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‘No,’ Marco said, suddenly gripping her arms with his hands. His blood was raging through his body, making him tremble with anger. She was going too far.
‘You seduced me, just like he seduced your mother,’ Claudia said. ‘All with the intention of destroying me and my family, the way he destroyed yours.’
‘It was not the same thing,’ Marco said, tightening his fingers on her arms to emphasize his words.
His head was throbbing, making it hard to think straight. But he knew she must be wrong.
‘It doesn’t matter what you say.’ Claudia stepped backwards, jerking out of his grip. ‘Whichever way you present it, it comes to the same thing. You are completely heartless.’
Suddenly a terrible expression passed across her face—a look of disgust combined with total devastation. Then, as if she was unable to bear another second with him, she turned and walked jerkily away.
He stood frozen to the spot, unable to make himself move to try and stop her. Then, just as she reached the door, she turned back and spoke.
‘Your hatred of Vasile has completely consumed you,’ she said. ‘And now, whether you admit it or not, you’ve become the man you hate.’
CHAPTER TWELVE
CLAUDIA flung herself across the veranda and staggered on to the sand, choking back the torrent of tears that was threatening to burst out of her. She would not cry in front of Marco. She would not cry until she was out of his sight.
She ran across the beach towards the sea, stumbling as the soft sand shifted beneath her feet, and finally sank down to her knees at the water’s edge, sobbing her heart out.
By that point she was beyond caring whether Marco could see her. She was beyond coherent thought. The anger that had fuelled her only moments before had completely evaporated, leaving behind a desolate shadow of the woman who had defended herself so passionately, fearlessly standing up to Marco and calling him out on his appalling actions.
All that was left of her was a helpless wretch, huddled alone on the beach, weeping in solitary misery.
She felt horribly bereft. It was as if she had lost someone profoundly important to her—yet she knew she was grieving for something she’d never really had. Nothing had been real.
It had all been a lie.
Marco watched Claudia stumble across the beach, gripped by a maelstrom of raging emotions. As she collapsed beside the water he realised at once that she was weeping. Suddenly the fury that stormed within him was extinguished, and something deep inside him contracted painfully.
Claudia had said he had no heart—but she was wrong.
He could feel it breaking as he watched her weep.
At that moment he knew with absolute certainty that every word she had ever told him was true. And that he had taken her trust, the innermost secrets of her soul, and he’d used them against her in the worst possible way. He’d manipulated her and abused her trust. He’d chewed her up and spat her back out.
Her final words—you’ve become the man you hate—echoed agonisingly inside his mind.
The idea that he had turned into a monster like Vasile was utterly abhorrent—yet the truth in her accusation lacerated his soul. She had been right when she’d told him that his need for revenge had blinded him to what was true.
All along something inside him—which he’d forced right to the back of his consciousness—had recognised the signs of her innocence. His heart had known the truth, but his mind, filled with hatred and the obsessive need to avenge his family, had overpowered that truth. The anger that had driven him since his mother’s betrayal had consumed him and he had chosen how to interpret everything Claudia had ever said or done, according to his own warped agenda.
When she’d told him that Vasile and Francesca were blackmailing her into marriage, he had believed her. In fact, he’d even felt a flash of concern for Claudia. But he had chosen to brutally suppress it, because it didn’t fit in with his preconceived ideas about her. Instead he had concentrated on the cold satisfacti
on he’d felt, knowing that Vasile was desperate enough to do such a reckless thing.
Nothing had added up, but he had ploughed on regardless—too arrogant to re-evaluate.
Too scared to expose the chink in his heart.
A thunderbolt of understanding hit him square in the chest, making his heart thud and his eyes widen as he stared across the beach at Claudia.
He’d been too scared to expose his heart to her for one simple reason.
He was in love with her.
He’d been in love with her since the summer when they’d first met.
