Page 66 of The Cost of Corruption

I wished I could have said it all to him face to face instead of taking the coward’s way out, but deep down, I knew he’d only try to stop me.

A letter was a decent compromise.

By the time he got home tonight and learned what had happened, I’d already be safely cloistered inside the convent walls. There would be no turning back.

“Of course,” Liv said, though she didn’t look happy about it. That made two of us. “Will I see you again?”

Again, it was tempting to lie—to say what we both wanted to hear. But it wouldn’t be right.

“I don’t think so.” Then, before my overly sentimental heart could trick me with false reasons to stay, I said, “I have to go. There’s a taxi waiting for me downstairs.”

“Letizia could send them away,” Liv offered.

But sadly, I shook my head.

The only person who needed to leave was me.

Chapter Eighteen

CHASTITY

Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus?—

Bang!

The angelic, melodic sounds of chanting rising up through the vaulted hall of the convent chapel were broken by the deafening crack of solid wood crashing against stone walls.

All the sisters seated around me in the pews swiveled around in shock to see who had dared to violently trespass on our devotions...but not me.

I didn’t have to look. With an entrance like that, I knew it could only be one of two people—and neither one of them was welcome.

“Chastity!”

I closed my eyes as my name echoed through the air.

I should have been angry—livid even—at the nerve of the person breaking into this sacred space, but instead, my hearthammered in hope at the sound of a voice I feared I’d never hear again.

Matteo.

Even though I knew now that he was here, he wouldn’t leave until he found me, I tilted my head down, letting my dark veil fall and partially cover my face. Equal parts shame and hope surged to life inside me, both emotions warring for control.

“Excuse me,” Mother Superior shouted, rising from her seat in front of the altar. “Mind your manners and lower your voice. This is a church, not a roadside bar.”

From the sound of it, Matteo didn’t pay her any mind. “I’m looking for Chastity Costa.”

Any hopes for anonymity I had flew out the window when every sister in the chapel snapped their faces my way all at once.

They might as well have lit up a neon arrow above my head.

“Chastity.” In the space of a second, Matteo was in front of me, crouching down and lifting my chin to look me in the eye.

“Sir!” Mother Superior was right behind him. “I don’t know who you are, but this behavior is unacceptable. You need to leave. Now!”

Matteo didn’t react to her command. He didn’t even blink.

“There’s only one way I’m leaving here, and it’s with Chastity,” he said.

I closed my eyes and listened as the rest of the sisters shifted uncomfortably in their seats.

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