Sweet Temptation novel · Chapter 12 of 24

Chapter 12: Not Forgiven

I slapped him.

The sound cracked through the dressing room.

His head turned with the blow, and he let it, and he did not lift a hand.

"You took me to bed," I said.

"Yes."

"You took me to bed knowing whose daughter I was. You sat across from me at your table. You held my wrist in your hall and watched my pulse."

"Yes."

"You're no better than he is."

The words came out of me in a scream, and the empty hangers shivered on the closet rail.

Cesare turned his face back to me.

There was a red mark rising on his cheekbone.

"You're right," he said.

"Don't say it like that."

"You're right. I used you. I told myself that I could keep you in my house and feel nothing, and it would cost me nothing." His voice dropped. "I was wrong in every way a man can be wrong."

"Did you feel anything?"

I hadn't meant to ask it.

It fell out of me, small and ugly.

His eyes held mine.

"Everything," he said.

I walked out.

I went down the east stairs, through the front hall, past the housekeeper's wide eyes, and into his study.

I didn't know why.

The vial sat locked in the desk, and the ledger lay open on the blotter, and the window showed a gray autumn garden.

I put both hands on the desk and tried to breathe.

I heard him come in behind me, and the door close.

"Get out," I said.

"It's my study."

"Then I'll go." I turned. "And you'll stay here with your dead wife's ghosts and your clean hands and your plan."

"Elisa."

"I loved you."

The word was out before I knew it was true.

Cesare stood perfectly still.

His eyes were bright, and the red handprint stood out on his face.

"For ten days," I said. "I wasn't even supposed to. I was supposed to hate you, and I stood in a church and promised your children I'd be there every single day, and then I let myself want you."

I couldn't say the rest.

I crossed the room and grabbed his shirt in both fists.

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