Sweet Temptation novel · Chapter 8 of 24

Chapter 8: What She Didn't Say

Cesare cleaned the cut on my lip himself, at the kitchen counter, with a clean cloth and warm water.

He didn't speak.

His fingers were careful, and his gray eyes never left the small split.

"It's nothing," I said.

"It's not nothing."

He pressed the cloth to my mouth a moment longer than he needed to.

Then he put it in the sink and walked out.

I stood there with my pulse going, and I did not tell him about the phone.

I told myself it was because I didn't know whose it was.

A black phone, with my father's private number saved under one letter.

If I handed it to Cesare, he might kill my father with it.

Or he might throw it in the river.

I needed to know which man was lying before I knew which one to trust.

The ballerina took me all afternoon.

I borrowed a jeweler's screwdriver from the housekeeper and glue from the garage.

I sat at the nursery table with the music box open and my tongue between my teeth, setting a wooden ankle back onto its spring.

Sofia watched me from the window seat.

She had been watching for an hour, a small silent shape with her rabbit in her lap.

When I wound the key and the box began to play, a thin plinking waltz, the ballerina turned.

Sofia slid off the window seat and walked over.

She stood at my elbow and stared at the tiny dancer.

"She's the same," she whispered.

I froze.

It was a voice, unused.

"She's the same," Sofia said again, a little louder. "Her leg's all better."

Keep reading free with an account. Start Sweet Temptation from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.