Sweet Temptation novel · Chapter 22 of 24
Chapter 22: What He Pays
I took the stairs in my bare feet with my shirt half buttoned.
Cesare was behind me, one boot on.
The street door stuck, and I wrenched it open on the cold.
She was standing on the pavement.
A small shape in a blue coat buttoned wrong, a rabbit pressed to her chin, looking up at the green door as if it might open if she waited.
She was too short to reach the bell.
"Sofia," I said.
She turned.
Her cheeks were raw with cold, and her canvas shoes were soaked through, and she was not crying.
"You didn't say," she told me.
I dropped to my knees on the wet concrete.
"Didn't say what?"
"If you were staying. You said every day. That's not the same."
Behind me, I heard Cesare's breath catch.
Sofia looked past me at her father, standing in a doorway with one boot and no coat.
She looked at him gravely, from his bare ankle to his face.
"The bus lady walked me," she said. "She held my hand. I knew the way. I counted."
Cesare went down on his knees beside me on the pavement.
He held out his arms, and she walked into them, stiffly, and put her whole face in his shoulder.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of Sweet Temptation are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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