Page 21 of Sinful Attraction

I huff a sigh and splash water on my face before I try to untangle the mystery of who has robbed us for another night. Any weird rumors circulating around the family, I can deal with, but whatever Maria’s current bullshit is, I don’t want to deal with it. I don’t care if she’s Mom’s favorite. I’m not obliged to babysit her, especially when she disrespects me.

As I start going through the server history, my mind slowly turns back to Arya. How happy I was to see that she’d shown up despite everything. How good it felt to spend an hour in her company without a lot of yelling and glaring. There’s a growing possibility that she’ll want to go ahead with everything and give me a chance to redeem myself, not just with my family, but with her.

Of course, she’s really, really pissed off at me. And I can’t blame her. But now, she has the name of the spy in her midst. Once she brings that information to her parents, maybe it will actually help her.Hey, a guy can hope.

I wonder if I’ll dream about her again tonight.

Chapter 10

Arya

I come home after a weekend to decompress and walk straight into a tirade from my mother. I stand there just past the front doorway with my arms folded while she screams at me for ignoring her calls and texts all weekend.

I wait for her to run out of steam. It takes a good five minutes. I can hear her voice, I can tell what words her mouth is making, but it is all the same things, and it runs together in my head with all the other times she’s said the same goddamn things.

“...and the least you could have done was pick up the phone...”

“Mother!” I snap suddenly, and she stops short, staring at me in wide-eyed shock. I don’t normally even come near yelling at her unless I’m really pushed to it. This time, I don’t feel like waiting. “I left for the weekend to get away from you and your constantly berating me. Of course, I’m not going to pick up the phone to do it some more. Take the hint!”

She just stares at me, blinking. My father leans over in his chair and peers at us through the living room door, apparently waiting for an explosion.

She glares at me. I glare back. “Well, I hope you got whatever that was out of your system,” she says finally, “because I won’t tolerate being ignored!”

“Let me make this very clear. The more you go off at me about not turning into a goddamn housewife and giving you grandkids, the more often I am going to go away, take some time for myself, and ignore your calls. If you keep doing it and don’t fucking listen, one day, you’ll push me away entirely, and you will have nobody but yourself to blame for it.”

My heart’s pounding as I deliver the hard truth and watch her eyes widen and her lips tremble in anger. But she doesn’t say anything.

My dad does, after hesitating for several seconds. “Now, come on, sweetie, that’s kind of a big overreaction, isn’t it?”

“At this point? No. I’m still working on clearing my name without any support from you. I even think I know who our leak is, but I am tired of being Mom’s favorite person to pick at.”

My mother goes red. “I am not picking at you. I’m telling you what’s expected of you!”

“Honey, shut up a second.” My father gets up and walks over to me. I can practically feel the front door against my back. “Did you say you found the leak? Someone in my house is actually spying on us?”

“Imelda. She was paid by the Rossis to keep tabs on us and plant some spy gear in my computer nook. She’s how Michael Rossi knew when to hit us.”

“Are you even sure it’s Michael Rossi?” my mother cuts in. “You’ve been wrong so often—”

“Honey.” This time, my father’s voice has an edge to it. “Can you go make us some tea?”

She looks like he just splashed her with cold water. Confused and resentful, she turns and walks to the kitchen, mumbling to herself.

“You’re sure it’s Imelda? How do you know?”

“I listened in on a conversation Rossi had with someone he’s working with.” As in, me. I’m not about to tell my father thatI’m thinking of working with the thief—who is also the son of his rival.

His eyebrows go up. “What about hard proof?”

“If you check her financials, you’ll notice she’s been receiving regular payments from a third party while working for us full-time. You’ll also notice she has several outstanding medical bills paid off by that same third party.” I take a deep breath, calming myself now that my mother is temporarily elsewhere. “And she’ll probably have some evidence in her chambers, her computer, or her bag.”

He nods slowly, peering at me. I let myself feel a moment’s hope that he’ll actually take me seriously and acknowledge a contribution of mine, however small.

“I’ll look into Imelda, but don’t think this lets you off the hook for losing that money.”

My heart doesn’t sink too far. I’ve learned to be realistic about my expectations when it comes to my parents. It still stings, though. That, I can never find a way to block out. “I’d have an easier time finding the money if you had just let me focus on that. This whole thing was my idea in the first place anyway.”

His face darkens slightly, but he can’t look me in the eyes. “You know how your mother gets,” he mutters, almost sounding embarrassed. But then, he recovers and looks up at me. “Just remember that you’re the one who disappointed us, not theother way around. You’re the one who needs to find a way to make this up to us.”

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