Page 32 of Sins of Bliss

We both go quiet once the words leave my lips—the only sounds coming through the phone are those of our soft breaths.

She doesn’t answer the question.

“Are you using your safe word, piccola ladra?”

Locket.

Her safe word.

The word she’d selected as her safe word when she first learned of my preferences in the bedroom. The word selected for if things became too much for her.

As a pleasure dominant, I have no intention of ever hurting her, but the line between pleasure and pain is thin, and everyone has a limit, so I made her choose something that would indicate she felt uncomfortable, in pain, or just simply wanted things to end. All she needed to do was say the word and I would stop what I was doing immediately, no questions asked.

Perhaps this is her way of telling me without words that, whatever was happening, she wants it to stop.

It’s entirely possible that I am reaching with my assumption, but when Sully told me she mindlessly toyed with her necklace—herlocket—during his entire encounter with her, it brought back memories to her in my hospital room. She played with the locket then, too, when she was lost in her mind or trying to avoid the heaviness of some of our conversation.

A door slams in the background, and Vinnie sighs. “I’m getting married in two days, Sly. I can’t do this. I have to go.”

“Answer the question, Vincenza.”

I hear her walking, and another door shuts lightly. Then, water begins to run in the background.

“I know you don’t agree with my choice, but it’s time for you to listen to me,” she says, her voice low. The water sounds close to her, and it makes me think she’s turned it on for a reason. A deep feeling of protectiveness rushes through me, but then she continues on, cutting through my thoughts. “I don’t love him, Sly. But Iammarrying him on Saturday. My mind is set in this decision. I’m sorry.”

A smile upturns my lips despite what she’s just said, and hope blossoms in my chest.

Hope. I haven’t felt that in many months.

She doesn’t love him.

She’s already told me as much, but to hear her reiterate it resonates differently this time.

“Do you love me, piccola ladra?” I ask, praying she’ll tell me the truth. The only thing I want to hear is that she still loves me, too. Everything else we can handle together.

I stop pacing and hold my breath until she answers.

“Sly…”

“Do you love me, Vincenza? Because love is not a strong enough word for what I feel for you. My entire existence was created simply for you. My heart calls to you. It sings your name, and beats solely for you. I would move Heaven and earth if?—”

“OfcourseI love you, Sly. God, I love you so much it’s killing me. Every day, you’re all I can think of. You’re the only reason I get up in the morning and lay my head on the pillow at night.”

“Thenwhy?”

“I have to go. Please, feel some semblance of peace knowing my heart is yours. It willalwaysbe yours, but there are things I can’t explain to you.Please, just let me go.”

“Is he hurting you?” I ask again, the unanswered question pushing its way to the forefront of my mind again.

“I have to go.”

The line goes dead, and immediately a roar bellows from my chest as I throw my phone. It lands with a thud against the couch and I see a new shade of red.

My rage is a deep shade of burgundy, so dark it’s nearing black.

She never answered the question.

She was jumpy and nervous when Sully saw her.

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