Page 49 of Desire and Revenge

“Sure.”

“I’ll be back to collect the plates,” she says before making her way out of the room.

I usually don’t have a lot of appetite. It’s been a problem for as long as I can remember. Food doesn’t hold much zeal for me, and sometimes I can’t even force myself to put a single bite in my mouth. I’m more than surprised when I dig into my food with gusto and don’t stop until my plate is cleared.

I lean back into my chair, feeling full for the first time in my life.

My eyelids begin to droop tiredly, and I drag my drained body to my bed and fall into it, too exhausted to even change into a nightdress. I close my eyes, and I’m not surprised when I find Nero behind my lids, staring down at me with eyes a solid, inky black and his mouth curved up into a barely-there smile.

I go to sleep with a smile.

I sleep the best I’ve had in years, and I wake up energized but full of thick, cloying guilt. I haven’t even been married a year, and I’m already having an affair.

Not that there’s any length of time that should determine an affair, of course. But still, how could I have let it happen?

I can’t let it happen again.

I have to stay far away from Nero, but that’s easier said than done. My eyes are constantly drawn to him during breakfast, and the meal seems to last forever. Not even my husband’s words can pierce through the haze Nero puts me in with just a look.

“You’re not eating,” Nero’s voice cuts through the room, and I glance up from my still-full plate to look at him in surprise.

“What?” I ask.

“You haven’t touched your food.”

Sebastian’s head snaps between us, and the hand that’s gripping the fork suddenly becomes too clammy to grip it. The fork falls down from my loose grip with a clatter.

“I had a large dinner last night,” I start to explain, and then immediately regret it when Nero’s eyes heat up.

“Oh, did you now? Worked up a lot of appetite, did you?”

I stare at him aghast even as heat rushes up to my face. “Something like that,” I finally whisper.

I’ve never in my life been a violent person, and yet at the moment, I want to crawl across the table and slap Nero’s unfairly handsome face, then kiss him hard enough to make him the flustered one, and turn the tables on him for once.

“If you’ll excuse me,” I say, “I think I need to lie down.”

When I look over at Sebastian, I see that his focus is back on his phone. He’s been clicking away at it throughout breakfast, and I wonder if he’s still trying to find who set fire to the room in the resort.

He waves his hand dismissively and I take off, feeling sick with guilt. But regardless of the itchy guilt, I know I’ll give in like putty if Nero puts his hands on me again. I don’t know how he has so much power over me or why he affects me so much when I’ve always felt like a living, breathing robot.

I spend the rest of the day in my room trying to read to avoid him and distract myself, but the words on the page look like gibberish, and eventually, I toss in the towel and slam the book shut.

I’m lying in bed, head racing with thoughts when I hear a soft knock on the door. I raise my head to see Alba at the door, eyes full of worry.

“You’ve been in bed all day,” she begins cautiously. “Are you alright, ma’am? You skipped lunch, and dinner was half an hour ago.”

I blink, only now realizing that it’s gotten so late. “Did my husband ask about me at dinner?” What I really want to know is if Nero has noted my absence.

“He hasn’t had dinner yet. He’s still busy in his home office.”

I let out a sigh of relief. Then the crazy thought to redeem myself strikes me. It won’t absolve me of the fact that I’m a horrible cheat, but at least it can?—

My thought stutters to a stop, because I don’t know what it would do, but it has to do something. I couldn’t let Sebastian get suspicious.

“Can you set up a tray for Sebastian so I can take it to him, please?”

Her face brightens. “Of course. That will be a wonderful idea.”

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