Page 4 of The Cost of Corruption

At least life in the convent had taught me patience.

But as I lifted my chin, the breath inside my lungs froze. Instantly, my chest tightened, and I fell back against the wall again.

It couldn’t be.

It wasn’t possible.

It couldn’t be him.

For a brief second, I feared Alessia’s questions about who I’d been buying that bra for all those years ago had summoned him out of thin air…but no.

Honestly, seeing him here made a lot of sense. Where else would you expect to find the devil if not wandering the halls of New York’s most notorious den of sin?

It had been more than a decade since I’d seen him last, but I recognized him in an instant. In less than the time it took my racing heart to finish a single beat, my blood was already starting to heat.

“Matteo,” I heard myself whisper.

Somehow, his name slipped out of me. I couldn’t help it. All the times I’d swallowed it down, I’d never been able to completely push him out of my head. The memory of his face had always been there—taunting me.

And now he was standing across the hallway, staring at me with those dark eyes that had been burned into my memory. The ones that I could never get out of my head. The ones that had never faded away.

He tilted his head, his dark hair falling rakishly over his brow. “I’m sorry, Sister. Do I know you?”

He didn’t remember me.

A stabbing pain entered my heart, piercing it deeply. Not a day had gone by in the last ten years that I didn’t think about him. Not a single day that I didn’t pray for God to remove the temptation of his memory from my mind and leave me in peace.

And Matteo D’Angelo didn’t even recognize me.

I shouldn’t have been surprised—but I couldn’t stop myself from feeling hurt.

“It doesn’t matter. I just…need to get to the lounge.”

He studied my face for a moment longer before finally nodding. “Sure. Just continue down this hall until?—”

The door behind me swung open—hard enough that I had to jump out of the way to keep it from slamming into me.

“Chastity, there you are!” My cousin’s head craned out from inside. “Get your ass back in here. You’ll never believe what that guy Kent is doing to Sophia! You won’t get a chance to see this at your convent.”

“I’m okay,” I said—even though she hadn’t asked. “I just need some air.”

“All right,” she huffed before heading back inside, the door automatically closing behind her. “But don’t take too long. I promised your papa I’d?—”

Whatever she said next was swallowed up when the door shut behind her.

I looked back over at Matteo and found him studying me with new eyes.

“Chastity…” he mused, stepping toward me, swallowing up all the space between us in a single stride. “Chastity Costa?”

So he did remember me.

I wasn’t sure whether to feel relief or fear. All I knew was that hearing him say my name brought up emotions I’d been trying most of my life to bury.

Emotions that, for his sake and mine,reallyneeded to stay buried.

“I’m sorry,” I said, shaking my head and breaking eye contact. “I really need to get to the?—”

“—lounge,” he finished for me. “Of course. I’ll walk you there myself.”

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