“What?”Papihissed. “Searching for her? So you’ve been looking for my daughter for years?”
My eyes widened, and my head snapped to Santino’s calm expression. He nodded, as if it were obvious, leaning back in his chair.
“Of course. I knew I’d recognise my wife the moment I saw her. I didn’t think it would be in a massage room at my very own hotel, where I’d be challenged to spell the alphabet.”
I spat my wine across the table.
“Serendipity, I guess.” He shrugged, fighting his amusement as I kicked his shin under the table. My father’s eyes narrowed.
“I don’t understand what you are speaking of, Buccini. You met in a massage room?”
“At Hotel XO. Aria came for a service.”
“A massage,” I interrupted quickly, my desire to kill my husband returning by the second. “Remember, I told you,Papi. Allegra was staying there, and I visited her. I left my necklace there.”
He nodded, still frowning as he looked between Santino and me. “And you met him there? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I—I didn’t know who he was. I thought he worked at the spa.”
“So you tricked my daughter?”
“Not in the way you think.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I didn’t know she was your daughter that day, but I knew she would become my wife.”
My stomach swooped as he gave me one of those dashing smiles again. Was that true?
“You expect me to believe you had no idea she was my daughter when she walked into your hotel, and you introduced yourself to her in the spa?”Papisnarled.
“Like I said. Serendipity. Don’t you believe in it, Mayor?”
“I don’t believe a man who always thinks three steps ahead met my daughter by chance. No.”
“I can’t prove it, so I won’t try to. But Aria knows I never lie. That’s all that matters.”
That seemed to trigger something in my father, and he leaned in, lowering his voice. “Do not pretend to care for my daughter or try to trick her into believing you have a single respectful bone in your body while you use her to control me, Buccini. I won’t stand for it. You win.” He huffed, the sound heavy with defeat.
My heart began hammering because I knew what was coming next, even though Santino didn’t. He tilted his head.
“I win?”
Papireached into his briefcase under the table, pulled out a document, and slid it across to Santino. I quickly scanned the largest text at the top. Divorce papers.
“What’s this?” Santino asked, lifting his wine instead of paying the document any interest.
“What you wanted. I’ll call off the investigation into you and all your front businesses. I’ll reopen the port so your shipments can continue. If you sign these divorce papers right here, right now, and leave my daughter alone.”
I stared at Santino, motionless except for my pounding heart. He glanced at me and narrowed his eyes, waiting for my reaction. I didn’t give one. I didn’t know how to feel about any of this, so staying silent and seeing how it played out felt like my only option. A part of me wanted him to accept the deal and grab a pen,confirming what everyone believed. Nothing between us had ever been real. At least on his part. I was being played. But another part of me, a stupid one, didn’t want it to be true.
Santino took a slow sip of his wine, stared at the document on the table between us, and then placed his glass down.
“No.”
“What do you mean by ‘no’?”Papihissed.
“Is there another meaning to the word?”
