"Josie."
"What happened to the child... that was my fault. Once you've recovered, I'll give you anything you want. That villa out on the Southreach waterfront you love so much, I'll buy it for you, make it our home after we marry. How does that sound?"
"And the ruby brooch you had your eye on last time, I'll send someone down to the old jewelers on Mulberry to have it set right away..."
He paused, drew a slow breath.
"As for Viviana... she really didn't mean it. She lost her parents young, and I spoiled her, but she's not cruel at heart. Don't hate her. Do it for me, please?"
He leaned down and pressed a kiss to my forehead. "Once Viviana is married off, we'll have our wedding. I'll give you the grandest ceremony anyone's ever seen. And then we'll have children, so many children..."
I wrenched my face away, dodging his lips.
I hadn't told him that the last few times Viviana had driven me to the edge of death, I'd seen fragments of my past in the darkness. Each time, just as I was about to learn who I really was, the vision shattered.
But I was starting to understand the pattern. Every time they broke me, another piece of my memory came back.
All I had to do was wait. Once I remembered everything, once I found my family, I wouldn't need him anymore.
Matteo must have felt me go cold, because a crease formed between his brows.
"Josie, I've already lowered myself to beg you. What more do you want?"
"Viviana was right. I've spoiled you rotten. Let you think that being useful with a harp entitles you to act above your place!"
"Take a good look at yourself. Drive me away, and tell me, what man would have you? Or do you want to go back to being a nameless ghost with nowhere to belong?"
My eyes flew open. I stared at him, unable to believe what I was hearing.
The impatience on his face, the casual cruelty in his voice, told me everything. The man who had once been so careful to soothe my fears and chase away my nightmares was gone.
How many times had he let Viviana humiliate me, hurt me, break me down? I'd lost count.
The day Viviana first arrived at the house, she said my room had the best view of the courtyard and wanted to swap. Matteo took my side without hesitation, told her I was settled and it would be inconvenient to move, told her to pick a different room.
But I couldn't bear to put him in that position, so I offered to move out on my own.
Touched by my thoughtfulness, he gave me his study instead, the small paneled room behind the office where he ran the books for the family's gambling front, and from then on we were together day and night.
I thought he would always protect me like that.
Not long after, Viviana invited me to see the garden behind the hill at the edge of the property.
When we reached the stone pond, she pushed me into the freezing water.
Ice-cold water flooded my nose and mouth. I couldn't swim. I thrashed, screaming his name over and over.
Matteo took his time calming a hysterical Viviana before he finally ordered someone to pull me out. Even then, he pushed Viviana aside first before reaching for me.
And his first words when I was dragged to the flagstones weren't concern. They were blame.
"How could you be so careless? The stones were that slick, and you were still playing around?"
"Cousin, I don't know what happened. I just felt someone push me, and I nearly fell into the pond, so I grabbed at whatever I could, and I accidentally... I didn't mean to hurt Josie..."
Viviana's account was vague on purpose.
But the way Matteo looked at me changed instantly.
"There was no one else around. Josie, did you resent Viviana for taking your room? Did you try to push her into the water and end up falling in yourself?"
My mouth opened and closed. The injustice burned so hot I couldn't form a single word in my own defense.
His mind was already made up. Anything I said would have been wasted breath.
Later, during a weekend shooting trip the associates organized upstate, Viviana's horse spooked and threw her. She scraped her skin.
My horse had been tampered with. I was flung from the saddle and three of my ribs snapped clean.
