When we arrived at the gallery, the SUV had barely come to a stop before I flung open my door. As I stepped across the sidewalk, I caught the eye of the bodyguard standing outside. “Open the door,” I commanded.
Nodding, he quickly typed the code in the keypad. After the turn of the mechanized lock, he held the door open for me.
At the sound of the tinkling bells overhead, Drea called, “Be right there.”
I didn’t wait for her to come to me. Instead, I stalked through the aisle, my gaze bouncing left and right. Finally I found her watching two workmen in blue coveralls hoist a massive painting with an ornate gold frame onto the wall.
When she whirled around, her face lit up at the sight of me. “Oh my God. What are you doing here so early? Are we going to celebrate with an Early Bird special?” Waving me over, Drea said, “Look at the Caserae Feliciano that just arrived. I can’t believe they’re letting me house it.”
“Leave us,” I commanded the men.
Drea’s face fell. “Leo, what’s wrong?”
I didn’t speak until I heard the sound of the door shut. “A man just had this delivered to my office to blackmail me off the land project.”
After shoving the envelope at her, I waited silently as she opened it. The moment she saw the picture of her and the other man, the color drained from her face. In a pained voice, she said, “I can explain.”
“There’s more.”
With trembling hands, she shifted the picture to the note. Drea only read a few lines before the papers fluttered from her fingers to the floor. When she finally dared to look at me, tears pooled in her eyes.
“Leo, I’m so sorry.”
“So you don’t deny it?”
She shook her head. “I’ve lied to you long enough.”
Her words gutted me. Even though I’d been presented with all the evidence, there was still a small part of me that hoped it wasn’t true. That Vincent was just fucking with me by manufacturing lies.
But Drea’s admission had stripped me of all hope. Luca wasn’t mine, and Drea had been betraying me since the day we married.
“Who is Luca’s father?”
CHAPTER FORTY: DREA
Despite fearing this day would come, I’d never actually envisioned it. I hadn’t imagined what it would be like when Leo confronted me about my lies. Even if I had, I don’t think I could’ve ever done justice to the emotions that played out on Leo’s face.
“Who is Luca’s father?” he demanded.
My hands came to cradle my bump protectively. “I don’t know,” I whispered.
Leo jabbed a finger at me. “If you think lying to me right now will protect you, let me assure you that it won’t.”
“Iambeing honest.”
“Dammit, Drea–”
I held up a shaky hand. “Please. Let me explain.”
“Fine.”
“I think it’s fair to say that everything went off the rails for us after that night at Inferno.”
When Leo didn’t respond, I continued on, “Remember how I told you I’d gone to that party with my roommate and saw you and Harper?”
“Yeah. What about it?”
“That picture was taken at the party I saw you at with Harper. Even though I know now there wasn’t anything truly between the two of you, it devastated me. It didn’t help that I was already at my wits end with my wedding coming up. So I did something to try to forget the pain.”
