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This was no game.
The tension that gripped her vibrated from him, engulfing them in a volatile little bubble.
‘I’d tell you how sorry I was that justice wasn’t served properly on your behalf.’ Her voice shook but she held firm. ‘Then I’d ask you if there was anything I could do to help you put the past behind you.’
Arctic grey eyes met hers. ‘What if I didn’t want to put it behind me? What if everything I believe in tells me the only way to achieve satisfaction is to make those responsible pay?’
‘I’d tell you it may seem like a good course of action, but doing that won’t get back what you’ve lost. I’d also ask why you thought that was the only way.’
His eyes darkened, partly in anger, partly with anguish. She half expected him to snarl at her for daring to dissuade him from his path of retribution.
Instead, he rose and went to dish out their second course. ‘Perhaps I don’t know another recourse besides crime and punishment?’ he intoned, disturbingly calm.
Sorrow seared her chest. ‘How can that be?’
He returned with their plates and set down her second course—a lobster thermidor—before taking his seat. His movements were jerky, lacking his usual innate grace.
‘Let’s say hypothetically that I’ve never been exposed to much else.’
‘But you know better or you wouldn’t be so devastated at the hand you’ve been dealt. You’re angry, yes, but you’re also wounded by your ordeal. Believe me, yours isn’t a unique story, Zaccheo.’
He frowned at the naked bitterness that leaked through her voice. ‘Isn’t it? Enlighten me. How have you been wounded?’
She cursed herself for leaving the door open, but, while she couldn’t backtrack, she didn’t want to provide him with more ammunition against her. ‘My family...we’re united where it counts, but I’ve always had to earn whatever regard I receive, especially from my father. And it hasn’t always been easy, especially when walls are thrown up and alliances built where there should be none.’
He saw through her vagueness immediately. ‘Your father and your sister against your mother and you? There’s no need to deny it. It’s easy to see your sister is fashioning herself in the image of her father,’ he said less than gently.
Eva affected an easy shrug. ‘Father started grooming her when we were young, and I didn’t mind. I just didn’t understand why that meant being left out in the cold, especially...’ She stopped, realising just how much she was divulging.
‘Especially...?’ he pressed.
She gripped her fork tighter. ‘After my mother died. I thought things would be different. I was wrong.’
His mouth twisted. ‘Death is supposed to be a profound leveller. But it rarely changes people.’
She looked at him. ‘Your parents—’
‘Were the individuals who brought me into the world. They weren’t good for much else. Take from that what you will. We’re also straying away from the subject. What if this stranger can’t see his way to forgive and forget?’ That ruthless edge was back in his voice.
Eva’s hand shook as she picked up her glass of Chianti. ‘Then he needs to ask himself if he’s prepared to live with the consequences of his actions.’
His eyebrows locked together in a dark frown, before his lashes swept down and he gave a brisk nod. ‘Asked and answered.’
‘Then there’s no further point to this game, is there?’
One corner of his mouth lifted. ‘On the contrary, you’ve shown a soft-heartedness that some would see as a flaw.’
Eva released a slow, unsteady breath. Had he always been like this? She was ashamed to admit she’d been so dazzled with Zaccheo from the moment he’d walked into Siren two years ago, right until the day he’d shown her his true colours, that she hadn’t bothered to look any deeper. He’d kissed her on their third date, after which, fearing she’d disappoint him, she’d stumblingly informed him she was a virgin.
His reaction had been something of a fairy tale for her. She’d made him out as her Prince Charming, had adored the way he’d treated her like a treasured princess, showering her with small, thoughtful gifts, but, most of all, his undivided time whenever they were together. He’d made her feel precious, adored. He’d proposed on their sixth date, which had coincided with his thirtieth birthday, and told her he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.
