Sweet Temptation novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: The Music Box

I folded my father's note into a square and pushed it down inside my bra.

Cesare watched me do it from the end of the corridor.

He had not seen the note, and I didn't tell him.

"Breakfast is at seven," he said. "The children eat with me."

"Good morning to you too."

"Last night changes nothing."

He said it flat, and went downstairs, and I stood there with my skin still remembering him.

At the long dining table, nobody spoke.

Sofia pushed scrambled eggs around her plate without eating.

There were dark smudges under her eyes.

Tommaso sat with perfect posture, buttering toast, and watching me over the knife.

Cesare read a folded newspaper.

"She didn't sleep," I said quietly to the housekeeper, as she poured my coffee.

"She never sleeps without the music box," the housekeeper whispered. "It's in the east wing. Since."

"Since her mother."

The woman nodded and hurried away.

I looked at the little girl.

She was staring at the empty chair beside her, the one nobody sat in.

When Cesare left for the port, Tommaso followed me into the hall.

"I know where the spare key is," he said.

I stopped.

His face was unreadable, a nine-year-old poker player.

"It's in the pantry, behind the flour. My mother kept it there. Dad doesn't know I know."

"Why are you telling me?"

"Sofia needs the music box." His chin lifted. "You said you'd be on our side. Prove it."

I should have said no.

Cesare had told me, in his own hall, in a voice like ice.

But I'd seen Sofia's eyes.

I found the key behind a bag of flour, and I went up the east stairs with my heart pounding.

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