Page 76 of Unwillingly Yours

“I was in the bathroom,” she said quietly, her voice taking on an odd tone. “Did you take care of your business?”

I nodded, leaning against the wall but not approaching her. “Everything is taken care of.”

She looked almost sickly. Her skin had an ashen appearance. Her eyes were puffy and red-rimmed. Even her hair, usually combed and neat, looked unkempt and wild. Was she just tired from the trip? Or was the pregnancy starting to drain the energy out of her?

Or did something else happen? Something with her father that would lend credibility to my uncle’s claims? I hated this second guessing, this need to worry about what was going on under my own roof.

Who could I really trust?

My wife? My uncle? No one?

“Have you eaten?” I forced out instead, attempting to ease into the inevitable and uncomfortable conversation that was about to happen. I didn’t want to argue with her, but I needed to know where we stood.

Elia shook her head. “I can’t.”

There was that odd tone again. “Why is that?” I asked slowly. “Talk to me, Elia.”

Her head snapped up, and I saw the anger vibrating in her gaze. “You want me to talk to you? Truly? Fine. Let’s start with you telling me the truths from the lies. How about that?” She hurled something in my direction.

I snatched it out of the air and felt metal bite into the palm of my hand.

“What is this?” I asked.

“Why don’t you look?” Acid dripped from her lips.

I opened my palm and looked down. Coldness washed over me when I saw the demon face grinning at me.How…

I had seen this before. I had held this in my hand, clenched it in my fist.

“Where did you find this?”

“Oh!” She let out a harsh laugh. “Fuck you, Aleksey! You know good and well where I got this from!”

It was my turn to shake my head, wrapping my hand around the pin. The last time I had seen this pin, it was in the hand of Ludovico Tarallo. I remembered pressing it into his palm and walking away. I remembered the way he slumped into his chair. If he had given this to Elia, why was she mad at me? This made no sense.

“Did your father give this to you?”

“You wish he did!” Elia started toward me before she stopped, her fists clenched at her sides. “I found this in your desk drawer. You lied to me!”

What?“I didn’t lie to you!” I replied evenly, fighting to keep my own indignant anger at bay. “I gave that to your father the day after your brother died. I personally put it in his hands.” There was no fucking way that pin had gotten into this penthouse by itself…

Which meant someone hadindeedbeen here.

“Stop it! Stop lying to me!” she cried out, emotion lacing every word. “Just tell me the truth!”

I couldn’t hold back my anger anymore. “I’m telling you the truth!” I roared. “Why were you in my shit anyway, Elia? Did your father tell you to go snooping around? Was this part of the plan?”

Her eyes widened. “How dare you!”

“How dare I?” She was the one who had called me a liar. She was the one who had come back a different person. What did Ludovico tell her? “I sent you home to be safe, and you returned a different woman. You go snooping through my things without my permission, and now you accuse me of being a liar when I’ve been nothing but honest with you.”

“Fuck you!” She turned around.

I snatched her arm and spun her back to face me. “Don’t you fucking walk away from me!”

She tried to wrench her arm from my grip. “Let me go!”

“You’re hiding something,” I said darkly. “Aren’t you?”

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