“Daddy!” Rosa shrieks, but she snaps her mouth shut when he levels her with a cold glare.
Stefano seems to vibrate with anger as he looks at the other man before his mask is in place once more, and he turns to me. “Gina—”
“I’m not a whore.” I stiffen my spine, needing to do that to stop from collapsing to the floor. “And I’m not missing. I’ve been with Tommaso since I was discharged from the hospital. Because I’m his wife.”
Silence fills the house, and I see Adolfo close his eyes briefly. When he opens them again, he looks at me with escalating worry.
Then Rosa starts to laugh, and a shudder wracks through me, feeling like someone just walked over my grave.
“Oh, you stupid bitch,” she says with glee. “Tommaso and I areengaged.Our families have signed a contract. And in our world, that’s a blood contract.”
My heart hammers, knowing what she means.
But I shake my head, trembling harder. “No. We’re married. We renewed our vows recently because of my amnesia, and I couldn’t remember the first time we had gotten married.”
That makes Rosa double over with laughter, and she clutches her chest when she stands, catching her breath with tears running down her cheeks. “Oh, this is rich. Amnesia? Oh my god. Vow renewal because you couldn’t remember your first wedding?”
“Because there was no first wedding,” her father says.
“No.” I shake my head. “No, that’s not what happened.”
“But you have no memory, right?” Rosa hikes a finely arched eyebrow and wipes the tears from under her eyes with her perfectly manicured nails. “How naïve and stupid could you be?”
“He was merely fucking you while waiting to marry Rosa.” Her father eyes me again. “And no man can fault him for wanting to use such a fine piece of ass such as yourself.”
I may not have my memories, but I know I’ve never been spoken to like this before.
“How dare you.” But my words quiver rather than come out strong. “That is not what happened. Tommaso and I are married. We renewed our vows.”
But when I look at Adolfo and Jerome, and see their concerned looks laced with what I can only describe as pity, I stumble back.
“I want her tossed out of my house.” Rosa waves at me, looking around. “A nobody like her doesn’t deserve to be in a place like this.” She looks back at me with a malicious smile. “Unless, since you have no place to go, you can be the hired help until you get on your feet. But, believe me, Gina, when I say you’re done fucking my husband. I’ll be the only woman he needs.”
She turns to Etta. “Show me to my suite of rooms. I’m assuming they’ll be right next to Tommaso’s. Though once we marry, I expect all my stuff to be moved into his room.” She flashes me a venomous look. “And I want the whore’s stuff removed from his room immediately if any of it is in there.”
“No.” I stumble back, refusing to believe this. But there’s a feeling, a vague memory, that’s warning me that this is real.
With a burst of light that makes my head throb, the image surges forth. It’s the news article picture with Rosa holding a man’s arm, and his face is now revealed in the memory.
It’s…Tommaso.
And he’s looking down at Rosa.
My heart races, threatening to rip out of my chest.
But it’s the headline of the news article that makes it feel like it really is ripping out of my chest.
San Francisco’s Most Sought-After King Has Found His Queen.
I can’t breathe. The pain within me swells until I feel like I might never breathe again.
Rosa wasn’t lying.
With a sob trapped in my chest, I spin on my heel and run deeper into the house, trying to outrun my reality, but I know it’s useless.
I’m a nobody.
The memory of my father wasn’t distorted or something my mind had made up.
