Page 109 of Heartless Sinner

She slowly shakes her head. “The pain feels raw, but I’m trying not to think about it. It was hard seeing myself like that on the recording. It was worse that everyone else saw me that way.”

“I’m sorry it happened, bellezza. I will make sure you never have to worry about Eloise or anyone like her again.”

“Thank you.”

“I was thinking of taking the day off to spend it with you.”

“I’d really love that.” Her face brightens, and she looks more like her usual self again.

“Then I’ll do it.”

Maria walks back in with an envelope and her brows narrowed. “This was under the front door,” she says, holding the envelope up. “It’s just got Scarlett’s name on it.”

Scarlett and I look at each other, then she steps forward and Maria hands her the envelope. “I wonder what this is.”

Nerves place me right back next to her as she opens the envelope.

She pulls out a note and reads it. The moment she does, her skin pales, becoming sheet white and her entire body erupts in shivers.

Scarlett drops the note and the envelope and steps away from it as if it might end her.

Her reaction tells me everything I need to know, but I pick up the note and read it anyway. It says:

Soon, my love,

Anton.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Scarlett

Terror claws up my throat, sharp and metallic, as I stare at the note in Micah’s hands.

Soon, my love, Anton.

Those simple words stop the world from spinning, and raw panic explodes in my chest, spreading like poison through my veins.

Every nerve in my body screams, making me tremble as if I’m walking in a snowstorm without my clothes.

I can barely hold myself up when bile rises in my throat, burning like lava.

The kitchen spins, memories of cigarette burns and broken ribs flooding back with devastating clarity.

Micah goes rigid, his knuckles turning white as he grips the paper, then he tears out the door and out of the house.

"Who delivered this?" he shouts once he’s outside, then I can’t hear him anymore.

Maria slips an arm around me. “Are you okay, dear?”

I can’t answer her. I try, but I can’t because I can’t believe that even in this fortress of a mansion, with a ruthless mafia boss for a husband, Anton's found me.

Soon, my love.

Anton never makes promises he doesn't keep.

Never.

I don’t know how I make it through the weekend.

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