Page 46 of Iron Crown

“You’re lying!”

“You’ll come to realize that I do not lie, Miss Durante.” Eoghan leaned forward. “When did you open Giovanni House? Your cute little foundation for literacy? What was it? Two weeks ago?”

Cosima’s jaw clenched so tightly; she could have shattered her molars.

“You wore a pair of white gloves, do you remember them?” Eoghan didn’t wait for an answer before he went on. “He says he gave those gloves to you for Christmas. Were you giving him a sign that you still loved your dearGodfather? Were you hoping he’d see it and come running back?”

I tightened my hand on his thigh, begging for him to stop.

“You’re a liar, Eoghan Green.” She said it quietly, like the calm before a raging, destructive storm.

“He told me that the way you held your arm…” Eoghan let out a low whistle. “Morelli says your father beats you, each time you turn down a proposal of marriage. Is that right?”

Her face went from an angry red to a pale white. She was shocked, or afraid. I wasn’t sure which.

“He would never tell you this!” Her eyes were wide, and her conviction was so strong, it was practically a religion. She was walling herself in her beliefs, her indignation the most impenetrable suit of armor.

Underneath it all was pain and longing, and I felt awful for her.

“Eoghan,” I said quietly, squeezing his hand again.

He glanced at me for a moment, and I begged him with my eyes to stop taunting her. To stop hurting her. I could feel her pain as well.

Deep in my heart, I cared for her.

On the day she thought Eoghan was kidnapping me, even though we were just on a date, she had bargained for him to release me. She didn’t need to do that. A Mafia princess did not need to put her neck out for some... Art dealer!

I could not forget that as easily as she could.

“Oh, he would,” Eoghan said, turning back to Cosima. “Because he knows your father will dim you, the way my father tried to dim me. He wants an out for you! A safe place for you to land.”

“Liar!” Her scream made the restaurant silent, heads turning our way.

She didn’t care. She did not have the wherewithal to be embarrassed by her outburst.

“What do you say, Cosima?” Eoghan leaned forward, his posture almost pleading. “Make fucking peace, get your man back, and have a real future for yourself, for your children.”

“You know nothing of me, Eoghan Green! Do not come here thinking you know me because of your pathetic relationship withyourfather!” She shook her head, ready to leave the table. “You do not have Morelli, and even if you did, he would never…”

Her lips faltered as she tried to finish her words.

“Never what, Cosa? Never confess his undying love? Of your first kiss when you were eighteen? Of all the ways he absorbed pain for you? To protect you? Because he has pledged his absolute fealty to the little girl who grew up to be the woman of his heart?”

She leaned forward, spitting in his face.

When that wasn’t enough, she grabbed a glass of water and threw it at him.

Eoghan took it all in stride, knowing he had struck a fatal blow.

I put my hand on my stomach, trying to keep my sympathy from leaking out. Iachedfor her.

“If he is still alive, I will never make peace.” Her eyes darkened. “I will bend you until you break, Green. I will destroy you—” Her eyes cut to me. “—and her, and any bastard children you have. It will be my life’s mission to twist you into misery, you sick, blood-painting son of a bitch.”

“That’s a funny thing, that.” Eoghan picked up his napkin and began wiping his water-soaked face. “I never actually painted with blood, you see. Not untilafterI had Morelli.”

“Eoghan!” I said through clenched teeth. “Stop.”

I could feel his temper like a current of electricity through our joined hands. It hurt. It prickled my skin and made me wince and pull away, but he held on.

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