Page 298 of A Vicious Love

“A little.”

I laughed softly. “Good. Then you’re listening.”

Her mouth curved, but her eyes were still wide. “You said every house we live in.”

“Yes.”

“We would live together?”

“Where did you think you were going after the wedding?”

Her gaze dropped.

“Sienna.”

She rubbed her thumb along the ring again. “I thought you’d want the marriage settled. Publicly. I thought the rest would be… separate.”

“Separate.”

“You hate me.”

“I don’t.”

“You did.” She said it quietly, with no cruelty at all. “Or you acted close enough that I couldn’t tell the difference.”

I had earned that. Didn’t mean I fucking liked hearing it.

“I made plans,” she admitted.

“What plans?”

She sank lower into the bath, as if water could hide the life she had built around my neglect. “When I become Crow, Bellemere money changes. My family cuts daughters off from accounts when they marry into another dynasty, especially if the marriage is debt-related. I wouldn’t have access the same way. I thought Crow money would be yours, and I’d be foolish to assume you’d want me spending it.”

My hand curled on the bath edge.

“So I was going to work more. Ballet teaching. Assistant rehearsals if Madame let me. Some paid performance work, though it’s unreliable. Adrian said he could sublease me an apartment quietly in one of his complexes. He said he’d support me, but he’s married. He has a life. Eventually it would cause problems with his wife, and I don’t want to be that kind of burden.” She tried a small smile. “I could babysit too. Sabine will have the baby, Liora has the twins, and the children already listen to me better than most adults do.”

I stared at her.

Something in my chest went fucking feral. The anger mixed with pain. I’d fucked up that badly.

“You planned to pay rent after marrying me.”

“Jamison…”

“You planned to live in Adrian’s apartment, work ballet hours, babysit your siblings’ children, and wear my name while I went back to the estate alone.”

She looked away.

I caught her chin, unable to stop myself. “Look at me.”

Her eyes came back, wet.

“You thought I’d abandon you.”

She swallowed. “You already did.”

Every word in the room died.