Page 60 of Throne of Sin

“Get in the car,” he demands. I stay in place, lifting a brow at his tone. His face softens for a second. “Please,” he adds politely.

He narrows his eyes and I do as I’m told. Dante leaves no room for argument with the vicious glare he holds.

I reach for the door as he turns toward the house. I watch his back as he enters and I wonder what’s going to happen. My leg bounces with nerves.What if the house lies about what went down and he believes them over me?My fingers bounce on the handle, unsure if I should go back in there.

I force myself to stop looking out the window and dig into my bag to find a small candy and unwrap it, tossing it into my mouth. I’m unable to wait for it to dissolve on my tongue before I’m crunching down on it. My hand digs into my bag to grab another one.

Five candies later, Dante walks out. He strides smoothly, looking like he’s on a red carpet. The only out-of-place thing is the small old home in the background.

I hold my breath, waiting for him to enter the car. He gets into the back with me and the driver rolls down the partition.

“Have a car sent here to escort Tanya.” His voice is full of authority.

His hand rests on mine but he doesn’t look at me. He stares into the black partition that has rolled back up. Neither one of us breaks the silence in the car. When we finally stop, my head cranes to look at his beautiful house. How life has changed since I was in high school.

Chapter 30

Demi

Adaylater,Iswipe my clammy hands down my skirt as I swallow a nervous lump of saliva. I feel like I’m lying to Dante by not telling him about Oakleigh.

We’re both standing at the base of his driveway while he talks to his driver and I hold a flier about the listing we’re going to view. The paper shows a small one-story home that looks way too nice for me to afford. I push down the hope that wants to claw its way into me.

Dante’s conversation ends and he opens the door to the back of the car for me.

“Dante, I need to tell you something.”

His happy-go-lucky smile diminishes slightly seeing my nervous face. I’m going to tell him about Oakleigh. He’s trusted me with his secret, it’s the least I can do.

I try to broach the subject. “First off, this place is way too nice.” I wiggle the paper in front of him, trying to come up with a way to tell him. He opens his mouth to argue but I place a finger over his lips. “But it would be nice to find a place that’s affordable with two bedrooms.”

He shrugs and lets a small, manly chuckle out. “Demi, you can have five bedrooms if you want.” He’s still not believing me I want to afford the house without his help.

Here goes.

“That’s not what I mean. I have a—” He places a hand up, stopping my sentence, lifting his phone to his ear.

“This better be important, Max,” he greets, mouthingI’m sorryas he walks a few feet away to talk in private.

The driver gives me a warm smile.

Disappointment drives its way into me. I finally had the courage to tell him and he walked away before I could. My courage is quickly dwindling. I take a deep breath, my chest expanding then deflating.

“Don’t worry. Mr. Mancini is never late.” The driver omits the part that people will change their schedule to accommodate him. I force my smile, not wanting the driver to worry about me. I wave him off, tilting my head to the sun and closing my eyes.I can do this.

A hand touches my arm and I jump.

“Didn’t mean to scare you. I need to do one errand quickly before we go.” He pauses, looking sincere. “It’s at the club. You can come or I can have one of my men take you to the first showing. Whichever you would prefer.”

“If you don’t have time to go today, we can find some different places for another day. Ones not in as nice of an area.”

He leans in, placing a kiss on my lips and I melt into him, inhaling his calming scent and enjoying the way he makes me feel.

“They will wait for however long I ask them to.”

I’d rather not go to the club, but I also don’t want to be a burden. “I don’t mind waiting,” I hear myself saying. “I can stay in the car.” No one will say anything nasty if I’m with Dante.

He gestures with his hand for me to slip into the back. When I do, he takes the seat next to me and our legs touch, even though there’s enough space to spread out.

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