Page 54 of Souls and Sorrows

Not even if I went out of my way to do exactly what she wanted and said at all times. My existence will always be troublesome for her because I’m who she wanted to be.

I’m who she’d have been if she had even a shred of decency.

“Do you know who bought me?” I ask, watching her gaze dip to the ring on my finger. “It wasn’t one of our guys, or even Vitus. It was alawyer. And he’s been trying to have Ricci Inc. sorted and shifted into his name since I’m technically the blood heir, but some of Papà’s men have been making it rather difficult.”

She scoffs. “Well, he must not be a very good lawyer if he can’t get through unofficial red tape.”

“He’s getting there, but I figured why make him go through all the work when I could come here” —pausing, I pull the knife from my bag and slide it from the leather sheath; the silver blade glints in the overhead lighting, and her eyes widen— “and cut it from the source entirely?”

“Please,” she says, laughing under her breath.

The sound grates, like nails on a chalkboard. It’s the same tone she’d use when I said I didn’t think her mouth should be that close to my chest or when I asked why the other moms at Mass didn’t leave bruises on their kids.

“Just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they aren’t there,” she’d say, shaking her head and patting mine, like I was just being a dumb child. Like I would never know better—know that the marks parents leave on their children weren’t usually scars.

Love isn’t supposed to hurt.

“You’re not going to kill me,” she says after a beat of us just staring at each other. “What would the media think? How would you get away with it? Still such a naive little girl, whose pants are much too big for her, I think. That husband of yours must be plying you with lies, because I don’t remember your ego being too large to fit in the apartment.”

I snort, digging into my purse again for the keepsakes tucked away in the inside pocket. A silk handkerchief, engraved with a name at one corner, and a rare drop pearl necklace I remember every woman in Mamma’s circles being envious of.

Tossing them into her lap, I raise an eyebrow, waiting as she inspects the items.

She lifts her head, clutching the handkerchief. “What have you done, Ariana?”

Shrugging, I think back to the night I met Cash briefly at that club outside the city. How upset I was when I received the text from Vitus meant for one of his mistresses and then planned to enact my revenge on the people who had brought him into this world.

“Nothing short of what I’ll do to you, if you don’t give me what I’m asking for.” I brandish the knife again, noting the slight shake in my wrist. “No one even knows you’re here, and it’s not like anyone would miss you. Plus, I know someone who wouldn’t mind helping me get rid of the body.”

Hatred ignites in her gaze, and she clenches her jaw. Under normal circumstances, she probably wouldn’t even think twice about refusing me, but her body is weak, and her mind is working at half capacity, so eventually, she acquiesces.

Not like she has much of a choice.

Before I leave, I get her written statement about account transfers, and she promises to call a meeting with The Elders, confirming the switch of ownership to Cash. I go to the kitchen while she makes a few phone calls and make her a cup of coffee, scooping from the glass sugar bowl I brought her a couple of years back and adding it in.

I watch her drink it the same way I have for years, and it’s seconds before she’s running to the bathroom to puke, unaware of why I stayed to make sure she drained the entire cup.

Outside, I’m completely unsurprised to find Cash leaning against the passenger side of his black BMW, wearing a gray suit with his arms folded over his chest. His face is expressionless, and my stomach does a little somersault as I realize how close he is right now to my biggest secrets.

“Thought you had court,” I say, approaching him.

Every day before he leaves our apartment, he tells me what he has going on at the office, though I sometimes wonder if it’s just to give himself an alibi.

Cash lifts one shoulder. “Reached a settlement, so we won’t go to trial.”

I tuck my hair behind my ear as I stop a foot in front of him. “Where’s Ronnie?”

“Lunch break.” He runs his gaze over me, lingering for a moment on the ring, as if looking for fingerprints. “Thought I’d come see what kind of errands my wife was running this far outside of town.”

“Oh, you know me. I wait every day for you to go to work just so I can fuck whatever transients I find on the streets.”

He glances over my shoulder at the condominium. “Perhaps I should go inside and meet these lovers.”

My hands whip out as he takes a step in that direction, pushing against his chest. His brows arch, and the breath thickens in my lungs at the feel of his hard body under me.

“That’s, um… probably not a good idea.”

Cocking his head to one side, he looks down at my hands, then back up, pausing at my lips briefly. “Well, if they get the full spread, I should at least be able to sample the goods, right?”

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