“He didn’t do anything,” I said into the tear-stained wet spot on his shirt front.
“Then tell me what he said to you that has put that look on your face. Tell me and I’ll make it all go away. Whatever he is threatening you with—"
“It’s not…you can’t.” I sucked in a breath, and with it, I filled my lungs with the warm, masculine smell of him.
“Tell me, Sophia. Tell me what you are hiding. What is your brother—"
I could tell him. I could spill all my secrets and deal with the consequences. It would almost be easy.
“Let me help you, Sophia. All you have to do is tell me the truth, and all of this could be over.” Over and over again, his hands stroked up and down my back.
He was giving me comfort, but at the same time, terrifying me. Because what did he mean it would all be over?
If he knew about Lily, what would he do to her?
I pushed at his chest, untangling my way out of his arms and sitting upright.
Angrily, I wiped at my face. “There is nothing to tell. No big plan against you. I got sad because I missed my brother,” I lied, and even as I said the words, I knew he didn’t believe them.
In reality, he didn’t need to believe them because he was never getting the truth out of me.
I would die before I ever put my daughter in danger.
“You’re still lying to me, Sophia.” He jumped to his feet. “I’ve given you chance after chance to open up to me, to be fucking honest, but you just can’t do it, can you?” he spat. “You’re as bad as your brother. No,” his eyes narrowed, “no, you are worse. So much worse than he is. Keep your secrets, Sophia. But when I find out, and I will find out, it’s going to be so much worse for you,”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, like it can get any worse?”
He laughed at me. “Oh, it can, Sophia. I can make it so much worse for you. I can make you wish you had never met me.” He sneered. “Baby killer.”
My chin quivered. “I already regret the day I met you, Matteo. I regret ever having loved you at all.”
Panting, he stared at me. “You’re a piece of work, Sophia. A real sick…”
I stood, squaring my shoulders. “And you’re the one who made methat way. This is what loving you does to someone. You are poison and I hate you.”
He blinked twice, shocked that I had said the words out loud. “And there it is. The truth at last. So you hate me. Any other truths for me, Sophia?”
I shook my head.
“Then I will leave you to your self-pity. Enjoy it.” He moved away but didn’t leave. “I hate you as well. I hope you know that, Sophia. I hate you almost as much as I once loved you.”
Not saying another word, he stepped into the elevator, and the whooshing doors closed.
I fell back onto the sofa.
God, I hated that elevator.
Chapter Thirty-One
Matteo
I had called her a baby killer, I hadn’t meant to, but I had said it anyway, and then I’d watched as her chin had wobbled. She hadn’t cried, but she had wanted to because my words had hurt her.
Good.
She deserved to be hurt. If she had killed my baby, she deserved so much worse than a few names being thrown in her direction.
Of course, there was the possibility that the baby hadn’t been mine at all or that she had lost it naturally. And if she had lost it naturally. If she’d had a miscarriage—
