Page 104 of Sins of the Son

He was trying to tease and distract me. He was deliberately making light of the situation because he didn’t want to worry me, but I wasn’t fooled.

I had known him for too long.

We had too much history between us.

I could see it in his eyes.

The barely suppressed rage.

I had seen it a few days ago on the train when he learned the truth about my attack, and it was here now. He was doing his best to hide it, for me, and I loved him for trying, but I knew the truth.

What happened to me was no accident.

And judging by the looks exchanged by the Cavalieri men, someone was going to pay for it.

CHAPTER 36

ENZO

I was leaning against the wall of our darkened entryway, arms crossed, waiting, when she finally crept home.

“Good evening… wife.”

Renata’s lips thinned, her nostrils flaring slightly with disdain before she schooled her features. Pasting a false smile on her heavily made-up face, she said, “Enzo, I didn’t see you there.”

I pushed off from the wall with my shoulders. “Come, have a drink with me.”

She lifted one carefully manicured hand to her temple and fluttered her eyelids. “Actually, I’m quite tired. I think I’ll just go to—”

I advanced on her.

Before she could escape, I wrapped a hand around her upper arm and dragged her across the hall into the parlor. “One drink with your husband, wife. I insist.”

Like all the rooms in my once elegant home, it was garish and ugly. The only thing that could distract from the obscene Andy Warhol knockoff painting of Renata over the authentic sixteenth century hand-carved, white marble fireplace was the disgusting perversion of bright pink leather furniture accented with gold and glass tables.

I tossed her into a seat and crossed to the mirror-fronted bar, reaching for the bottle of Amaro liquor.

“Can I fix you one, dear?”

She adjusted the skirt of her dress as she lifted her chin and gave me a tight-lipped smile. “I’m pregnant. Remember, honey?”

“If I forget, it’s probably because you so often do, dearest.”

Reaching for a fresh orange, I pulled out my pocketknife and opened the sharp blade, not missing Renata’s slight gasp and the way her gaze flitted to the door and back to me. “I tried calling you several times today. You never answered your phone. I was worried, darling.”

I sliced two long strips of orange rind. I then set my knife aside and kept my gaze on her as I flicked open my sterling silver lighter and torched the rinds, sending the smoky scent of bittersweet orange into the air. I placed the charred, curled rinds into the glasses.

She looked down at her hands, pretending to examine her nails. “Sorry, my mobile ran out of charge.” She smoothed out her skirt again. “Why, did something… happen?”

She looked up at me through a fan of fake eyelashes.

I poured a generous portion of Amaro into two glasses, covering the rinds with the bitter, dark amber liquor. I crossed the room and stood before her.

Towering over her, legs spread, I held out the glass.

She looked up at me, hesitating. Finally, she took it.

Maintaining my standing position over her, I said, “As a matter of fact, yes. Milana had a nasty fall at work.”

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