Oh.
My.
Gosh.
This man.
I couldn't take in the emotion of everything he was saying.“Stefan,” was all that came out.Everything swirled in my mind, muddling it up.
“Do you understand now?Finally?Do you get that this is what I wanted all along?”His eyes and his words pleaded with me.
I barely moved my head, but I still shook it as I said, “Why?Why me?You could have anyone, Stefan.I'll never be like Giselle or Eve.I don't fit into your world.”
I expected him to get angry.Or at least yell.
But what he did next confused the heck out of me.
He.
Laughed.
And laughed.
And laughed.
The only thing that did was stop my tears from falling.Because he was more than starting to tick me off.I shoved his shoulder.“What's so funny?”
His whole body shook with the power of his laughter.Which also meant I shook, too.And it was really starting to annoy me.
When he could finally catch his breath, he wiped his eyes and said, “You are absolutely fucking correct that you'll never be Giselle or Eve.”
Okay.
That made me even angrier.
So, I shoved his shoulder again.“That's a really crappy thing to say.Even though it's true.”And it was.We both knew it.There was no way I would ever measure up to those two women.Even so, he didn't have to be a jerk about it.
Stefan just laughed again and then wrapped his arms tighter around me.“Eve will tell you this herself.I know her.And she's an open fuckin' book.She'll level with you, and she'll do it quick.”He grasped my chin with his fingers and looked into my eyes.“Eve grew up in a shitty house in a shitty part of town.Her parents were dicks.Well, her dad was a dick when he wasn't in prison.”
My jaw dropped open.I couldn't comprehend what this man was telling me.
“Yeah,” he said and gave me a sad smile.“At least her mom had the decency to take off.But that left Eve to raise her brother and two sisters alone.”
I immediately gasped, “What?”
Stefan nodded.“Yeah.Her parents were dicks and gone, and Eve had to figure out how to feed all four of them.”He jerked his head to the side.“And her useless fuckin' father when he was around.”
I exhaled and bit my lip.I had no idea what kind of life Eve had before she'd met Nick.I'd just assumed because she looked and dressed like she did—that she'd come from money.
“I'm not done with this story yet, Francesca.There's more.A lot more.”
My shoulders slumped, and I waited for him to finish.
“And then Giselle and her newborn moved in next door.To an even shittier house.Right beside Eve's.”
I touched his chest because I knew something had just gone very, very wonky with this story.“I can't believe your brother would live in a crappy house.”I shook my head and frowned.Carlo definitely wouldn't live in a rundown house in a bad part of town.I saw the house he lived in now.And Stefan said he owned an entire vineyard.This didn't make sense.
“You're not listening, Francesca.I said that Giselle and her newborn moved in.Not Carlo.”
