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“I gave you what you wanted.” He didn’t have the same eyes as Scarlett, but there were other parts of her that I saw in his face. Her expression was similar when she was angry, when she was guarded. “You asked for my daughter, and I gave her to you.”
It was one of those rare situations where I was so angry, I expressed that rage as a laugh. A quiet, low laugh. “I don’t want a puppet. I want a woman. I want a woman who chooses me, who chooses me despite her father’s protests, not because of his approval. I’ve given that woman all of me, and I’m tired of it. So, you win, Dante. Congratulations. You’ve successfullydestroyed the best thing that ever happened to your daughter.” I straightened in my chair and brought my palms together, clapping loudly and slowly, catching the attention of the entire restaurant until the room turned silent. I sank back into my chair and stopped, and gradually, the conversations resumed.
Dante rested both elbows on the armrests with his hands together, staring at me as he tried to figure out his next play. “It hurts to see my daughter heartbroken like this?—”
“You said she was relieved it was over.” I cocked my head to the side. “Did you not?”
He remained quiet.
“Unless you’re a liar? A coward and a liar?”
He started to rub his knuckles. “I didn’t realize how she felt about you.”
“I told you she loved me.”
“You said youthoughtshe loved you.”
“No, Iknew,” I snapped. “I told you that, and you chose to disregard it.”
He sucked in the hollows of his cheeks before he continued. “This is not easy for me?—”
“Good.”
He ignored me and continued. “But seeing my daughter cry all day…was one of the shittiest things I’ve ever been through. I know you love my daughter. Please give her another chance?—”
“No.”
“You said you wanted my daughter. Youhaveher.”
“But it’s only a part of her. A very small part. The rest of her is locked inside a golden cage that I can’t reach. She’s always got one foot in the room and the other in the hall. She never fully lives in the moment with me because she’s thinking about how I dumped her for some woman who doesn’t hold a candle to her. And you know what? A part of me doesn’t blame her. She shouldn’t be with a man who would do that. She’s too good for that. Our relationship is irrevocably destroyed—because of you.”
“It’s not irrevocably destroyed?—”
“It’s over, Dante.”
“It’s not over if you keep wearing your ring.”
My hand had been underneath the table the entire time, so there was no way he could have seen it. That meant Theo had told him previously.
“Please talk to her. I’ve given her to you as you asked?—”
“I want to clear my name. I want her to know that I’ve been loyal and committed to her since the moment she was mine. I want her to know the truth, Dante. That’s what I fucking want. Convincing her to forgive my cheating ass is not what I asked.”
His eyes darted away, his hands continuing to massage his knuckles. He seemed to fade from the conversation because he didn’t look at me. He remained distant, like the request was ridiculous. But then he looked at me again. “If I tell her, will you work it out with her?”
The room was suddenly silent because the conversations were blocked out by the sound of my racing heart. I felt so much adrenaline, enough to fuel me for a fistfight with twelveopponents. My true desire had been dropped right in front of my face, within arm’s reach. But it was bittersweet. Because I’d already told her the truth and she didn’t believe me—and we’d never overcome that. The truth was staring her right in the face, but she couldn’t see it. Instead, she believed the lies. We’d been married for months, and she continued to hold on to the past instead of stepping into the future with me. “No.”
His eyes narrowed at the revelation.
I was just as surprised by my answer. “But if you love your daughter, you’ll tell her the truth—because she deserves to know.”
Chapter 11
Scarlett
I sat in the armchair in the living room, a warm cup of coffee on the end table beside me. It was afternoon, the sunlight coming through the open curtains and flooding the room with the first warmth I’d felt since the beginning of fall. I wasn’t sure how long I sat there. Didn’t bother to take a sip of my coffee.
I somehow felt worse now than I had when I’d watched Axel walk into that restaurant with Cassandra.
