Page 174 of Modern Romance June 2025 1-4

The silence didn’t help. Without conversation to distract him, he could think of nothing but her. Even his phone—usually so busy—wouldn’t ring to give him an escape. So when he saw the SOP building drawing closer, he was both relieved and disappointed.

As soon as the car stopped, she had the handle in her hand. Emilio stopped her. ‘No. Let me.’

He exited the car first and held open the door, allowing Jasmine to climb out elegantly. She stopped in front of him, something on her lips. But whatever the words were—a thank you?—she caught herself before she could say them, turning on her heel instead. Emilio caught her wrist and brought her closer. He couldn’t let her leave just yet. He needed to be a convincing fiancé. A chaste kiss on her lips would be sufficient evidence for the world.

But, as he leaned in, his eye was caught by movement on the steps of SOP. Most people were entering the building; one person was leaving.

Jasmine followed his gaze, and whatever softness had crept into her expression was replaced by hard, unyielding anger. It was written in every line on her face, in the tension in her shoulders.

The woman noticed Jasmine, looked away towards a car on the kerb, hesitated, then started walking towards them. A moment later a blonde man with sharp blue eyes in suit trousers and a white shirt, both of which had to be uncomfortably tight in a classless show of physique, joined her.

The hand that had been resting in Emilio’s palm gripped at him like a vice.

‘I told you that you were no longer welcome here,’ Jasmine said icily. Emilio thought back to the anger Jasmine had shown him the day before, and her annoyance that morning. Both paled in comparison to the effect these people’s presence had on her.

‘I just came here to fetch—’

‘I don’t care what you came here to do, Zara. Stay away from SOP and stay away from me, or I will make you.’

Emilio could feel the tremble in her body and stepped closer. He was ready to jump in at any moment but guessed that Jasmine wouldn’t appreciate that. He would wait until he was certain it was the right thing to do.

‘You can’t do that, Jasmine,’ the woman—Zara—said hotly. ‘I have friends here.’

‘And how will you betray them? Sleep with their fiancés too?’

Emilio’s body turned cold.

Cazzo! This cannot be happening!His stomach roiled at the words.

No wonder Jasmine was so distrustful. Now he understood why that wedding hadn’t happened. Why she had been at the club that night. How vulnerable she must have been. Emilio was horrified. How could the one person he was so attracted to, the one person heneededto trust him, have been the victim of the same crime he was guilty of having committed against his brother? Every day Emilio tried to be better than the person who had made that terrible mistake. How could fate be this cruel?

His pulse raced. His mouth turned dry.Certainly not a man…Now that comment made sense. One had walked out on her and the other had cheated on her. He knew the kind of scar that left, the devastation it wreaked. He could still see it on his brother’s face when he closed his eyes. It tormented him. A necrotic wound on his soul that he’d inflicted upon himself. Upon his family. They’d never been whole again afterwards. There’d never been another family meal.

He had done that.

And it would happen again to the family he was creating. Jasmine would never even tolerate him once she knew his past. He would lose the privilege to be in his child’s life. That couldn’t happen. He wouldn’t let it. He wouldn’t lose his baby!

If Jasmine was ever to trust him—and shemust, for the sake of their child—then she couldneverfind out about Gia.

***

Jasmine had always considered herself stronger than most. Her mother had raised her to be, and her father had taught her never to rely on men. What she hadn’t realised until it was too late was that she should never rely onanyone. Everyone had the capacity for cruelty.

She would have done anything for Zara. She’d trusted her so much that she’d started SOP with her, worked with her until she’d run off with her fiancé. It had been hard for Jasmine to buy Zara out and cast her from her life, but she’d done it. She’d rid herself of everything that reminded her of Zara and Richard. She had even given Zara her garish engagement ring as she’d pushed her out of the door, confident that she wouldn’t have to see her again. New York was a big place, after all.

But here they were. And Jasmine hadneverfelt weaker. She was hurt and angry and whatever peace she had managed to find was gone.

‘That’s enough,’ Richard said, coming to Zara’s defence. He had never done that for Jasmine. He was the one who’d forced her to make herself smaller, over and over. It was only once he was gone that she’d seen how much she’d shrunk around him. The realisation hurt more than she could express.

‘We all need a Zara in our lives.’

Jasmine felt a burn behind her lids, but she wouldn’t get emotional. She would not give them the satisfaction.

‘I agree,’ a smooth, deep voice said. Emilio wrapped his arm around Jasmine’s shoulders, pulling her flush against his side. ‘That is enough from the two of you.’

Then he turned to Jasmine.‘Belleza,’he said, sliding his palm against her cheek in a touch that cleared the despair from her mind. He turned her face towards his and she let him. Looking into his dark-brown eyes and forgetting about the people who had hurt her so badly even as they stood just two feet away. ‘Would you like me to call security?’

He was usually so high-handed. Now, in front of Richard and Zara, he was giving her the choice. Showing them that she controlled this situation.

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