“Feels true,” she murmurs.
My breath punches out of me. I try to claw back control—any control—because she’s unmaking me one thread at a time and she knows it.
“You came here under false pretenses,” I snap, pointing at her because it’s the only distance I can manufacture. “You lied the second you stepped into this church. Why?”
Her gaze shifts past my shoulder, landing on the crucifix above the sacristy door.
That small, silent look—God help me—cuts deeper than every word she’s thrown at me.
She whispers she does not intend to confess everything to God.
The air thickens.Forbidden.Heavy.Pulling us closer instead of pushing us apart.
I take another step, careful and slow. Her lips barely opened. Her breathing hitches. Her eyes lock onto mine as though waiting to see which part of me wins:
The priest.Or Giovanni’s son.
“You shouldn’t be here,” I say, my voice low, rough.
“Do you want me to leave?” she asks.
I open my mouth—nothing comes out.
She notices.She always notices.
Her voice dips again, soft, dangerous. “I’m not afraid of you, Santino.”
My name in her mouth is a sin that hits my bloodstream. “You should be.”
“Why?” she breathes. “Because you grabbed me? Because you wanted to?”
My hands curl at my sides. Shame spikes through me like a blade. “I didn’t—”
But we both know it’s a lie, and the truth is still burning across my skin.
She watches the cracks forming inside me—clean, ruthless, unavoidable.
“You’re not the monster you think you are,” she says quietly.
“You don’t know a fucking thing about me.”
Her gaze softens—not pity. Something sharper. I might know more than you wish.
The room feels too small.The walls are too close.Her too near.
“You should go,” I whisper.
Internal War: Priest vs Heir
I should walk away.
God knows I should.
I should create distance between us, between the sin still burning under my skin and the woman who stood before me, appearing as if she was carved from temptation itself.
But Pia doesn’t move.
She lingers in the doorway—close enough for the storm light to paint her cheek in silver, far enough that I can lie to myself and pretend she isn’t affecting me.
