. But I worry about her; the need to protect her drives me insane. Her beauty struck me the first time I saw her picture, leaving me breathless when she stood before me. I want to know everything about her.

“And if I say yes?”

What the fuck am I doing? Her eyes light up, but it’s not joy I’m seeing.

“I will never forgive you. The only reason I haven’t tried to kill you yet is because your family will hunt me down, and I’m not suicidal, regardless of how hard you tried to break me. When you die, I’m going to open a bottle of champagne and dance on your grave.” Her smile widens. “If this is something you can live with, then let’s give this marriage a chance.”

I do my best not to laugh. Mattia deserves all of that and more. I won’t take any of it personally. I despise the hand I’ve been dealt, but I have to play it. I need to take advantage of the fact that Mattia probably never bothered to get to know her so that he wouldn’t know much about her.

Something made her change her mind. She’s not doing it out of love, so she must have a plan.

“I can live with that,” I confirm, waiting to see what she will do next.

She licks her upper lip, rubbing her arms. Caelia is impulsive. Sometimes, she speaks or acts without fully considering the consequences. She was probably expecting me to become angry or violent. I can only imagine how often her words backfired when Mattia sat before her instead of me.

“So … ” I rub my palms on my jeans, standing up. “What do you want to eat?”

“I ... uh ... what?”

It pains me to see her flinch when I take a step closer. She moves out of my way, leaving a clear path to the fridge. “What do you want to eat?” I repeat.

“I’m not picky.”

It’s not the whole truth, but it’s more than I’ve gotten from her so far, and I’ll take it. My stepmom and aunt taught me how to cook, despite my uncle’s protests that it’s a useless skill no man needs to have. We used to spend Sunday afternoons in the kitchen, the patio door open, with them sitting in lounge chairs with a glass of wine, laughing at my failures. I always messed up their instructions, and they refused to help because they said I had to learn to listen more closely.

“Do you need any help?”

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