“No! You don’t get to do this.” She angrily swiped tears off her cheeks. “Either you accept me as I am or you leave. But I’m not going to change who I am for you. And you shouldn’t even ask me to!”
“That’s not what we’re talking about here, Chiara, and you know it,” I snapped.
“Then what is this about?”
“Trust!” I roared. “Compulsively snooping and involving yourself in other’s business will not stop people from leaving you. It won’t bring your father back!”
She flinched. Chest heaving as she took several steps backward.
“I think you should go.” Her voice tense.
“Chiara . . .” I reached for her, shaking my head.
Dante’s voice rang up the stairwell. “Jack? You coming?”
“No, Jack.” Chiara continued to back away, head shaking, her gaze at my feet. “You’re right. This won’t work. You need to leave.”
“Just listen for a moment—”
“No.”
“Jack!” Dante again. “I’m double-parked, man. No one’s on the street to see you right now. You gotta come.”
“Go.” Chiara flicked her hand toward the door.
I stared at her, committing her to memory. Rumpled and adorable as she was.
This was actually for the best, I told myself. She needed to move on from me.
I slid a finger through her cheek. Wishing with everything in my power that I could feel the softness of her skin.
“Goodbye, Chiara.”
I turned and walked out the door.
I didn’t look back.
TWENTY-ONE
Chiara
Numb.
That was the only word
Jack was gone, riding off to his villa, avoiding D’Angelos and our Chucky-slime summoning superpowers. He was probably already writing chatty emails back and forth with Candy White and planning their happy life together—
Scratch that. I knew it wasn’t true, so why did I go off obsessing over it?
Jack was right; I didn’t give him enough credit. I needed to trust more. The memory of his disappointed, outraged face. How many times had past boyfriends given me a similar look? But to receive that particular expression from Jack . . .
The memory gutted me.
Inspector Paola called Tennyson’s phone after Jack left, forcing me to push aside my maudlin thoughts.
“Given your unhealthy obsession with media attention, we stepped up the arrests,” she reported. “All suspects are in custody. You are free to go where you’d like. We don’t feel your life is in danger anymore from the Tempeste family.”
Her words were decidedly anticlimactic.
