Page 72 of Sin & Secrets

He blinks at me for a moment. “You, baby.”

For a moment, I think I must have misheard him. “What are you talking about?”

“You think flights to Ohio are cheap? You think I could afford all those fancy meals I took you on?”

I shake my head. Even if he’d taken me to Michelin-star restaurants—which he definitely didn’t—there’s no way he could have spent one hundred and one thousand dollars over the course of our courtship.

“You took a loan from the Mafia to pay for our dates?” I can feel a laugh bubbling up inside me. “You really think I’m going to believe that?”

He moans loudly as he slumps down in the seat. “You’re fucking expensive, Cas! I had to buy a whole new apartment for you, remember?”

Remarkably, something does ring true as he says this. But he told me he was moving to the apartment in Brownsville because he got a promotion at work.

A promotion…within the mafia.

I laugh him off. “Who in their right mind, mafia or not, would loan anyone money so they can date someone?”

“I don’t know, Cas,” he slurs. “Ask fucking Bellini.”

Now, he’s really not making any kind of sense. “I’mBellini, Claudio. Cassandra Bellini, remember?”

“Fucking Bellini!” he shouts suddenly, almost startling himself out of the chair in the process.

There’s no point talking to him anymore, not when he’s like this.

If I’m being honest with myself, I’d wanted more from this conversation. I wanted him to be sober enough to see me as I am now: happy without him. I wanted that to hurt him. I wanted him to feel even a little bit of my own pain.

But instead, I’m left with this intoxicated mess.

“We’re done, Claudio,” I say anyway. “You can go to hell.”

It’s not at all satisfying. In fact, it feels as if I’ve said those words a thousand times already. There’s no need for closure when it comes to something you’ve already moved on from.

I think he tries to call after me, but I’m already out the door.

At least I got something out of him, even if nothing about it made any sense at all.

Maybe everything he said was an elaborate lie to get me back on side. It was as if he thought claiming that I was the reason he took the loan was some kind of romantic gesture.

All I can do is hope that this wasn’t some massive waste of time.

I push through the doors leading me back into theCandelabraand plaster on a sultry smile. Now that my part was done, there was no reason for us to head straight back to the brownstone.

But Mia careens around the side of the bar and marches straight toward me. I can tell she’s trying to get me to stop and speak with her, so I turn to avoid her.

Only to see…

Words escape me. My entire world spins out from under me.

“Cas! It’s not worth it.”

Vaguely, I’m aware of Mia’s hands holding down my shaking arms.

As I watch Danny straddling Rocco’s lap, her lips pressed up against his.

19

ROCCO

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