Page 121 of The Temptation
When he doesn’t smile back, instead giving me a look I can’t quite decipher, I follow up my first question with a, “What?”
He leans forward, resting his clenched fists on the side of my mattress. “You fucking married her without my permission?!” he growls, and I’m not sure if that’s a question or a statement. Either way, I don’t like his tone.
“She told you?” I ask with a grimace.
“No, you did, dumb-arse.”
“Yeah, right,” I scoff. I’m not that fucking stupid.
“You did. When you were high on whatever drugs they’d given you.”
I frown. “Someone drugged me?” Is that why everything feels so hazy?
He tilts his face towards the ceiling and groans. “The hospital. We spoke after your surgery.”
“Oh.”
“Yes, oh. Start fucking talking.”
“We’ve already talked about this. You said if I touch or taint her in any way, she was mine to keep.”
He straightens with a sharp exhale, dragging a hand down his face like he’s trying to wipe the frustration away. When his eyes lock with mine again, they are cold and accusing.
“That right there is the problem, Romeo. Lucia told me the whole story. You never planned on keeping her. You told her you were going to divorce her or get the marriage annulled as soon as Salvatori was out of the picture. Make it make sense.”
“When I saw that missing person flyer, where he’d writtenmy wife, I …” I let the words die in my throat. Because telling him I married her on a whim, out of jealousy, isn’t going to help my case.
“You married her simply because that fucker was claiming her as his?”
I lift one shoulder and then wince as pain shoots down my side. “Pretty much.”
A vicious growl rumbles in the back of his throat before he says, “Well, guess what, motherfucker, you don’t get to walk away from this. She’s tainted now, so she’s yours to keep.”
My eyebrows pinch together as my gaze locks with his. “I didn’t taint her. We never consummated the marriage.”
He rears back slightly in surprise. “You didn’t?”
“No, I didn’t. For that very reason. I knew we had an expiration date.”
“Do you not realise she’ll still be considered tainted in our world if she’s a divorcee?”
I glance away and run my fingers through my hair. “I never considered that.”
“Exactly.”
He taps the bed beside my leg with an open palm before raising his hand and pointing his finger in my direction. “This isn’t over, De Luca,” he says, taking a step back. “When you are well enough, we’ll finish this conversation.”
With that, he turns and storms from the room, leaving me lying here, wishing I’d done it all differently.
I don’t even get a chance to dwell on the repercussions, the kind that could bring my time in theFamigliato an end, because the second Dante exits, a petite little brunette rushes into the room.
Lucia.
The relief that floods through me the moment my eyes land on her is indescribable.
Fuck, she’s a sight for sore eyes.
As soon as our gazes lock, a smile curves her lips, but when she steps forward and leans in to rest her forehead against my chest, she bursts into tears.
