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Knock. Knock.
I wake with a start.What was that?I stretch and search groggily around the room with confusion.
Knock. Knock.
Someone is at the door. Finn! Jumping to my feet, I run and open the door. With his hair tousled, rumpled clothes, and dark smudges under his eyes, he looks exhausted.
“How’s Marco? Is he okay?” I ask as he steps into the apartment.
He nods. “Looks like severe heartburn. He’s staying overnight to be monitored and run more tests.”
I blow out a relieved breath. I throw my arms around his neck. “Thank God.”
When his arms stay stiff by his sides, I pull back to stare at him. He takes two steps away from me. Cold eyes look back at me. A chill runs down my spine. Did Marco say something to Finn? Did he confess the truth and now Finn is angry with me for keeping it from him?
“Finn, what’s wrong?”
With an edge to his voice, he says, “While I was at the hospital, I got a text. You might be interested in seeing it.” Pulling out his phone from his jacket pocket, he swipes the screen and hands it to me.
Frowning with confusion, I look at the screen. Blood rushes to my ears and pounds at my temples. “Where did you get this?”
Finn glowers. “Does it matter!”
“Yes, it matters.” I wave the phone in the air. “Whoever sent this is trying to cause trouble between us.” I put my money on Bianca. I thought she rushed away. Maybe she stuck around to do this. Desperate enough to want to rip Finn and I apart and also get her revenge on Marco.
With a snort of contemptuous laughter, he nods at the phone. “It looks like you’re the one who’s caused trouble between us. Well, you and my father.”
Fear thrums through my veins. “This is not what it looks like.” I look back at the photo someone sent Finn of Marco and I. Taken from a distance, it shows Marco’s hands on my shoulders, our noses almost touching. It looks like Marco and I are in a lover’s embrace with him about to kiss me. Not how Marco’s eyes were striking me with venom. “Someone wants to hurt us. It was Bianca, wasn’t it?” I ask, my voice shaking.
Ignoring my question, he says, “Was I the stepping-stone to get to my father? The patriarch of the family? Are his pockets deeper than mine? Was the ‘friction’ between you both purely for my sake? A distraction as to what was really going on?” He scrubs his hands over his face. His voice cracks, “I fucking fell for it.”
My world is crumbling around me.Please, no. I can’t lose him again.“Finn, I can explain.” I step closer, needing to be near him.
Finn holds up his hand, stopping me from touching him. “There’s nothing to explain. I’m such a fool for trusting you again. I had this feeling in my gut…” He splays his hand over his stomach. “…telling me something was off. Like you were keeping something from me. I ignored it. Believed your story. But that’s the last time I’ll ever believe anything you say.”
A sob catches in my throat, and tears roll down my hot cheeks. “It’s not a story. I’ve wanted to talk to you—tell you something about Marco—something I wasn’t sure you wanted to hear. But I’m not involved with Marco. Please, let me explain what this photo is really about.”
He hangs his head. “No more lies, please.” He turns to leave.
I rush after him, grabbing his arm to stop him. He glances at my hand like something crapped on him and shakes it away. With a sinking heart, I take a step back. “Did you show Marco the photo? He’ll tell you it’s not what it looks like.”
“He told me you’ve been coming onto him since the minute yourhusbanddied. Begging to be together. He said that photo was a moment of weakness on his part.”
An icy wave washes over me, ripping the breath from my lungs. “No,” I say, my voice cracking.How could Marco do this to his son?“He’s lying. He’s been lying to you for years. Finn, I love you—”
“Don’t say those words to me again!” His expression is more distant than I’ve ever seen it before.
My body shakes.This can’t be happening.There’s nothing more I can say or do, so I watch Finn storm out of the apartment and slam the door behind him. My legs give out, and I slide onto the floor, hugging my knees to my chest. I rock as sobs wrack through my body.
How can Marco do this? How can Finn believeI’ddothis?The evidence is damning. I wish I had told Finn about Marco sooner, then we wouldn’t be in this mess. Now he hates me so much, he won’t listen to my side of the story.
I’ve lost him. Again. It was torture the first time. It took years to pull myself out of a dark hole. How am I supposed to do it again?
Chapter Thirty-Nine
FINN
IarriveatAlessi’sthe next day and barrel into Juliette’s office. The designer has two colored pencils in her hair and one between her lips. Not taking her gaze off the sketch she’s working on, she mumbles, “Hello, darling. If you’re marching in here about to demand to know what’s happening with the designs, I have good news, they’ll be finished next week.”
