Page 316 of Alessio

She couldn’t look away.

This wasn’t for her to see. Their moment—their fight. None of it was for her, even if it had been brought on because of her. She didn’t have any business being privy to something that felt far bigger than her.

Because wasn’t that much obvious?

It wasn’t just her.

Alessio pulled away first, his face still darkened by the shadows, but that didn’t stop Ginevra from noticing the way his jaw trembled when murmured, “Don’t, Corrado.”

Corrado dragged in a ragged breath. “Les—”

“Don’t you fucking dare say that to me,” he interjected, swift and harsh, his voice straining with every word. “Not right now, not after everything and all this time … don’t you dare do that to me. You never wanted to do it before, so you don’t get to do it tonight. You don’t get to use it now. You don’t get the right to use those words when you did this, too.”

“I’m not trying to say it to use it like a weapon—”

“You are because you know what it means.”

Corrado released a rough sound that echoed down the quiet hallway. “Let me explain, please.”

“Except you can’t, can you?”

“Or you don’t really want me to, Les.”

Alessio nodded. “Don’t do that, either.”

“If you’re going to throw my shit at me, then at least look at your own.”

“Fuck you, Corrado.”

As fast as Alessio had moved to corner Corrado, he stepped away, moving into the hallway with his back facing Ginevra. Although, she didn’t think he knew she was there. She should move—now would be the right time to do exactly that—but she couldn’t. Her feet might as well have been cemented to the floor.

Stupid, foolish girl.

“Just … stay,” Corrado said, “calm down, and then maybe we can talk without this. It doesn’t have to be like this.”

“Nah, I wouldn’t want to intrude, you know?”

Alessio said that, and the same time, tipped his head to the side. Ginevra stilled against the wall, her eyes growing wide when the man pointedly looked her way. He’d known the whole time she was standing there, it seemed.

He didn’t appear bothered by it.

Corrado sighed, his stare following Alessio’s path until it landed on her. Still, he said nothing, and he didn’t move when Alessio turned around, and headed down the hallway. He met her gaze, and held it even as he came closer, and didn’t drop it as he passed.

“You really found a mess here, girl, huh?” Alessio asked her.

Ginevra looked away.

He wasn’t wrong.

Silence echoed in the penthouse long after the slamming of the front door reached the far hallway. The hardwood floor suddenly became a hell of a lot more interesting to her, because it was easier than watching Corrado drag the pad of his thumb over his bottom lip.

Like he was still feeling that kiss.

Too many things warred in her mind, and her heart. All the things she’d clearly missed, and others that still didn’t make sense. Oh, she had questions that needed and deserved an answer, sure, but some of them probably weren’t her place to ask.

She’d been lied to.

She’d been hurt, too.