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“I don’t want that, either. I don’t want anything from you, other than your obedience, and maybe, down the road, your pussy.”
“Why must you be so crass?”
Tears made her eyes shimmer. She was a crier, too.
Could we be any less compatible? I didn’t think so.
“Why must you be such an emotional train wreck?” I responded curtly, pushing off the door and getting ready to leave. “We are who we are.”
“We are who we choose to be,” she corrected, throwing a piece of clothing at her feet. “And unlike you, I choose to feel.”
“Go to bed, Francesca. We’re going to visit your parents tomorrow, and I’d appreciate you hanging on my arm without looking like shit.”
“We are?” Her mouth hung open.
“We are.”
My version of accepting her apology.
My version of letting her know I wasn’t a monster.
Not that night, anyway.
The night that marked the birthday of the man who taught me how to be good, and as a homage, I allowed this one small crack in my shield, giving her a hint of warmth.
My dead brother was a good man.
But me? I was a great villain.
Chapter
Nine
FRANCESCA
“Just tell me who it was. An ex-girlfriend? A missing cousin? Who? Who!” I probed Ms. Sterling the next day between tending to my vegetable garden, chain-smoking, and looking through the trash for the broken picture—the one thing my future husband cared about, and I somehow managed to ruin.
I was met with stern, snippy answers. She explained, between huffs and phone calls, barking at the cleaning company once again, that if I wanted to learn more about Wolfe’s life, I needed to earn his trust.
“Earn his trust? I can’t even earn a smile from him.”
“Have you actually tried making him smile?” She squinted, checking my face for lies.
“Should I have? He practically kidnapped me.”
“He also saved you from your parents.”
“I didn’t want to be saved!”
“Two things people should be grateful for without asking—love and to be saved. You are offered both. Yet, my dear, you seem quite ungracious.”
Ms. Sterling, I deduced, was senile to the bone. She sounded so different from the woman who persuaded my future husband to show me mercy yesterday when I eavesdropped on them.
I saw through her game. Trying to defrost us toward one another while always playing the devil’s advocate.
I thought she was wasting her time. On both ends.
Still, bickering with Ms. Sterling was the best part of my day. She showed more passion and involvement in my life than Wolfe and my father combined.
