Rocco merely watches me, amusement dancing across his stupidly beautiful face as he twirls the opal fountain pen across his fingers. “And here I thought you were willing to beg for it,Angioletta.”
That stupid, stupid, stupid nickname sends a pang of longing through my entire body. As it has done every waking second we’ve been apart.
Even in my dreams, I find myself back in that room, imagining all the things I’d let him do to me if only he hadn’t stepped away. I imagined all the desires he would whisper in my ear that I would, oh-so-willingly, beg to fulfill for him.
It might have been the only thing that kept me sane as I fell asleep next to Claudio, who had hit me the second he noticed the bruise on my neck.
I’d endured all of it, the names he threw at me, the pain, to fulfill my side of our bargain. To lay low until Rocco announced his intentions.
But when I look at Rocco now, I see that alluding to what happened in that room serves another purpose than just pissing me off. It reminds me of the oath he made.
Both not to touch me again and to free me from Claudio.
“Or was I mistaken?” He asks with a pointed look. He may as well have said, ”This is your last chance to back out”.
I might not like his methods, but the fact remains. He’s trying to help me.
And I need to play my part.
I let color flush my cheeks as I look back at Claudio. “I never said that.”
“You slut,” he snipes back.
It’s not the first time he’s said it these last few days, but it still makes me wince.
From the fireplace, the sound of paper ripping tears through the moment.
“Sorry, am I interrupting?” Teo asks innocently as he discards his book and pockets the page he ripped out.
Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Rocco sweeping something into the trash can by his feet.
“As charming as this little exchange has been,” Rocco snatches our attention right back, “I have places to be. Lazzaro, you have my offer. Cassandra, should he accept, can I presume you will be as agreeable as you were the other night?”
I have to bite my tongue while I formulate an appropriate response.
“I only agreed because Claudio was in trouble.”
“And he’s going to be in a lot more if he doesn’t make his payment next week.”
I look up at Claudio, pretending to try to discern what he wants me to do. “Will you make the payment, darling?”
Claudio doesn’t look me in the eye when he replies. “No.”
Though it sickens me to my very core, I reach for his hands. “Claudio, if I need to do this, I will.”
He snatches them away before I can touch him.
“She would need to keep working,” Claudio declares, all but sealing my fate.
Rocco tuts. “I’m afraid I can’t allow that.”
“What?” I say, my voice a few octaves higher than usual.
“Cassandra will be joining me on a trip out of town,” Rocco announces before examining his nails and refusing to elaborate.
My teeth grind together. What exactly is he playing at?
Claudio, for once, seems to agree with me. “TheCandelabrawill be missing an act.”
