Page 158 of Tempt Me (Dark Odyssey 4)

She’ll be back in Chicago next week. Back to her life as it was before me.

She’s been out of my life for the last three months, and I’m sure she’s… moved on. I want her to. I want her to have met someone else, and I hope whoever it is will treat her right. Treat her the way she deserves.

Footsteps sound behind me, and I turn to see Marguerite coming in.

When I came back yesterday, she saw me up here but didn’t say anything.

I think it was because she probably wanted me to do this a long time ago.

“Are you okay, Vinny?” she asks walking into the room, crossing the distance between us.

“No,” I answer with the truth, and she taps my cheeks in that habitual way.

“You did a lot in here, Boss,” she muses, looking around the room.

“Yeah. It’s just these to go. I… I don’t know...”

“Do they remind you of someone else?” she asks, giving me a knowing look.

“Yeah…. Um… Ava. She liked them.”

“You know you don’t have to get rid of everything, but if it helps, it helps. If you’re having trouble letting it go, maybe it’s okay to keep them, since they both liked the dancers.” She nods her head.

“I don’t know, Marguerite. I feel like I need to get rid of all of it. Get them both out of my head. Out of my mind. You know, out of sight, out of mind.”

“Will it help? Will it get them out of your head?”

I shake my head and draw in a breath. Focusing on her, I try to guess what she’s thinking.

She hasn’t said anything about Ava, but I know she has an opinion on what’s happened. Apart from that day months ago when she told me I needed to move on, she hasn’t given me her opinion since.

“What?” I ask because I can see a million things racing through that very wise head of hers.

“Do you really want to know?”

I dip my head, gearing myself up to hear it. “I want to know, Marguerite. What are you thinking?”

“I think you loved Ava, and you were lucky to have love twice. I think that she loved you too, and I know the real reason you aren’t with her is because you’re afraid.”

I press my lips together and rivet my gaze to hers. There’s little point in trying to tell her she’s wrong when she’s right.

“Don’t you think it’s wise for me to be afraid? It’s dangerous. My world is dangerous, Marguerite.”

“Vincent Giordano, you are the boss of this family. You stare danger in the face and laugh. It is not danger you are worried about. If it were, you’d send your boy away to live in some kind of high security fortress with metal around it. He is still here with you because you know that the best person to protect him is you. You’re not worried about danger. Your fear is to do with your heart. You’re scared to have it broken again the way it did when you found Sorcha dead.”

I hang my head, holding it there as truth molds to my heart. My cold, dead heart, which only started beating again when I was with Ava.

Marguerite struck a nerve deep inside me. One I never knew anyone could see. She saw straight through me, saw straight through the mask I wore and showed to others.

She lifts my head and cups my face with a smile.

“You shouldn’t be afraid of heartbreak. Not in the way you are.” Her smile widens, and she looks at me with warmth emitting from her eyes.

“I can’t help it.”

“You can. It’s far better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. It’s better to love and not allow fear to rule your heart. It’s better to live your life in love and love each other than be without it. Danger is everywhere, Vincent. It’s everywhere. People can drop dead from anything. You can die from anything. Do not hide behind that excuse.” She releases me and nods.

“I don’t know what to do.”

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