Page 46 of Dust to Dust

“Because it makes me sound like a…ho.” And then the realization hit me of what Caterina had actually said. My mouth dropped open. “Did you seriously just ask me what was bad about Quinn making me come? I thought I’d heard from the other dancers that you were a nun.”

With a laugh, Caterina asked, “Are you judging me?”

Horror filled me with offending her. “No, no, no! I keep saying the wrong things. The last thing I would ever want to do was judge you.”

Caterina patted my arm. “It’s okay, Isla. It’s my fault for making you nervous and putting you on edge about Quinn.”

“I think I was just surprised that you would say something like that. You know, with you being holy and all.”

With a chuckle, Caterina argued, “I was only a novice, and the operative word is was. I’m certainly not abstaining anymore,” Caterina argued.

“Well, I’m the fallen priest’s daughter who let her boss get her off during her audition.”

Wide-eyed, Caterina asked, “That’s when it happened?”

With a shriek, I once again covered my face. “Could this get any worse?”

At the feel of Caterina’s hand on my arm, I peeked through my fingers. “Come with me.”

“Okay,” I whispered.

After Caterina poked her head into an empty room, she ushered me inside. “I wasn’t a novice because I was pious–I did it to escape an arranged marriage my father was planning.”

I frowned. “There’s seriously still arranged marriages?” At Caterina’s nod, I replied, “But this is the modern age.”

“The mafia world is still very old-school. It doesn’t matter if you’re Italian or Bratva or Irish, like Quinn.”

“I had no idea the mafia was stuck in the dark ages.”

“But they aren’t always bad. My marriage to Callum was arranged.”

“It was?” I gasped.

She nodded. “Despite only knowing him three days before we were married, it was the best thing that could ever happen to me.”

An uneasy feeling crept along my spine. “Will Quinn have an arranged marriage?”

Caterina’s smile faded. “It’s a possibility.”

“Oh,” I murmured, as disappointment filled me. It shouldn’t have bothered me so much. It wasn’t like Quinn and I were in a relationship that I’d just found out couldn’t go anywhere. He was just the man I’d thought I’d discovered a connection with only to have it severed before it really even started.

But it still stung.

“Isla–” Caterina began.

I shook my head. “It’s okay. I get it. Quinn’s an honorable guy, so of course, he would do what his family asked of him.”

“There are other ways Quinn can serve his family besides an arranged marriage. It doesn’t mean there can’t be anything between the two of you.”

Caterina’s words did little to ease the ache in my chest. “Seriously. It’s okay.”

She took my hands in hers. “There’s no one in the world who deserves happiness more than Quinn. If you’re harboring even the smallest feelings for him, I’ll do whatever I can within my power to see the two of you together.”

Hope surged in my chest. “You’d really do that?”

“I will.”

“But why? I mean, you don’t know me. I could be a serial killer or something.”

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