He Chose Another Heir, Now He Wants Me Back novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: Nothing Left to Throw Back

I sat with my mother until she slept, and then I could not stay in the room any longer.

It was past eleven.

The big house was dark, and the only light in it came from under the door of his study.

I walked in without knocking.

Alessio stood at the desk with his shirt open at the throat and the dissolution I had signed in Paris spread under his bandaged hand.

He looked up and went still.

"You said it to a hundred people," I said.

"I did."

"Three days. Not letting me out of the room."

"I remember what I said."

"Four years, Alessio."

He set down the page.

"For four years I put your hand back on your own lap every time I wanted you," I said. "I told myself it was the code. I told myself it was love, that you were waiting for the wedding so it would be right."

"Serena."

"I was twenty-one and I begged you. You said after the wedding. Then it was a baby with your name beside it."

My voice shook, and I let it.

"Do you know what I thought on that plane? That you had wanted her and not me. That I had stood outside your door for four years and she had just walked in."

"I never touched her."

"Then why did I wait?"

He came around the desk slowly.

His face was white, and his eyes were not cold at all.

"Because I was twenty-eight and I thought wanting you in the dark of the church would kill me, and I was stubborn enough to try," he said. "Because I thought you deserved a white dress and a priest and a night nobody could take from you. It was a boy's idea of right. I would take back every one of those nights."

"Not one hand on me, you said."

"I did."

"For thirty days." I took a step toward him. "I'm throwing it back at you."

He did not move.

"Tell me to leave and I'll leave," he said hoarsely.

"No."

I took his face in both hands and kissed him.

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