Page 50 of Obsession & Oath

“You have no idea, do you?” her voice oozes with condescending ire. “How lucky you are? That you have friends like Moretti, a family that will welcome back its prodigal son with open arms.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You’re right, I don’t. Because your mother dreams only of your happiness and how she might help you prosper. Whereas my father demands my hair instead of my presence, too concerned with a war I was never supposed to be a part of.”

I stare at her blankly. She knows. Of course, she does.

“Your motherloves you.Yet all you do is throw it back in her face like it’s some kind of inconvenient joke,” Carmen laughs humorlessly. “What I wouldn’tgivefor someone to care for me like that.”

Finally, she stalks forward, unwavering as she presses close enough for our chests to touch. She examines me for a moment, and I refuse to back down from her scrutiny.

“You’re an ungrateful, selfish little man, Dante Grasso,” she whispers like a curse before pulling back sharply. “I can find my own room.”

All I can do is catch my breath as she leaves me alone to my own self-loathing.

Chapter14

Carmen

It’s my own fault.

I shouldn’t have let myself become so comfortable with him. I shouldn’t have let myself delude myself into thinking he was a decent person.

I want to hit something. Instead, I stomp harder into the gravel beneath my feet as I make my way back up the garden path.

The afternoon light casts long golden streaks across the overgrown hedges. The scent of rosemary and warm earth lingers in the air, mingling with the faint sweetness of roses that cling stubbornly to their trellises.

It shouldn’t be soothing. I should be on my guard at all times, considering that I’m still Dante’sprisoner.But it’s hard to think like that when the gentle wind plays with my curls, bringing with it the warm caress of the day-baked air.

It’s been days since Rocco’s visit. Days that I’ve spent pointedly avoiding the Grasso heir.

If I thought about it too hard, I could see I’m being childish. Because really, what else did I expect?

It’s my own fault for assuming we’d fallen into some kind of flirtatious truce these last few weeks. It’s my own fault for thinking Dante might look at me, even if it was purely due to physical attraction, as an equal.

I kick a stubborn rock to the side of the path as I step into the evening shadow of the Iron Castle. The castle looms before me, its ancient stone softened by creeping ivy and the glow of the setting sun.

As I step onto the sun room’s stone threshold, the warmth of the gardens fades, replaced by the hushed stillness of glass and marble. It’s so quiet that I almost miss the other occupant in the room.

“Principessa,have you been enjoying the gardens?”

I turn to find Evelina perched in the corner, seemingly enjoying a quiet espresso. The way her brow arches gracefully at me makes me feel inclined to bow to the Grasso matriarch.

“Very much,signora.”

She beckons me over. “Evelina, please. I think the sun suits you well.”

I feel a slight flush at the compliment as I make my way over, pausing at the seat opposite her. “How may I help you?”

“Sit,” Evelina instructs in a tone that leaves no room for argument. “There is something I wish to discuss with you.”

I cautiously oblige, hands tightly entwined on my knee. There are a thousand things I hope she’s not about to say. I think I might combust if she mentions my relationship with Dante or tries to pry information out of me about my father.

But there’s something else too. With a start, I realize it’s fear.

Not of the Grasso di Ferro or the don before me, not for my life.

I’m scared she’s about to ask me to leave.

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