Page 164 of A Beautiful Crime

I hear the sound of the water running from the shower and not a moment later I feel its warmth.

With me still preciously held in his arms he slides down the shower wall until he’s sitting on the floor.

Mustering up all the strength I have I loop my arms around his neck and press myself against him tightly. I bury my face between the curvature of his shoulder and neck. I sink my fingernails in his scalp.

“I could have saved her,” I whisper brokenly against his skin.

His hold on me grows stronger. I feel his lips press a hard kiss to the top of my head. “You couldn’t have,” he tells me softly. “There was nothing you could have done.”

My lower lip trembles. “I could have saved her. I could have-”

Large hands frame my face, forcing me to look at him. I see the intensity in his whisky eyes. “You couldn’t have, amore mia . She died and it was a tragedy but she died the moment she met your father. She was living on borrowed time.”

In my heart I know this to be true. Yet I can’t accept it. I can’t accept how fate has treated her so harshly. A woman who lived in fear and was starving for love. A mother who tried her damnedest to shelter her daughter and failed. Always searching for an escape but could never find one.

“She loved me,” I say more to myself than him.

“She did.”

“And he loves me, too.” Constantine’s eyes search mine and I say, “Giuseppe. He loves me.”

His eyes soften then. “Yes, he does.”

Before more tears have the chance to fall Constantine collects them. “How do I forgive him?”

“With time.”

“How much time?” I press.

“However much time you need.” I nod my head solemnly and he returns to placing my head back on his chest. He runs his hand soothingly up and down my back as I curl myself against him.

My cheek rests upon the carving of my name upon his chest. Right over his heart. A heart that I’ll always have. A heart always meant to be mine.

“Constantine?”

“Hmm?”

“I’ve already forgiven you.”

“I know, amore mia. I know.” He presses another kiss to the top of my head. The affection I was neglected never lost with him.

“Constantine?”

“Hmm?”

Lifting my head I stare in the eyes of a man who is completely and utterly devoted to me. So much so that nothing else matters, and nothing ever will.

I cup his face in my hand. His trimmed beard prickles my palm. He immediately leans into my touch.

“I love you.” His eyes never fail to shine when I tell him those three words. “But do not lie to me again.”

“I will not.” Holding my wrist he moves his head to press a chaste kiss on my palm. And it should be criminal how an innocent act elicits such wicked thoughts.

“There’s nothing else to tell me? No more secrets? Omissions?”

He shakes his head. “No, mia leonessa. Not unless you count all the years I had loved you in secret.”

A smile plays on my lips as I feel my body melt further into him. “Such sweet words from a devil.”

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