Page 74 of Thin Lines (Donati Bloodlines 2)

He was the judge, jury, and executioner of his family.

Of her.

No one else got a say.

Emma pushed back the simmering anxiety. “If you wantto hold a woman down and fuck her like an animal, you have whores for that,Affonso. Don’t use me for the same thing.”

“You’re angry.”

“Did you think I’d be happy about what happened?”

“It didn’t happen at all,” Affonso said. “I was not sodrunk that I don’t remember the bulk of it, Emma.”

“Almost is close enough.”

Too close.

Affonso clenched his jaw tight, his gaze hardening.“What do you want from me?”

“I want you to leave me alone. I can’t give you wantyou want. You’ve made that perfectly clear to me. Just leave me alone. I’ll dowhatever else you want; I’ll go out when you tell me to, and pretend like Igive a fuck about all of this. But leave me alone, Affonso.”

He crossed his arms, regarding her in that way of histhat said he was weighing his options. She hated the fact that that was all shewas to him. Just an option.

An afterthought.

Had he been a different man, this might have beendifferent.

Their marriage could have been different.

Something …

Instead, they were who they were.

And Emma hated him.

“You’ve left me with nothing,” Affonso told her. “Ihad nothing before you, donna.”

She hated how he called her woman with such venom spewingwith his Italian language. Like being a woman was unworthy and not good enough.

“Is this about children again?” she asked.

“That’s all this ever was.”

“You have children.”

“I wanted—”

“I know what you wanted,” she interrupted angrily.“And I can’t help that my body doesn’t work the way you want it to, Affonso.You’re not God. I’m not God. I can’t make my body do what it can’t do, okay.”

“I’m aware.” Affonso leaned against the wall, nevertaking his eyes off her. “As I was saying, before you I had nothing. Twodaughters to marry off and make my famiglia stronger. Bastards that areuseless.”

“No boys,” Emma finished for him. “I already knowthis.”

“Well, not one that will do what I want for him to do,anyway.”

Emma stilled, watching Affonso’s reflection in themirror.

She couldn’t help but remember his words from thenight before. When he looked down at her and called her another woman’sname—Calisto’s mother. How Affonso claimed he had apologized. She rememberedRay asking Affonso where Calisto had gotten his attitude and behavior from. Fromhis father, of course.