Page 22 of Thin Lines (Donati Bloodlines 2)

Sandra, it read.

Emma squeezed her fists tight. “Who is that?”

“A good friend,” Affonso said, offering nothing more.“Don’t ask anything else, and you’ll be a much happier woman, I assure you.Ignorance is bliss.”

She could safely assume that the woman was just one ofhis mistresses.

“You didn’t have to tell me,” Emma muttered. “Or shoveit in my face, Affonso.”

“I’m not. I’m also not in the business of hidingthings. If I don’t come home on any given night and you need something, you cancall here.”

Her stomach rolled.

“Is that all?” Emma asked.

“For now.”

Affonso stood, patted her head with his palm, and lefttheir bedroom without another word. Emma took a few cleansing breaths to steelher nerves before she followed behind him.

She wasn’t surprised at her husband’s actions. Affonsowas a bastard. He simply didn’t hide the kind of bastard he was.

Emma slipped the card into her dress pocket, wonderingif she should be grateful for the woman her husband went to and thank her, orhate her. It wasn’t actually a choice. Anyone who could distract Affonso fromEmma enough to keep him out of their bed was a friend of hers.

She didn’t care.

What she told Calisto months ago still stood. If herhusband was fucking someone else, then he was leaving her alone.

What more could Emma ask for?

Emma was surprised to find her step-daughters weren’tmilling around the kitchen, waiting for the cook to serve them as she walked inbehind Affonso. Sherry, their cook, was behind the island, prepping and goingfrom one bowl to the pan on the stove while muttering under her breath.

“A fair spread this morning?” Affonso asked.

“Yes, sir,” Sherry said, never taking her eyes off thefood. “It’s almost finished. I decided to make eggs in a hat the way I used to,but I had to add it onto the rest of the meal I was cooking.”

Affonso smiled, much to Emma’s confusion. “Is thatso?”

“Someone’s favorite.”

“Someone?” Emma asked.

Her husband’s grin deepened. “As I said last night, Iknow the man. I know him much better than he thinks I do.”

Calisto.

“Cal said he was fine with waiting for when you wereready to eat,” Sherry added.

“No problem,” Affonso said, waving it off. “Where ishe?”

The cook flicked her wrist in the direction of thesecond entrance to the kitchen like that explained it all. “With the girls.”

Affonso tipped his head in the same direction the cookhad waved. “Emma, go find them and let them know it’s time to eat.”

“Sure,” she said.

“Follow the music,” Affonso told her as she wasleaving.

What music?