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The stabbing sensation twists sharply.
Not best friends. Closer than that.
I shouldn’t have opened this.
I hate that I’m shaking, and I hate that I’m jealous, but I really hate that it looks like Dante andmy own sisterwere a hell of a lot more than “strangers”. Angrily, my stomach churning, I start to collect everything hurriedly to shove it back in the box. In my haste, I bump the box with my elbow and tips over, dumping the rest of the contents across the desk.
I was hurt before. I felt sick and devastated and jealous beyond belief to see those photos.
…But nothing on earth can prepare me for what I find myself staring down at, there in black and white, on the desk.
Dante looksup from his desk when I come surging into the room. He mutters something into his phone before he hangs up and gets to his feet.
“Whoa, what’s going?—”
“I want the truth!!” I blurt, shaking as tears stream down my face. My entire body feels like it’s wrenching in two, my heart twisting around itself as my stomach ties into knots.
Dante blinks in confusion.
“Tempest—”
“TELL ME!” I scream. “What were you and my sister?!”
He goes still.
“Go ahead!” I yell. “Go ahead and lie! Tell me you didn’t even know each other! Tell me you justhappenedto take her to the hospital that night! And fuckingmarryher!!”
Dante’s jaw ticks. “It was a complicated situation, Tempest,” he growls quietly. “As were the reasons for my actions that horrible day?—”
“Complicated because she was fuckingpregnant?!”
I hurl the ultrasound picture with Layla’s name at the top at him. My vision blurs as I start to shake uncontrollably.
“Youmotherfucker!!” I scream again. “You—you?—”
“Tempest, listen to?—”
“I’m going to be sick.” I whirl aimlessly in circles as my breathing comes faster and faster. “This is so fucking…this isfucked up!” I wheel on him abruptly. “Is this some sick, twisted fetish of yours?! Fuck one girl and then fuck her little sister, too?—”
“I never slept with Layla,” Dante chokes through clenched teeth.
“She was fuckingpregnant, you son of?—”
“NOT. BY. ME!!”
His voice booms through the room, momentarily stunning me and knocking the air from my lungs. Dante charges around the corner of his desk, and before I can run, he’s grabbed me by the wrists and yanked me tight against his chest.
“Listen to me.”
“Get your fucking hands off of me!” I scream and sob, tears flowing down my face. “Get away from me! I hate you! I fucking hate?—!”
“Your sister,Tempest!” Dante roars abruptly, shocking me into silence. His eyes burn into mine, his jaw clenching as a vein pops on his forehead. “Your sister,” he chokes a little more quietly, “saved my life, and she was my best, and for a while myonly, friend.”
33
DANTE
Fifteen years ago:
