It all went back to Gio. Sophia hadn’t left of her own volition. Her brother had forced her away. He had filled her head with lies about my involvement in her family’s death.
What else had he forced her to do? If he had known we were together, would he have forced her into aborting our child?
My hands screwed into fists and smashed down into the table. No one flinched.
Had Gio, my former best friend, whom I had loved as a brother, been plotting against me for years?
Was he still using his sister as a pawn in a game neither one of us knew the rules to?
“I need to speak to Sophia.”
Silence greeted me.
“What do you want to do about the Franny situation?” someone called out to me as I headed toward the door,
I paused.
What did I want to do about Franny? I had promised to marry her. It was a good match, and would make my position in the city even stronger.
“Nothing yet.” I sighed. “The deal still stands.” I walked away without looking back, my whole body vibrating with tension.
That tension was still making me shake when I stepped back into the apartment and found her sitting on the edge of the sofa and staring out at the city lights.
“You’re still awake.”
She didn’t answer me.
“Why are you still awake, Sophia? It’s late.”
Finally, she turned around. Her eyes were red and puffy. Maybe from lack of sleep, probably from crying. Again, my heart gave a painful pang.
“I couldn’t sleep.” Standing, she headed toward the kitchen. “I didn’t expect you back tonight. None of your…”
Wrapping an arm around her waist, I drew her to a stop. “Can we not argue, Sophia?”
“Isn’t that what we do these days?”
I couldn’t help it. I pressed against her, lifting her hair so I could nuzzle into her neck. As always, she smelled like happiness.
But tonight it was short-lived. Had Gio taken away my happiness from me six years ago, had he taken away my chance at a family with the only woman I had ever loved?
“It doesn’t have to be the only thing we could do, Sophia.” My lips brushed against her skin, and a familiar throb began to build.
She stiffened. “Of course I forgot that’s all I’m good for now, isn’t it?”
“Fuck Sophia.” I stepped away, a frustrated growl rumbling from my chest. “I don’t even know where to begin with you.”
Pretty brown eyes flashed. “What is that meant to mean?”
“It means you are hiding something from me, Sophia. I think…” My eyes scanned over her. The T-shirt brushed her knees, and I realized with a start, that it was mine.
She had sat here and cried wearing my shirt, because my words had hurt her, but she wanted to be close to me.
“I think,” I repeated quietly. “You are still hiding something from me. And I want to know what it is.”
“I am not hiding anything,” she snapped too quickly and with too much passion in her voice.
She sounded guilty, I realized. Guilty and panicked. I knew it, all of my instincts were right. She was hiding something, and it was getting harder and harder for her to lie to me.
