Page 40 of Sins of Bliss

I groan through the way my heart pangs. “Of course he did.”

“What did he say?” Raina asks, placing her hands on her hips.

“Not much, he was just looking for you, Vins.” She hesitates. “But it wasn’t so much as what he said as whatIsaid.”

Spinning toward her, I pin her in a stare. Raina does the same, and I watch as Cecilia’s cheeks stain pink under our scrutiny.

“I told him you loved him, and that you’re going to great lengths for that love… It just slipped out. I’m sorry, Vinnie, but also I’m not. I want him to fight for you. You deserve to be in a marriage with someone you love—who loves and adores you, and worships the ground you walk on. That’s Sly, not August.”

“I’m under no illusion that it would be August,” I snap, the tears pricking my eyes. “This marriage isn’t about love. Hell, it isn't even aboutme. But I’m committed, and you both know that, so I’d appreciate it if you stopped trying to talk me out of it and just supported me through it.”

“Oh, Vins, wedosupport you,” Raina tells me softly. “Which is why we’re trying to get you to see this entire thing from a different perspective. An outside perspective. You have so many options, marrying August should be the very last one.”

“I don't understand why it’s so hard for everyone to understand,” I growl, so incredibly tired and frustrated of having to explain myself over and over. I get it. They love me and are worried, but they also know that the threat against Sly’s life is veryreal. “August is a terrible person. Beneath his‘charming former bachelor persona’is the devil personified. He has people behind him, hidden in the shadows, doing his dirty work. There’s no doubt in my mind that if I don’t comply with what he’s demanding of me, he’ll go after Sly. He’s proven it with his PI following Sly all the way to California. And that's not a risk I’m willing to take. I will gladly chain my life to August’s if it means Sly isn’t pulled into the bullshit Augustand Josephhave entangled me in.”

By the time I finish speaking, there’s a half-moon indentation from my nail in my palm bleeding because of how deeply I’ve curled my fists.

Cecilia and Raina are both silent, looking at me with a mix of remorse, and dare I say, pity.

Their expressions enrage me. I love them so much, but right now I don’t want to be around them.

“I need some air,” I say and immediately leave the restroom, letting the door swing shut behind me.

Fury grips me tightly when I only make it two steps before a hand curls around my bicep, squeezing it tightly beneath the lace sleeve of my dress. I look down at the hand before I look up at the face it belongs to.

“You’re right,wife. I do have people in the shadows working for me, and I’m so glad you recognize that. My threats aren’t idle, Vinnie. I will happily kill your little boyfriend to keep you in your place,” August’s slimy voice penetrates through the air next to my ear.

Lifting my chin, I hold his gaze. We both grit our teeth, feeling the tangible tension between us in this power struggle.

His grip on me tightens further.

“What’s going on here?” my father’s voice sounds out. Both of us snap our heads in the direction of his voice, and from the corner of my eye I can see August slip his smile into place.

“Ah, Maurizio. Headed to the gentlemen’s room?” August tries to deflect. Loosening his grip on my bicep, he slides his hand down my arm and reaches for my hand.

No longer caring about appearances, I move my hand away from him.

My father’s eyes bounce from me to August with a crease in his brow. When his eyes connect with mine again, I can see them searching for answers.

So badly, I want to crumble at my father’s feet and tell himeverything. I’ve silenced myself for so long—not talking to him about the deeper parts of my life in fear of his opinion, rejection, or wrath. But for the first time in years, I want to tell him.

Still, I continue to silence myself and bite my tongue, giving him a weak smile.

August shifts next to me, clearly unsettled by the silence. Taking a few steps to close the distance to my father, he claps his hand against his shoulder and turns his body. “Come, I’ll accompany you. I was on the way to the men’s room myself before your radiant daughter distracted me.”

As they begin to walk away, I lean against the wall behind me, mentally exhausted.

If my father turns around to look at me again, I’ll tell him everything. I’ll run after him and confess how August has been treating me, my love for Sly, and that this entire wedding is a sham.

If he looks at me, it’ll prove that he has an inkling of suspicion that something isn’t right.

But my father never turns around. He just continues down the hallway with August's arm around his shoulder, completely entranced by the man who is fooling everyone.

Chapter 14

Vinnie

“Miss Paladino! Are you excited for your big day?” Marcia, the head housekeeper at my parents' house, asks as she fluffs the couch pillows beside me, doting on me as I relax into the sofa with a fresh latte in hand.

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