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Closing the door behind her, Clio entered her bedroom.
Anticipated fear churned through her gut. Her fingers slipping on the keys of her laptop, she typed in her password and looked up her bank account.
Sweat running down her back, she pulled a sheaf of papers she had left on her nightstand.
Jackson’s financials...
Her gut folded in on itself as she finally pinpointed the discrepancy she had been trying to find, and the tremendous truth of her financial affairs rammed home.
Jackson had robbed her of every last penny, literally...
This was proof enough for the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate Jackson. Proof enough to pull everything on him...
Her legs gave out under her and she sagged to the cushioned chair in front of the vanity, her breaths rushing on top of each other. Why it had finally come to her today, at this moment after weeks of trying, she had no idea.
Today when she had seen a real smile curve Stefan’s mouth, today when she had seen the flash of pure joy in his eyes...
Today when it seemed like she had made a difference in his life.
This was all Stefan needed from her, why he had agreed to her deal, why he had married her... And once he had it...
Clutching the chocolate-and-gold veneer of the table, she leaned her forehead to it, trying to lock the tears in her throat.
The whole day had been the upward ride of a roller coaster—going higher and higher on the tale she had spun about Stefan and her, the pressure building. Until this moment when she was crashing down.
Rosa Bianco looking fondly at Stefan and her, and weaving dreams for their future life, had been the same as looking at a reality that was even better than the one she had wanted for so long, one that she was living every day, but was still out of her grasp.
Pretending to be the woman Stefan adored was like a drug she never wanted to quit, that could distort her reality and delude her. Still, she didn’t want to give him the proof yet.
“You shouldn’t have interfered, Clio.”
Stefan’s voice behind her simmered with anger and emotion.
But she had done what she had intended. She had finally gotten past that shell of his.
She had to face the music now, but for his sake, she would do the same again.
“Turn around and face me. There’s nowhere to run tonight.”
Warning vibrated in his tone, along with arrogance. And instead of scaring her, it goaded Clio. Someone had to show Stefan what he had become, had to remind him what he used to be.
Still seated, she turned around to face him.
“I didn’t interfere, Stefan. Nor do I have any intention of running away.”
“No? Because I have a feeling you’re taking our vows literally, bella. Everything that you have been doing these past two weeks, everything you think I need, you can stop it. You have no duty toward me, Clio.”
He spat the word as if it was a curse, as if he couldn’t stand the idea of her doing anything in the name of it. Her muscles quivering, Clio frowned.
It was as if there were two parts of her within—one wanted to back down, apologize before the tension in the room exploded, one wanted to challenge him about her place in his life, wanted to hurt him as he did her.
For what else was the tightness in her chest?
Uncoiling from the chair, she straightened her spine. “Maybe I have no duty toward you as a wife, Stefan. God knows nothing but that bloody contract defines that between us. But what about as a friend who wants to do something for you, who wants to see you smile again?”
He prowled into the room and into her space. Long fingers wrapped around her nape possessively. “I have three friends—ones who don’t interfere in my personal life. I don’t need another friend.”
“So everything you have done for me then, what—?”
“That’s a different matter.”
Clio half snorted, half laughed, her temper getting the better of her again. “Can you hear yourself? You gave me the right to interfere in your life when you interfered in mine. Goose and gander, Stefan.”
“You’ve lost me again. But do not repeat this, Clio. Or I have to forget my own rules, too, and they are already very muddy right now.”
“They were over the moon to see you, Stefan. And I know that it meant something to you, too.”
Scorn filled his gaze. “Then why didn’t you invite yours, bella?”
Burying the hurt that instantly swarmed to the surface, Clio shrugged. “I did invite them. I thought a farce it might be, but this is the only wedding I’ll have. My mother said, I hope you fare better with him than you did with the American. They have no interest in my life, Stefan. Not after I walked away from the one they decided on for me.
