Page 44 of Sin & Secrets

It’s as if she was conjured with the sole purpose of tormenting me. Every movement, each sway of her hips or flick of her hair, those goddamn perfect lips, all beckon to me and tell me to dive head first off the cliff of my own self-restraint.

From her smirk, I know she can see the effect she has on me.

Well, two can play that game.

“Is that an offer, Cassandra?”

Her eyes narrow. “That depends.”

“On what?”

“My discretion.”

With that, she ducks around me and walks away.

12

CASSANDRA

“Cassy, I was so worried!”

My mom’s familiar voice washes over me like a soft blanket, so far removed from everything else I’ve had to deal with this evening. It’s almost jarring to hear it bouncing around the guest room.

“I’m sorry,” I murmur into my newly-charged phone.

It had taken a while to convince Donatella to bring me the power cord, and even longer to scroll through the hundreds of messages Mia had left me. But finally, curled up in the safety of my bed, I’d hit the call button to talk to my mom.

“Mia said you just disappeared, and Claudio won’t pick up the phone!”

I cringe a little at the sound of his name. “It’s…we broke up, Mom. I’m staying with a friend for a bit.”

The lie isn’t an easy one, but there is no other logical way to explain myself. I suppose we had broken up; it wasn’t as if our relationship could ever recover from him selling me to the mafia and me calling him out for being a coward.

Even if the words hadn’t technically been said out loud.

“Which friend?”

Describing Rocco Moretti as a “friend” felt completely ridiculous. “Captor” might have been better, but I suppose after what I agreed to at dinner, “colleague” might be more appropriate.

Although aligning myself with the Italian Mafia was a surefire way to get my mother on the next plane to Brooklyn.

“I don’t think you know them,” I scramble for a name. “Donatella?”

“Is she looking after you?”

My mind flashes back to the near-screaming match we had over the dress I’d had to wear for dinner. “In her own way.”

“I never liked that man. I told you that from the very start.” Mom sighs. “You should come home. I can send you the money for the flight.”

How different my life might have been if I’d only listened to her adVitale back then, instead of acting like a lovesick fool. “It’s okay, honestly. Work is going well. I’m finally starting to get noticed.”

By the Italian don wanting revenge on my boyfriend. I don’t add that part.

“Cassy…”

It’s the pitying note to her voice that gets to me. My eyes prickle with tears. I know what she’s going to say next, even if I don’t want to hear it.

“I know how much you wanted to meet your father.”

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