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“Anything,” she whispered. “I’ll do anything you want. Wear anything you like. I’ll diet. Give her back. Please give her back. Please…please…please…”
He couldn’t get her to wake up. After a while, she started to cry again. He held her in his arms and she sobbed into his chest. He didn’t need to be a mind reader to know what this was about.
Isn’t this what you wanted?
See her in pain?
Yeah…
Then why did her sobs tear at his heart? Why did they make him feel murderous? Why did they make him want to avenge her even though she had been the one to betray him?
“I hope it was worth it,” he said, his voice gravelly. “Hope those fancy cars, the big mansion, and the power that came with it all was worth it.”
As she cried herself back to sleep, he wondered for the first time if her life with Lorenzo maybe hadn’t been so great. He had been known for his secretive, kinky lifestyle. He had been known to be a dominant asshole with control issues. From the looks of it, he’d asserted that control not only over the Morelli family business but over his wife as well. It was the cruelest of things to keep a child away from her mother. If he’d been a little more of an asshole, he might have thought of it himself. But he would never do that. He could never hurt his daughter like that. And, though he would never admit it out loud, he could never use that particular bargaining chip against Elena, either.
He remembered how good it had always been between them. He loved the way she used to grind against him. At the same time, he resented her. He resented that she’d taken this away from him. That she’d chosen money and power over him. But most of all, he hated himself for still loving her.
***
ELENA
She woke up with the Godzilla of all headaches. Holding her head in one hand, Elena slowly tried to open her eyes. It felt as if an elephant sat on them. When she got some vision back, she was staring into narrowed pale-blue eyes.
“Glad you’re finally awake.”
Viking looked impeccably dressed in a black suit. This only made her feel even more disheveled. She untangled her legs from the bedsheets and propped her back against a pillow, hoping to appear somewhat decent.
“Interesting night, last night.”
Now, what did he mean by that? “Um, yes, I guess I’m not made to drink. In fact, I think I will stay sober for the rest of my life.”
He got a strange look in his eyes. “I wasn’t talking about being drunk as a skunk.”
She winced. “Well…I think we should keep this from Vicky. It wouldn’t do for her to think her mother was a drunk.”
“I was talking about your sleep talking.”
The world stopped spinning for a second. “What do you mean?” Oh, God. What had she told him? She wracked her brain trying to come up with something, but she didn’t have a clue. Sleep talking happened to her from time to time. She couldn’t remember the last time anybody ever confronted her about it, because she hadn’t spent the night with anyone since Viking.
“You said some interesting things.”
She pulled the covers closer and hunched up her knees. “Whatever I said in my sleep, you can’t hold it against me. I was probably dreaming some silly stuff.”
“It sounded more like a nightmare to me.”
That was even worse. Still, she produced a smile, tight as it may have been. “Well, um, if that’s all, I’d like to take a shower now. So…” Please just leave.
He crossed his arms in front of his broad chest. Her shoulders slumped. She knew that stance. It meant he wasn’t going anywhere until he got some answers.
“Before the nightmare, when I got you out of that club, you told me you never slept with Morelli.”
Her heart rate pumped up. This was bad. What else had she told him?
“I was drunk and…”
“Lorenzo was stabbed in one of his hips,” Viking said, his eyes pinning her down, and making her squirm. “I’m guessing it left a nice scar. What side was it?”
Why couldn’t he let this go? She was dying inside to tell him. To tell him everything. To get him to understand her. For him to forgive her. But she couldn’t. Sixteen years had passed since their love had blossomed. He might have changed here and there, but not that much. Viking was and always would be the guy who would avenge the ones he loved. It also meant he would try to avenge her. He might go after the other Morellis. She couldn’t allow that. It only took one Morelli to want to silence her by killing Vicky.
