Page 68 of Victorious Vice

Her lips part slightly, like she’s about to say something, but nothing comes out. She just stares at me, her jaw tightening as if she’s trying to hold back a wave of emotions. A flicker of anger, too, a flash that she tries to hide, but it’s there, raw and sharp.

And then, just like that, she pulls back, as if I’m a stranger she’s never met, her face becoming a mask—closed off and unreadable. The silence between us is heavy, suffocating.

“It means nothing, Raven,” I tell her.

She shakes her head. “I thought you were supposed to marry Belinda.”

“Plans have changed. And not everyone is happy about them.”

“Myself included,” she says.

I grab her hands. “Raven, I love only you. I’ll never love anyone but you.”

“Yet how easy it was for you to marry another.” She snaps her hands out of mine and smooths them down her dress. “I should really get back to the gala. God knows what I must look like. I’m going to go to the ladies’ room.”

“You look beautiful.”

She grabs her clutch and takes out a compact mirror, examining her reflection. “I’m sure you kissed all of my lipstick off.”

“You don’t need lipstick, Raven. You’re perfect just as God made you.”

She throws the compact onto the floor, scattering tiny shards of glass around her. “God made me with hair, Vinnie! Then He saw fit to take it away.” She shakes her head vehemently. “No! I won’t let you make me go there. I made it through the storm, Vinnie. I won’t go back there. Not for anything. Not even for you.”

“Don’t you see?” I say. “You and I want the same thing then. I want you to live your life. Have a long happy healthy life that you deserve. I’d rather you have that, even if it’s not with me.”

“Well, you’ve made your point. It’s not with you. You’ve married someone else.”

“I told you it means nothing,” I say for the third time. “It’s business. Simply a business arrangement. Just like it was supposed to be with Belinda.”

She pushes my shoulders with more strength than I knew she had. “You’ve made your choice, Vinnie.”

“Yes. I’ve chosen you, Raven. I’ve chosen your life. You’re in danger if you’re anywhere near me. I shouldn’t have come in here with you. I should’ve been able to control myself.”

She sears her gaze into me with so much fire that I actually take a step back. “Why didn’t you? You’ve got a beautiful wife—younger and with more hair—who you could’ve satiated yourself with. You don’t need me.”

Christ. If only Ididn’tneed her.

Both of our lives would be so much easier. Less dangerous.

She has no idea what her father is up to. And I don’t know enough about it yet either, since I left Colombia in secret in the dark.

Perhaps Bellamy is being blackmailed. Forced into doing the cartel’s bidding.

His land is right on the border, a perfect place for mules.

Then again, he’s the heir to the Cooper Steel fortune. He has billions. He could stop the cartel if he wanted to.

Or maybe he couldn’t.

There is one thing moneycan’tbuy.

It can’t buy life.

It can’t replace the person you love.

Which is the reason I’ve chosen to stay away from Raven.

And clearly I’m terrible at it.

---