It’s almost dark that evening when I pull up to the gates to Kent’s estate. I spent the day with Janeen, planning my next steps, letting the sound of her laugher and warm advice wash over me like a healing balm. I also let her curl my hair into sexy waves and exchange my slouchy sweater and leggings
“Coward,” I hiss, cursing myself as I hurry up the stairs. Damn it, at the first trial of this new, powerful me I totally collapsed. I dart into my room, pressing the door closed and taking a deep breath, closing my eyes as I steel myself. I know that I owe Daniel more than that. But damn it, Janee
About fourteen minutes later, I study myself in the mirror, my stomach a mess of butterflies. I’m better than I was about twelve minutes ago, though, when I’d been sitting on the floor drinking directly from the bottle of wine, hissing desperately into the phone to my sister while she tried talk me
I don’t know what to say, so I don’t say anything. I just standing before him, trying not to let my knees shake. The threat of that only increases when he takes two steps towards me, placing one hand on my waist, his other tilting my chin up towards him. “Are you sure about this, Fay?” Kent whis
The next morning, I reach over and grab my cell phone off of the nightstand the moment I wake up, dying to see if Ivan texted me back. It’s not my burner phone, or my old cell phone which Kent took, but instead my Kent-approved cellphone, which I’m sure he monitors. But whatever – let him look. This
“Oh my god,” I murmur, looking at the cutouts on the side, the absolute bare scrap of fabric that’s supposed to cover my ass. Then I glance back down at the box and realize… Oh my god, this isn’t even the lingerie. I look back and forth between the black satin corset and lace panties that are st
Ivan laughs a little and shakes his head, coming forward to take me by the arm. “I’m sorry, Fay,” he says, and I look up to see real apology on his face. “I shouldn’t have said that – you look beautiful.” I’m still blushing, though. I never should have worn this dress. “Come on,” Ivan says, wrap
“No, it’s okay,” I respond breezily, giving him a little smile. “It’s just…Daniel is having a little…trouble. Being faithful.” I mean, it wasn’t a lie. And Janeen said to stick to the truth as much as I can. “Oh,” Ivan says, his eyebrows going up in genuine surprise. Then he puts his plate of ta
My dad greets him with such genuine joy and excitement that it makes my heart swell with joy. They talk for a few minutes about Dominic’s day before dad gives him a little nudge back towards the gate where Kent and I are waiting. Dominic gives dad a kiss before running ahead again. My dad waves to
“Papa!” Dominic shouts, startling me out of my reverie as he drops my hand and darts down the road. I look up, a huge smile breaking out on my face again as I see Kent on the sidewalk just ahead. His back is to us as he speaks companionably with the butcher, a heavy bag of his purchases already hung
As I walk down the street towards the little Italian kindergarten, the whispers start around me, as they always do. I listen to all of them, a big German Shepherd padding quietly at my heels. “Is that her?” “Yes, that’s the one – I heard she was her husband’s mistress before he married her – tha
Both Kent and I laugh, but Don Bianci – across the baptismal font from us – snaps his eyes up, perhaps not liking the joke as much as we do. But I just ignore it, because dad’s right, frankly – and it’s too happy a day to care. After the final blessing everyone applauds Dominic – he likes that, bl
“Well, it didn’t seem to affect your first very badly,” Ivan says with a shrug, peering around Kent to where Daniel is laughing with an arm around Jerome’s shoulders. “So…maybe keep it up.” I smirk, squeezing Ivan’s hand once more before standing and moving to Kent’s side, tucking myself against h
“Hey, gorgeous,” Ivan says, his mouth turned up in a smirk as I cross the churchyard, beaming at him. “Look who’s talking,” I say, laughing and reaching for him when I come close enough. Ivan wraps me in a hug, dropping a kiss to my cheek as I hold Dominic a bit to the side so he doesn’t get squis
He laughs, smiling at me genuinely. “Do I make you nervous?” he asks, blunt. I laugh, unable to help it. “Has no one bothered to tell you, in all these years, that you’re a little terrifying, Don Bianci?” He grins and shakes his head at me. “Well, considering what you accomplished, young lady, I
Two months later, we’re all gathered together again. And it is only with frustration that I see Gio and Janeen standing so close together that their arms nearly brush, even though they’re still not together. I roll my eyes, dismissing the problem for a moment as I move my eyes down to Dominic and
It's an incredible night. Kent didn’t lie, not at all, about the food either. I’m shocked by the mountains of dishes that continue to follow each other, one after another, long into the night. After a few hours of it I just mournfully watch the waiters go by because I couldn’t eat another bite if I