Page 37 of Twisted Minds of Sin

“Good night, Benedetto,” she chimes.

I don't say it back, I just nod, toss my plate in the sink, and then retire to my room.

I need to breathe. I need clean air. One that doesn't have coconut milk and Rosaline in it. One that isn’t making my veins feel so damn tiny due to the searing blood coursing through them.

I prance into my bedroom and begin to undress. My t-shirt comes off first, and next, I take off my sweatpants. Then I walk to my bed, pick up my Macbook on the nightstand, and open it to continue going through some of the files I was reading last night.

I had asked Orazio to get me the statement of transactions on my mother’s account. Her account is linked to some of the family's businesses and currently, she is not the one running them. I need to look out for loopholes. I know Claudio might be up to something but I need to be sure, have the facts. If I can show something like him swindling money from her account, which Iwouldn’t put past him, she can begin to see him for who he truly is.

I don't even understand her anymore. She was a business mogul, which was why my father trusted her enough to get her in on the business and give her the leverage to run some herself. Now she is just letting him take over everything. It's stupid. She is stupid. They’re both stupid.

I don't know how long I've spent going through the transactions and I'm not even close to finishing the first year after my father’s death. But I need to call it a night, I'm beginning to feel dizzy from the numbers.

I drop the MacBook on the nightstand, lift off from my bed to go run a quick shower. I'm about to take my boxer briefs off when I see a shadow. A familiar shadow.

I turn in the direction of the entrance of my room to find Rosaline leaning by the wall in nothing but a silk robe.

I squint my eyes to be sure my mind isn’t tricking me.

She smiles at me and unties the knot of the robe.

It’s not a mind trick.

She is here. And she is naked underneath.

You've got to be fucking kidding me.

Chapter Twelve

ROSE

Ihad been taking it slow earlier.

Even after what my family and Claudio had said to me yesterday.

I didn't know when and how to begin. This is not exactly something I know how to do. I've never needed to seduce any man into wanting me. They just want me. How much more trying would it take to seduce a man into wanting me enough to make life-changing decisions for me?

First, when the opportunity to spend time with him presented itself during breakfast, I jumped in head first without thinking it through. I had to start somewhere. To massage the spot before attempting to pierce. At least that's how I thought it should be done.

But my father and brother have a different idea of how these things work.

They met with me earlier and reminded me again how I'm supposed to be working on Benedetto. How my family is depending on me to make this right and give us a place here with Claudio. The same old nagging about how I ruined everything and I'm supposed to fix it and fix it quick. Even when I tried to explain that I was taking it one step at a time, they didn't care much or weren't listening to me. All they wanted, even though they won't say it plainly, is for me to find a way to have sex with Benedetto and to start having it very quickly.

I appear brave.

A brave lamb giving herself up for slaughter with her head held high and her shoulders on a straight line.

But evenIknow looks can be deceitful. It wouldn't be the first time I have had to put up a front for my family and it won't be the last.

So I decided to dial it up some to see how I could break through his fort by showing up in his room and meeting him naked.

Tonight, jittery and wishing there was another way through this, I am stepping out of my bedroom to go to him.

I adjust the silk fabric of the robe even though it doesn't need any adjusting. I didn't have anything in my wardrobe to seduce, so I opted for this. It's enough for what I need to do.

I gulp, swallowing nervous air with each step that I take leading to him. I wish the ground beneath me would begin to sink so I could drag on a little while longer.

I take a long deep breath I don't let out, and place a foot on the first stair leading me to his quarter.

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