Page 30 of Passion and Revenge

I don’t realize I’m biting down on my lip until his fingers move up from my neck and tug the abused lip free. A small gasp leaves my throat. His mouth is so close.

Yes. Please.

The moment is shattered by a sudden loud, buzzing sound. I flinch, horrified by my own actions, and Alessandro leaps away from me like I’m contagious.

He shoots me a look of disgust that makes shame clog my throat, and then he turns away and presses his phone to his ear.

“Yes?”

CHAPTER 10

Alessandro

“Ivan D’Addario just left the police station with Catherina,” the man on the other end of the line informs me. “It’s the fifth station he’s been to today.”

A smile plays on my lips, but it quickly dies when I glance over at the woman on the bed. She’s curled up in the bed, her eyes blank.

What the hell is wrong with her?

I should be the one in that pathetic position. After all, I’m the one who was about to cross a line and kiss a woman I’m supposed to be destroying. After days of not seeing her and not even checking through the security feeds of the apartment, I thought whatever effect she had on me as Vincent, the businessman, would be gone.

But one glance at her lying at the foot of the stairs with her hair falling in untamed coils around her face and all my resolve comes crashing down around me like a house of cards.

Damn her.

Damn her to hell.

“He looks like a wreck, boss,” my informant continues, sounding amused. “I have pictures, and I’ll send them right after this call.”

“Good. Keep me posted if anything changes.”

“Yes, boss.”

I hang up, and a second later, my phone dings with the pictures from my informant. Each one shows Ivan looking even more drained than the last, new lines bracketing his mouth and lining his forehead. He looks like he has aged in the span of a few days.

The sight makes my heart pound in my chest. Imagine how he’ll look after a month. A year.

I wait for the satisfaction to fill my chest, but there’s only the mildest flicker of it. I dig deep within myself, confused.

This is what I want. I’m getting exactly what I’ve always wanted. So why does it make me feel like the type of monster I pride myself on not being?

Grinding my jaw together, I march toward Sienna and thrust the phone at her face. “There’s your beloved father.”

She raises her head slowly and stares at the phone screen. I see joy light up her eyes for a second before her sorrow replaces the expression.

“What have you done to him?” she roars at me, reaching for the phone.

I let out a mocking laugh and tuck the phone back into my pocket. “You’re the one who’s doing this to your father.”

“W—what do you mean by that?”

I shake my head in mock pity. “If you weren’t so gullible, so desperate to fall into a stranger’s bed, you wouldn’t have ended up here, and Ivan wouldn’t be wasting away with worry.”

She recoils, shame written on the lines of her face. “I—you’re just trying to manipulate me. This isn’t my fault! You’re the one who curated a false image and lured me in.”

“And now that you know who I am,” I retort, “do you hate me so much that you won’t spread your legs for me the first chance you get?”

Disgust twists her expression. “Never.”

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