Page 100 of Thrill Me (Dark Odyssey 3)

I stop when I see Mimi talking with her father at the end of the corridor. She was in the guest room. It looks like he was just leaving.

Both are crying.

I recall days of the past when she was a child and I’d see her with her father just like that. That golden hair was always in ringlets cascading down her back with ribbons. She’d start out with ribbons then the minute her parents’ backs were turned she’d ditch them, tie her hair back and go hanging out with the boys. Hanging out with me.

Me…

Her father plants a kiss on her forehead then looks to me and stills.

She looks to me now too and I stare on at the two of them.

But… I’m focusing on her father and I’m remembering the rude awakening he gave me yesterday.

He asked me to do the right thing.

He told me if I loved her he hoped I would do the right thing.

I do love her, so doing the right thing is all I have on my mind as I take my next step and he leaves.

Chapter Thirty

Mimi

He walks differently.

I hear he’s changed.

Not the boy anymore I used to know, not the accountant at Giordano’s Inc., and not the creative tech wiz that makes the beautiful display at The Dark Odyssey.

Salvatore isn’t any of those anymore. He’s a capo.

He walks like a leader now, but he still looks at me the same.

He comes up to me and kisses me.

It’s a kiss that seeps into my soul and speaks of what I want most.

It’s the kind of kiss you savor for all that you feel in the moment because it makes you forget.

For those few seconds as he kisses me I step away from reality and pretend none of this happened.

I pretend that Sorcha is still alive and I didn’t have to hold her dead, lifeless body, tearing up inside for the loss of a woman who was a true friend and angel. A good wife to a man who is like a brother to me.

For a few seconds I imagine it didn’t happen and because it doesn’t feel real, I almost believe it.

Then he stops kissing me and I’m pulled away from the façade I imagined up. I’m yanked back to reality and I look at my guy standing before me with so much sadness in his eyes.

“Come here. I… have to talk to you,” he says and I bite the inside of my lip.

“Okay.” He takes my hand and leads me back into the bedroom.

I had to stay in here away from the other girls last night because I was so distraught.

They both came to sit with me though. Charlotte and Mia. Both of them came and left when Dad arrived.

Salvatore closes the door then sits me down by the dresser near the long French window.

He pulls up a chair and reaches forward to cover my hands with his.

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