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“Is having your husband followed without his knowledge ethical?”
Roman let the question hang between them for a long moment. “Like I said, I did love Eliza. Still do. But I don’t like when people underestimate me. My father’s been doing that for years, and I don’t need it from anyone else.”
“I’m sure that’s not true.”
“Oh, Anne. You know it, I know it, Eliza knows it,” Roman said. “Unless I turn into Tom Cruise overnight, my own father will always be disappointed in me. And my mother… I think she’s afraid of me.”
“Why would that be?” Anne managed.
“I think she’s afraid I’ll turn out like my father.” Roman gave Anne a darkly thin smile. “And we wouldn’t want that.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Feels good to get it off my chest,” Roman said easily. “It’s nice to talk to someone who won’t report my father to the police because I shared his dirty little secret. He hits her, you know. But my mother will never leave him. I called the cops once when I was seven. When they showed up, she denied everything, told them I made it up for attention. How do you think that made me feel?”
“That’s awful, Roman. I am so sorry.”
“Do you know what I just can’t figure?” Roman sat back in his seat, looking deep in thought. “They love each other. Really, truly, in some twisted way. Isn’t that fucked up?”
“Are you like him?” Anne asked quietly. “Have you ever—”
“Don’t play the saint, Anne. I’m not the one who left my kids for three days without a word. You’re just as fucked up as I am. We all are.”
Anne’s throat began to close. “You still haven’t told me why I’m here.”
“I want money. I thought that’d be obvious.”
“From me?” Anne gaped. “I don’t have money. Plus, you and Eliza are loaded.”
“Were loaded,” Roman said. “Past tense. And I don’t like to give up pretty things. That’s where you’ll help me out.”
“How’d you get the money for Luke, then? He’s not cheap.”
“No, but like I said, we used to have money. Those morsels Eliza doled into my account bit by bit—she thought I squandered the money on stupid, frivolous things. On women, fancy dinners, hotels, the like. Paranoid, that one. It’s a miracle she hasn’t had you followed after your little incident.”
Anne swallowed hard. “You saved the money, I’m guessing?”
“Tucked it safely away.” Roman leaned forward, his elbows coming to rest on his knees, his eyes gleaming with confidence. “The truth is, Anne, if I want a woman, I don’t pay for her company.”
Anne felt her cheeks heating.
“Don’t worry. It’s not you I want.” Roman’s eyes flicked over her. “If I was looking for a woman’s company, I could do better than a housewife who spends her free time spying on her husband.”
Anne flew to her feet. “What the hell is wrong with you, Roman?”
“Luke Hamilton belongs to me. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Anne hadn’t yet fully connected the dots, but lines were starting to be sketched. She could see where he was going with everything, but she hadn’t fitted together how Roman planned to emerge victorious.
She toyed with the frayed edge of her purse. “Are you going to tell me why you haven’t talked to Mark yet? Told him you know about the affair?”
Roman looked annoyed. “It’s no wonder you and Eliza are friends. You both don’t get it, do you? This is so much bigger than Mark and some stupid woman.”
“What do you mean, it’s bigger than that?”
“Luke didn’t give you every last detail that he dug up on your husband.”
“I still don’t understand why Luke would tell you anything about our private life. He has no right.”
