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She hesitated before she rose out of the tub, water dripping over her luscious curves, and she took my hand as I helped her step over the side.
I wrapped her tight in a towel and pressed a kiss to her temple.
“I want you there too.” Her arms were pinned inside the cotton, with her wet hair stuck to the back of her neck. Small and vulnerable, she looked so precious to me.
“Yeah?”
She nodded.
“Alright. Get dressed.”
When we walked into the parlor, Dante’s eyes immediately went to Scarlett.
It was as if I wasn’t even there.
His defeated and empty gaze was suddenly bright with affection…and hard with despair. He rose out of his chair slowly to greet her, like there would be a chance for a hug, but she stayed on the other side of the coffee table.
I moved to a chair in the corner of the room, present but out of the way.
She sat down in the armchair.
He slowly lowered himself back down, his ass right at the edge, looking at Scarlett like he couldn’t believe she was really there.
Her hair was still damp because she hadn’t dried it, just squeezed it with a towel so the drops stopped falling on the floor. She’d put on a pair of jeans she’d left on the floor of the closet and pulled on a hoodie. Despite the warmth from her long bath, her cheeks were pale as if she was freezing cold.
Dante continued to stare at her like she was an angel sent from the heavens. “Thank you for seeing me.”
Her hands were together on her lap, and her back didn’t touch the chair, as if she expected this conversation to be so brief there was no point in getting comfortable. “You can thank Axel because I had no interest in coming down here.” She stared at the coffee table between them, like meeting his gaze was simply too painful.
Dante was quiet for a while, swallowing that rejection like a big pill. “Well, I appreciate it, nonetheless.”
Silence passed. A lot of it.
I looked at Dante then looked at Scarlett.
Dante cleared his throat. “I came here tonight to apologize to you. I’m so sorry for everything. I want you to know that you’re the single most important thing in the world to me, and I’m sorry that I’ve made you feel otherwise.”
She stared at the table like those words meant nothing to her. “Actions speak louder than words. You were going to kill Axel if I hadn’t overheard you. Forgetting my purse is the reason he still breathes.” She lifted her chin and looked at him.
“You said you were divorcing.”
“Again, what does that matter? I told you I loved him.”
Now Dante broke eye contact because her savagery was too much.
“You’re the reason he left me.” Her anger died and slowly turned to sadness, like she was remembering that heartbreak. “You let me believe that he…he left me for someone else. You have no idea how that fucked me up.”
Dante didn’t look at her again.
“You can’t sit there and say you care about me, not after that.”
Dante took a breath before he looked at his daughter again. “He went to prison for assault and rape?—”
“I told you he was innocent.”
“I wanted to protect you. I told you from the beginning I didn’t like him, but then you snuck around behind my back. I told Axel to go away, but he didn’t listen to me either. As horrible as it is, I thought you deserved better. The execution was horrible and probably caused more damage than it prevented, but I knew you deserved someone better.”
“Someone better…” She released a painful chuckle. “There is no one better.”
