Sweet Temptation novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: Second Wife, Second Grave

Sunday dinner at the Monteleone house was for twelve, and I was the main course.

The long table was laid with white linen and silver, and I sat at its foot, across from Cesare.

His captains and their wives filled the chairs between us.

I knew what they were doing.

They were watching to see whether the second wife would break.

Sofia sat on my left, picking the crust off a roll.

Tommaso sat on my right, perfectly polite and perfectly cold.

I had spent three days earning one thing from them.

Sofia had let me braid her hair that morning, in silence, and she hadn't pulled away.

Down the table, a captain with a red face and a big laugh lifted his glass.

He was Cesare's oldest soldier, and he'd had four glasses of wine to my one.

"To the new bride," he called. "May she last longer than the last one."

A few people laughed.

A woman beside him said, "Stop it," and giggled behind her napkin.

"Second wife, second grave," he said cheerfully. "I'm only saying what the whole neighborhood says."

Beside me, Sofia stopped breathing.

Tommaso's knife went still against his plate.

I looked down the table at Cesare.

He sat motionless, a hand on his glass, and he did nothing.

I understood in that second that this was what he'd done for three years.

He had sat at this table and let them say it.

I stood up.

"Mrs. Monteleone," the captain said, still smiling. "Sit down, sweetheart, it's a joke."

"It's funny," I agreed.

I picked up my full glass of red wine.

"It would be funnier if there weren't two children sitting here."

I threw the wine in his face.

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