Page 83 of The Arrangement

Anton scowled when she refused to meet his stare. “You’re right. It was.”

“Ouch.”

“That man loved you. The one you didn’t know loved you. Your mother loved you. I won’t sit here and let you try to convince yourself otherwise. That’s ridiculous. I don’t know if this is your way of dealing with all this crap, but screw that. I’ve sat back and let you have your self-imposed gag order about all of this, Vine, but in no way will I allow you to believe that kind of bullshit. Not going to happen.”

“Where do you get off—”

“Because I love you, too!” Anton shouted, standing from his desk instantly.

She flinched from the level of his voice. His knuckles that were still sore from the week before cracked against the hard oak, splitting the healing wounds open all over again. It barely even registered over the thrum of anger that simmered under his skin.

“That’s not fair to them. It’s not fair to Roman after he raised you and never once gave you any indication you were worth any less than your brother. Or Nicoli … not after he sat back for all those years he knew you were alive and let you be raised by another man, one he knew would love and raise you well. While I’m at it, I ought to just shove Christina in the bunch, too. She could have aborted you before anyone even knew you were there and simply went on like nothing was different, but she didn’t. Don’t do that; don’t assume that of them. That’s not okay, Viviana.”

Her eyes flickered with emotions. He didn’t even think she’d taken a breath since his voice raised, considering her chest wasn’t moving and she all but stood like a statue with shaking hands.

The silence that ensued had his lungs hurting. Not five seconds later she turned and left the office without even glancing back. The quiet clatter of Rocco’s paws down the hallway followed instantly.

“Fuck.”

Once more, his fists hit the wood, splitting the wounds wider before blood seeped to the surface. At least the sting of the old injury opening up was enough of an ache to let him forget about the sudden rise of remorse in his heart.

But only for a moment.

Just as quickly, he was jogging around his desk and following the path she took down the hallway. She hadn’t barricaded herself inside a room again, considering their bedroom door was wide open and Rocco sat in the entrance, his tail wagging. Leaning in the doorway, Anton placed his hand on the pup’s head, scratching gently as Viviana paced inside the room.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered under his breath. “I shouldn’t have done that. It was insensitive of me.”

“And downright ignorant.”

“Okay, now that’s arguable. I think out of the two of us, I have a bit more insight to all of this than you do, considering you won’t even speak about it.”

“I meant ignorant of my feelings, Anton. You’re being an asshole. An insensitive one.”

“Stop trying to pick a fight,” he snapped.

“You already did!”

Damn it. Why couldn’t she just listen to him?

“Is that what you thought I was doing, Viviana? Instead of listening to what I said, because it damn well made sense whether you liked it or not, you turned tail and ran again. Again! You don’t want to hear it. None of it. You just want to pretend like none of it even happened and you can’t do that.”

“No, correction, Anton, you only want me to hear what you have to say. You don’t want me to feel anything that might shine one of them in a bad light because heaven forbid I be angry at people who just chose all of this for me instead of letting me decide for myself.”

Instantly, he jerked at the accusation she tossed back at him as if it’d been a knife she threw in place of words. They stung like nothing else. Was that honestly what she thought?

“I didn’t mean—”

“Well that’s how it feels!”

Anton forced himself to swallow back the anger he’d previously felt. Maybe she was right. His view on the whole thing had been one-sided. He’d never stopped to consider that everything she thought before about the arrangement and her parents would be totally turned upside down and ruined, leaving her in the same state. Of course it would … who wouldn’t see it that way?

“Okay.”

Taking one step inside the room, he turned to hold a hand out when Rocco tried to follow, stopping the animal up short. When he was sure the pup would stay out in the hallway, he closed their bedroom door and turned to face a teary eyed Viviana. The confused look she gave him had Anton offering her a small smile in return.

“What are you doing?”

“Okay,” Anton repeated, his tone turning thick as he nodded at the bed for her to sit. When she did, he leaned back into the door and crossed his arms. “Whatever you need, baby. Whatever you want to say. It’s just you and me. Fuck them, my opinions, the outside world, the crap I have to handle for my guys before we go to bed … fuck it all. Right now, I just want to hear you talk.”