Pipe Burst Guest novel · Chapter 15 of 24

Chapter 15: The Husband

Marisa's POV

I still had the key to the house on Society Hill.

I had lived behind that door for six years, and I stood on the step for a full minute before I used it.

The hall light was on, and a cream scarf hung from the hook where my coat used to go.

I left it where it was.

Cesare was in the dining room with the lamp turned low and two glasses on the table.

He had taken off his jacket, and his tie hung loose.

"You came," he said.

"I said I would."

"Wine?"

"No."

He poured one for himself anyway.

I took the chair at the far end of the table, the one nearest the door.

For six years I had sat at his right hand, and I did not want to sit there tonight.

"Tell me why you married me," I said.

He turned the stem of the glass in his fingers.

"You've read the books," he said. "You know why."

"I want to hear you say it."

"Your father was dying, and he had the captains, the docks and a daughter. I was his underboss and I had a good suit."

"And?"

"And he left the trust to whichever man married his blood." He shrugged one shoulder. "Aurelio wrote that clause. I read it the week of the funeral."

"You waited four years."

"I waited until you were old enough that nobody could call it a theft."

I looked at him across the long table.

He had held me in a hospital chair and said, What do I have to do to make you believe me?

He had meant every word, and I understood now what he had been paying for.

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