Page 15 of Modern Romance March 2025 (5-8)

“You do?” Another shock wave came at her as she searched his eyes. There was nothing but honesty there. No disgust or contempt.

He nodded.

Sudden, intense relief seized her. If Adriano was on her side, she could help Nadia through anything. She could get the girl she’d adored back. Her faith in him even as he’d doubted her in the worst way was…pathetic, but it was there. As solid as the ground she stood on.

“Do you know where she is? If I can just talk to her—”

“Once he discovered it wasn’t you in the pic, Bruno went looking for the PI and found her. For now, he’s taking her to the local hospital with him. But this cycle doesn’t have to repeat. I’ll have a team of the best doctors attending to her within the hour. My assistant is on the line with the admin team of one of the best rehab clinics in Europe. She will be taken care of, Nyra, and have the best help to beat this.”

“If?”Nyra said, finally getting a grasp of how her husband operated.

“If you come back with me,” Adriano announced without missing a beat. “You’ve done so much for her,si? What is this last step?”

“I hate you.” The words slipped past the leash she kept on her emotions.

He smiled, and it was the same one he’d given her that evening. Dark and…sad. “No more than I despise myself,bella,” he said, reaching for her as she stumbled yet again.

Nyra leaned her head against his chest, both to steady herself, and to stop herself from going any further. Soon, her belly would be big enough to provide her a barrier from clinging to him.

She didn’t believe, for one second, that he was doing this because he wanted her back in his life.

No, as much as she’d taunted him, Adriano was a man who operated on a strict moral code—an exception among powerful men. It was one of the things that she had adored about him from the beginning. Being powerful had never made him awful to the help, or unaware of his privilege.

Guilt was making him enter a situation in which he wouldn’t have the upper hand. But guilt was a temporary emotion. Eventually, it would leave a vacuum behind.

She took in deep breaths, inhaling his scent in the process. And it was the very thing that she needed to avoid that steadied her brain, that gave her fighting ground. “I know how to play this game now that I’ve seen how your mind works.”

“This isn’t a game,bella.”

“No?” If his words pinged over her skin like the openmouthed kisses that he was so good at, Nyra ignored the sensation. “I… How do you know I won’t leave you once my sister is well?” When he’d have provided counterargument, she pressed her finger to his lips. “Yes, it could take months or even years. The one thing I do have is faith in her. However long it takes, she will be free of addiction. AndI willleave you.”

“That is a long time to withhold forgiveness, Nyra,” he whispered against her finger.

His Adam’s apple bobbed with his swallow, bringing her attention to the strong column of his throat. How foolish she’d been to tuck her face into his neck and call it her safe place.

There was nothing safe about this man for her ever again.

“Oh, is that what this is all about?” she said, pulling away.

The farther she stood from him, the better her defenses were. Even though the sudden motion only intensified the dizzy feeling. God, her throat was parched and she wanted him gone so that she could lick her wounds in private. “I forgive you, Adriano, for thinking I broke our vows in the worst manner possible. I forgive you for thinking that a woman who traded up from taking off her clothes could have no better morals than to spread her legs for any man. I forgive you for acting like you know me, that you see me and then shattering that belief with one swift action. I forgive you for showing me what a naive fool I was to…” Somehow, she held off the soppy declaration. “There, you are free to move on.”

And then, whether it was because of heat or exhaustion or sheer shock, Nyra felt a darkness claim her. But before she gave in, she thought she heard Adriano whisper his apologies into her skin, his gray-green eyes full of a terror she never wanted to witness ever again.

Chapter Four

Duskhadfallenin sudden bursts that evening, bringing with it a welcome chill as Nyra walked around the terrace of the apartment by Lake Navigli.

The roof garden that had always felt like a safe haven now felt like a cage. But fainting into Adriano’s arms put paid to any ideas she’d had of doing this alone.

She’d never passed out in her life before, and doing so that afternoon had scared her just as much as it had him.

The doctor he’d summoned had checked her and pronounced it had been heat exhaustion and cautioned her to hydrate better.

Despite the shock of his arrival, she’d had to reassure Adriano that she had already been feeling dizzy and dehydrated by the time he had arrived. And that he hadn’t pushed her to it.

Still, guilt was a powerful emotion and it rode him hard the rest of the day. And in that mood, when he got to that stubborn place, no one had the power to gainsay Adriano Cavalieri. And she’d been shaken enough that when he’d loaded her into his air-conditioned car, after exchanging tense words with the doctor, she’d complied. Her only demand had been that he didn’t bring her to the villa. The last thing she felt prepared to do was face his family just then.

She’d promptly fallen asleep, only waking when he’d settled her into the vast bed,their bed, and gently pushed her sweaty hair back from her forehead.

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