Page 121 of Made to Sin

“Can I start?” She nervously asked.

The anxiety in her voice gutted me. She was always so strong, it was a crime to hear her sound this weak.

I nodded.

She pressed her lips into a fine line before speaking. “Well, I wanted to say that I’m sorry. I know there’s nothing I could say to make the situation better, but I wanted to let you know that you did nothing wrong. Everything was on me…” she rambled on and on.

If I was being honest, I zoned out a bit as I watched her face shift through various emotions. I would have laughed at how cute she was if the situation wasn’t so pressing.

“Katarina,” I interrupted.

“— And I know…”

“Katarina.”

She kept going.

“Katarina,” I said with a deeper drawl.

She finally stopped.

“Yes?”

I released a low breath of amusement. “I said we need to talk, not only you.”

Her cheeks furiously turned red. “Oh— I didn’t mean to— What did you want to talk about?”

“You owe me a favor,” I said, forgetting what I’d originally planned to say.

Her eyebrow knitted in confusion. “What?”

“You owe me a favor, and I want to cash it in now.”

I saw her face arise with more questions before it shifted into understanding. Her fingers fidgeted with her mattress, plucking away at the loose threads.

“What do you want?”

What I wanted was a dumb shot, but we were already at the lowest point, so it wouldn’t hurt to try.

“Stay, Katarina. I want you to stay. Ineedyou to stay.”

“Why?”

“What do you mean why? I want you to stay in New York. In my house. With me.”

“How long would that last?”

It was my turn to furrow my brows. “What are you implying? You’re the one that wanted to leave. I didn’t kick you out.”

She bit her bottom lip. “Like I said before, Luciano, I can’t handle something temporary anymore. We had our run, and you can move on to the next brunette on your list.”

Disdain filled my mouth, the acid crawling up my throat. She thought I could replace her? She was so wrong, it made me angry she couldn’t see it.

“You think you’re that easy to replace?”

She flinched, and I instantly felt guilty for raising my voice. Fuck, this woman was going to be the death of me. I couldn’t even yell without feeling sorry for it.

“Let’s be honest with ourselves, Luciano. I already asked youthe last time if you could promise me more. You couldn’t. It’s better to leave us with happy memories, don’t you think?”

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