I wouldn’t cry for her.
I refused to do something so petty and meaningless.
Tears wouldn’t fix anything.
But I was determined to try to help her however I could.
I had enough money saved up in my secret account now. I’d stashed away what I could when my parents and Esmeralda’s parents passed away in the same fluke accident all those yearsago. With what Andre was paying me, I had to be able to afford a down payment on a hospice facility for her.
If money’s an issue…
I frowned as I lifted my face, knowing that if I gave Andre the word, he’d pay for anything I wanted. He had the means. He had the power and wealth and influence to make “magic” happen like that.
Yet, it wasn’t so simple as that. I wouldn’t be able to physically get Esmeralda out of my uncle’s basement on my own. He’d stop me. His guards would stop me. I would need to ask an Orlov to help me break out my Giovanni cousin.
That would require my explaining that I was a spy and liar here, and that would be the end of Andre wanting to spare me any kindness at all.
You just had to fuck it all up, huh?
You had to come here and fall in love with the asshole.
Run ragged with the stress and sobering sadness of seeing how poorly my cousin was, I swung my legs off the bed and stood. I couldn’tsithere and wallow. I wasn’t going to change anything hiding in my room and letting all this horrible anxiety and dread eat away at me.
After checking in the mirror that it wasn’t too obvious that I was crying, I wiped my cheeks one more time and left to go get a cup of water in the kitchen. I often had one with me, but I’d already drunk it all. No one else should be up and in the way, so I’d be in the clear and not have to worry about anyone seeing me distressed.
I wasn’t sure what I’d do if Renee spotted me and she actually wanted to fuss over me. Since I’d become Andre’s office assistant, she didn’t seem to mind me, almost maternal toward me now.
Silence filled the hall as I walked toward the kitchen. I got a glass of water and sipped some at the counter. The cool fluid streaking down my throat chilled me, but instead of sparking a little life into me and snapping me out of this mood, I shivered and gritted my teeth.
“Cold?”
I gasped at Andre’s voice. Whirling around, I nearly dropped the glass before setting it on the counter as he stalked up to me. Dressed in only sleep pants slung low on his hips, he looked like a predator closing in on his prey. I’d been so upset, so lost in my thoughts, that I hadn’t even heard him coming in the room.
“No surprise when you’re wearingthat,” he teased, giving me a heated once-over as he took in my attire. Short shorts and a thin cami were my pajamas, and they weren’t ideal for warmth at all.
When he dragged his gaze up to my face, though, as he took the glass from me and set it on the counter, the desire drained out of his gaze and he furrowed his brow. “What’s wrong?”
Dammit. So much for not looking like I was crying.I sniffled and rolled my eyes, looking away. “Nothing. Why are you stalking me in the kitchen in the middle of the night?”
He got into my space, backing me up to the counter with his warm body inches from me. While he set one hand on the edge of the marble slab, he finished caging me in with his hand on my chin, tipping it up so I’d face him directly. “Don’t lie.”
“I’m not lying,” I argued. “Youarestalking me in the kitchen in the middle of the night.”
“I came here for water,” he replied bluntly, eyeing me closely.
I grabbed my glass and offered it to him, but the movement only had me rubbing up against him with him not backing up or giving me any space. “Here.”
He took it and set it right back down without looking at it. Tearing his focus off my clearly blotching and puffy-eyed face wasn’t happening. “What’s wrong, Sofia?”
I shook my head, lying nonverbally. I had to. Because the genuine concern and worry in his stern tone almost made me crack. To hear him care was too much.
“Sofia…” He firmed his grip on my chin and stepped just a little closer. As if looming over me could force an answer out of my lips. I was sick of men controlling my life—but that was a grievance I had to take up with my uncle and the Giovanni force. Not Andre.
Hedidn’tcontrol me. Hedidn’tpush.
The only control that he could hold over me was this desire and lust that snapped into place as soon as we’d met.
Playing back Esmeralda’s wisdom, that I should live my life to the fullest even though she couldn’t, I looked at Andre in a new light.
