Page 67 of Of Lies and Shadows

“Fine,” she says. “I’ll come as the nanny.” The words hit harder than if she'd slapped me because she meant them.And I think, for the first time, she wants them to be true.

I study her face, the calm surface of it, too smooth, too still. She’s giving in too easily. And I don’t trust it. She’s up to something. I just don’t know what yet.

My mouth moves before I can stop myself. “Will you ever get over it?” I don’t even know why I ask. It shouldn’t matter.

She tilts her head slightly, her eyes steady and unreadable. “Will you?”

Her question cuts deeper than mine, and I hate how it makes me falter.

Still, I nod. “Yes. I will. I think I am. I’m trying at least to make the situation a little more amenable.”

She gives me a smile then. But it’s not one of comfort. It’s pained and sad, almost pitying.

“No, you’re not,” she says softly. “You’re not over it. And how grand of you, really, to try and make a situation you created a little more bearable for me. I apologize for not entertaining your fantasy.”

“Iamover it,” I insist too quickly, too defensive, because I am, or at least I want to be.

I’m ready to make her my wife for real. To give her a place, a title, even children, if that’s what she wants. I’m ready to reach for something more. Something beyond punishment and betrayal. Beyond rage and shame.

But I don’t say any of that because I know what she’ll do with it.

She’ll spit it back in my face.

Just like I once did to her.

The memory hits like a blade: her in my office, brokenand shaking, eyes full of betrayal. My spit on her cheek like a brand.

The silence stretches between us, brittle and sharp.

She turns her back to me, gathering the last of the dishes with quiet efficiency like our conversation was nothing more than background noise.

Maybe to her, it was.

I should walk away.I shouldlet it go.

Instead, I stand there, watching her shoulders rise and fall with each breath, and all I can think about is how much I’ve ruined. How far she’s drifted. How much of it was my fault.

I wanted obedience. Revenge. Control.

But what I got was a woman who flinches from kindness and braces for cruelty. A woman who smiles for everyone but me.

And maybe I deserve that.

I leave without another word, footsteps heavy as I walk down the corridor. The echo of her voice follows me.

“I’ll come as the nanny.”Not the wife. Not the partner.

Just the help.

God help me, I don’t know if I’m angrier at her for saying it or at myself for making it true.

Chapter Fifteen

Francesca

This party is a terrible idea.

I don’t know the full reason behind it, but I know Dante. There’s always a reason, always something brewing behind those calculating eyes. He hasn’t said much, but I see it anyway. In the way his jaw stays tight even when he smiles. In the sleepless shadows carved beneath his eyes.

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