Page 45 of Sinful Desires

“And you didn’t trust me enough to even warn me,” I concluded, unfolding my legs, standing on them even though they trembled. “None of this had to happen. I can’t believe you let it go when it didn’t have to happen.”

“Aria.” He began to stand, but I shook my head, backing away. I wasn’t in the mood for a hug. I didn’t want to look at him.

“I’m going to pack my bags and be out of here by noon,” I announced. “The apartment will be finished soon.”

“What?” he barked. “Where are you going to go?”

“A hotel. Anywhere. Just not here.”

“I never imagined you getting hurt,” he insisted, rounding the sofa and pursuing me out of the room. “I thought it was all about me.”

“Exactly. There is your problem.” I couldn’t look at him anymore. Even if I knew he had the best intentions, I was hurting too badly not to take the first opportunity to hurt the person closest to me. Just then, that was my dad.

At least he was smart enough not to follow me when I ran down the hall, blinded by tears. It was a good thing I knew the layout so well.

20

MILES

Magnus:I want to see you in my study. 3:00 p.m. sharp.

If anything, the text from Magnus couldn’t have come at a better time. After a week of tormenting myself, cursing every decision I had made for months, regretting taking my mother’s stories at face value, seeing him again would at least bring an end to things.

I deserved whatever he had in mind.

Nothing could be worse than what I’d put myself through—a week of questions, forcing myself to go back through memories to see what I’d missed. There was something to be said for beginning indoctrination from a young age. I was living proof of that. From the time I was a small child, I’d been given a version of events. As I’d gotten older, it had never occurred to me to question what I’d been told.

All of those late nights were spent alone and hungry. Mom hadn’t gotten home until three or four in the morning, usually with a new man. Men who would give her money. Now that I had begun thinking, memories I’d forgotten for years came rushing back, hearing her ask one of her dates for money to buy groceriesbefore he left in the morning. Had she bought groceries? Had she purchased new clothes for me when she came home with bags full of new items for herself? She used to call them work clothes, though looking back, I couldn’t imagine the sort of job she would have dressed for in knee-high leather boots and a nearly sheer tank top. I didn’t believe she was a prostitute, but she’d used men for money, certainly. Once they’d gotten tired of her antics, she had moved on to the next.

It was her doing—all of it. I’d been so damn blind, hardened beneath layer upon layer of the same stories, accusations, and excuses.

Now, I was on my way to face my fate. Magnus had made good on his word to send my things to the suite at The Plaza. Other than that and the text he sent earlier, I’d had no contact with anyone involved with him or his family. They had written me off. They had every right to do so.

It was Aria I missed most. My body craved hers until I couldn’t think, eat, or sleep. The memory of her distraught expression, the pain in her eyes, and that quivering chin seized my heart and stole my breath a week later. I would have given anything to take it back and hold her one more time. Anything more than that was beyond what I deserved.

Riding the elevator to the penthouse meant the possibility of meeting with her. No, he would never ask me to meet him at home if there were a chance I would see her. If he destroyed my life, she would be the reason why. Forget what I’d done to him. I had hurt her. That was unforgivable. I knew I certainly would never forgive myself for being so fucking blind.

It wasn’t Magnus who answered the door when I rang the bell. “Miles.” Evelyn opened the door wider and stepped aside. “Magnus is waiting for you in his study.”

Gone was the warm, welcoming woman I once knew. She was cool and clipped, which, all things considered, was the bestpossible outcome after what I’d done. There was no shaking the sense of walking to the gas chamber as I followed her down the hall to Magnus’s study.

He stood in front of his desk, arms folded, looking me up and down, nodding toward one of the two chairs before him. “Thank you for your promptness,” he gritted out as I approached. I had sat in that chair the day I first arrived in his home, recording our conversation for the sake of AI training. Looking back, I shuddered at my ignorance and unforgivable arrogance.

Evelyn sat beside me, angled in my direction with her hands folded in her lap. The way they both stared at me, silently judging, told me I was expected to lead off the conversation. “I’ll tell you whatever you want to know,” I offered. “That’s the least I can do.”

“Damn right, it’s the least you can do.” Lifting his brows, Magnus added, “Exactly what did you think would happen? Would anything change if you blew my family to pieces? Would your life have improved in any way?”

“Of course not,” I murmured as I forced myself to hold his gaze. Nothing he said could top what I’d told myself for a solid week.

“I understand you had it rough. I’ll give you that,” he grumbled. “Leila for a mother. A father you never knew.”

“How do you know I never knew him?”

“I know a lot about you, or haven’t you figured that out yet?” Now, I sat before the real Magnus Miller. Gone was the warm, almost overly welcoming father figure. “Your father was some nobody from Brooklyn who dropped your mother the second he found out she was pregnant. Sabrina Duncan told me so. You met her at the gala. I saw the two of you chatting and tracked her down after you left. She set me straight on a lot of things, and I went about confirming what I could. The only thing I can’tconfirm so easily is your mother’s motives, though I have no trouble believing she’d be so mercenary.”

His smirk sent a chill down my spine. “What a shame Sabrina couldn’t have introduced you to the true Leila before you took advantage of my family’s kindness and broke my daughter’s heart. For what it’s worth, I would never have rejected you. If only your mother had given me a chance.”

My soul shriveled beneath the weight of his judgment and the justifiable rage simmering just beneath the surface of his words. It revealed itself in the tightening of his jaw, the way every word felt forced.

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