I step closer still, like Icarus attracted to the very sun that will melt my wings. “Did you get what you wanted?”
Did he get his closure? Does he feel at peace? Can he finally move on?
Those beautiful eyes with their golden flames don’t give me an inch. Nothing. No, not nothing. He tries not to show it, to hide his reaction behind his neutral expression, but the wariness that sparks in their depths is like a lighthouse flashing a warning to ships in dark, treacherous waters.
The faint unease that’s been growing inside me since the exchange at my late father’s office turns into full-blown panic. At the time, I couldn’t put my finger on it, but now, Leander’s words come back to me.
Not everything.
Considering the situation, Leander had been far too smug. I know my brother. He’s a terrible loser, and back there in that boardroom? He didn’t act like a loser. No, he behaved like someone who knew the fight wasn’t over. Because he knew something. He knew there was something else Dante wanted.
Dante hasn’t played open cards with me. If I suspected it from the start, then why does the notion of being betrayed again hurt so much? Why does it feel as if I’m standing at the edge of a precipice, about to be pushed over?
A sick feeling settles in the pit of my stomach. My pulse kicks up, keeping time in my temples. “What else do you want, Dante?”
He only continues to stare at me, the wariness in his gaze sharpening.
Oh, my God.
I knew it.
“Just say it.” The volume of my voice rises more in fear of his reply than in anger. “What the hell do you want?”
He pins me with that almost empty gaze, his words as dead as his eyes. “The necklace.”
The answer hits me like a punch in the face, stealing my air.
And there it is—the naked truth.
For a moment, I can’t breathe. I grapple for oxygen while he just stands there and watches me drown in the nasty, ugly verity.
My body is like one big oversensitive receptor, every nerve-ending crackling with awareness. My senses are hyper-alert. Everything seems brighter, louder, and clearer, yet my lips are numb, shaping words that sound as if they’re coming from someone else. “Is that why you were after me?”
His jaw bunches. “It’s imperative that I find the necklace.”
A hysterical laugh escapes me. I’ve been an idiot. Again.
He wraps his fingers around my upper arm. “I stole that necklace. Lee was the mastermind behind the heist. Your father took it from us, from Lee.”
I lean back, straining in his hold. “So now you’re going to tell me it belongs to you.” Because he stole it. Just like everything else.
He gives me a gentle shake. “You’re not safe as long as you’re hiding it. Leander didn’t send those men after you just because he wanted to marry you to Stein.”
The betrayal is vicious. Tears burn at the back of my eyes. You’d think I’d be used to it by now.
Lifting my chin, I meet his urgency with defiance. “What makes you think I know where this necklace is?”
He lets me go. The action is so unlike him that it scares me. Dante never lets go unless he’s gotten what he wanted.
A second passes before he says in a cautious tone, “Your mother admitted she’d given it to you.”
His answer is like a slap in the face. “What?”
My mother gave me that necklace on the night she told me to run. And then, straight after, she got into that car with my father, the car Dante blew up.
The blood drops from my head to my feet, leaving me dizzy. I get that feeling I sometimes get when I think I’m seeing my mom’s face somewhere in a crowed space, as if I’m looking at a ghost. “That’s not possible.”
He doesn’t answer, which only makes my fear skyrocket.
