Page 92 of Lust and Honor

My eyebrow arches on its own. “You went through this with Carlo?”

She lets out a low chuckle. “Hell yeah. Compared to me and Carlo, Maxim’s given you a lot more freedom than I ever had. For the first few months, I wasn’t just trapped in the house, I was locked in a room.”

I freeze. I know nothing about how Emily and Carlo first met, but I can’t imagine a man as obsessively devoted to her as Carlo ever treating her that way. I take a sip of my lemonade to hide my shock.

“That’s hard to believe. You two seem so…unbreakable together.”

The waiter slides our plates in front of us. Emily twirls her fork into the pasta, her smile turning soft and genuine.

“Yeah, we’re in love. But getting here wasn’t easy for either of us. We’ve had our share of fights and sacrifices, still do. Marriage, if you ask me, is the art of compromise.”

“Maxim isn’t the kind of man who wants to compromise with me on anything.”

A sly smile curves on her lips. “Don’t give him too much credit, sweetheart. He’s still a man. As long as you let him think he’s in control, you can hold the strings and make him dance any way you want.”

I hope Emily’s right, but right now, more than making Maxim lose control, I want to make him suffer. I want to prove that just like he has this terrifying amount of power over me and my life, I can still slip out of his grasp whenever I want.

That’s why the idea I’ve been obsessing over for the past few days creeps back into my head.

Maxim needs to learn a real lesson.

So after lunch, once Emily and I part ways, I tell Alex I need to do some shopping and deliberately pick a place where I know I can sneak out through the restroom window. I leave my phone behind in the bathroom so Alex can’t track me, and after withdrawing some cash from an ATM, I buy myself a new phone and SIM card.

I don’t even fully understand why I’m doing it.

I just feel like I’m finally taking back a small piece of the control I lost over my own life.

I tuck the phone into my bra and make it back home before dark.

Alex is waiting for me with a thunderous look on his face.

Without saying a word, he pulls out his phone, dials a number, then hands it to me.

I already know who’s on the other end, so instead of arguing, I press the phone to my ear.

“Hello.”

“Where the fuck were you?”

Maxim’s furious voice tears through the line.

Even though part of me is genuinely scared of what I just did, I force my tone to stay calm.

“Out. Walking around like a free woman and proving to you that I’m not as helpless as you think I am. And next time you put your hands on me, I’m grabbing my daughter and disappearing.”

I don’t wait for a response. I toss the phone back into Alex’s arms.

***

A few more days pass, and I slowly fall back into my routine. Maxim still hasn’t returned from his trip, and after dropping Aurora off at the hotel, I decide to take a walk through the park near the café.

Even though winter’s almost here and the air has turned chilly, the city is still buzzing with tourists. As I walk among the crowd, I find myself studying their faces, each one carrying a different fate, a story of its own.

That’s when I sense someone approaching. I turn and recognize him immediately. It’s Gerardo, April’s husband. The Family I used to work for.

As always, he greets me politely, a gentle smile on his face as he extends his hand. “Ava. What a coincidence.”

Before I can respond, Alex steps in, towering and tense, his protective edge sharp as ever. “Is there a problem? Do you know this man?”