Page 45 of Scarlet Sins

I whip around to face her. “That’s enough, Stefina. You won’t talk about the mother of my son like that.”

Erin gasps and goes tense, her face turning white, just as Stefina’s goes dark.

“I talk to people how I want in my future home,” Stefina says.

But my gaze is on Erin.

“L—Erin…”

She shakes her head. “Is that all I am to you?” she whispers.

The waters turn dangerous and my sister just stands there, offering nothing. Not that even if she had a bag of answers, she could. It would look too staged and make me look like a pushover.

Which in this moment, I feel I am.

“Here’s your tea,” Olga says, bravely stepping into the fray and placing the cup next to Stefina.

She sweeps it to the floor. “You steeped it too long.”

“I’m so sorry, Miss Stefina, I’ll get you another. Two minutes or three?”

“One and a half,” Stefina snaps as Olga starts to clean up.

“That wasn’t nice. And you don’t speak to anyone in my home with disrespect. Staff or Sasha’s mother.”

Those words leave a bitter taste in my mouth. What I want to say is you don’t speak to the woman I love that way. But something like that will humiliate Stefina, a crime that’ll make its way back to Sergio.

I turn to Erin. “And you know this is your home, too.”

“As the mother of your child. Maybe I can get a job on your staff.”

“Oh, hell no. I think we’ll downsize and move to your condo when we marry,” Stefina says. Then she sniffs. “That’s if you start paying attention to the wedding.”

“I don’t care about that stuff.”

“Just the ceremony?” Erin asks.

Stefina smirks. “More like the wedding night.”

“Don’t put words in my mouth. Or we’ll be getting married at the courthouse, whether your father approves or not. Now you’ll drink your tea when Olga brings it to you and you’ll like it.”

Stefina’s eyes narrow and she huffs out a breath, picking up her phone, her fingers flying across the screen.

But as she keeps going, ignoring me along with everyone else, I don’t think she’s texting her father. My phone stays resolutely silent.

“Erin, this is a difficult time, so I hope you can understand.”

“You better not touch her or else,” says Stefina. “We’re saving each other for the wedding night.”

“Stefina, go plan the wedding.”

Now she throws her phone down. “We have appointments starting in half an hour.”

I look at Erin.

And I don’t know what the fuck to say.

“I got the message.”

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