Page 36 of Where Quiet Hearts Scream (Dark Hearts #3)

A ndreas

I wasn’t intending to come into the house when I dropped my wife at home, but something happened during the dinner that changed her entire demeanor and I need to know what it was.

She steps inside the house and turns toward me, unable to look me in the eye. I press my palm to her chest and push her backwards. Her eyes stretch wide and a panicked look crosses them. Closing the door behind me, I tower over her, and my voice comes out low, broken, barely restrained.

“What’s the matter?” I demand.

Her breath shivers between us and a look I haven’t seen on her before sends an irritated shiver down my spine. It’s cold-hearted fear .

“Nothing,” she whispers, shakily. “Nothing’s the matter.”

My hands curl into fists as I hold back my frustration. “Don’t lie to me.”

“Ha!” She barks out a laugh. “Don’t like it when the shoe’s on the other foot?

She has a fair point. I don’t, but I’m not arguing right now. I need the truth. “You shut down during dinner.”

I sense something snap inside her. Years of torturing my enemies and negotiating with people I need something from has honed my instincts.

Her gaze finally flicks to mine and it’s filled with hate.

“What do you expect?” she seethes. “You’re giving me to that disgusting man just so you can seal a deal.”

What? I open my mouth to speak but she carries on.

“That’s all you wanted, isn’t it? Not just a wife .

Not just a wife who is related by marriage to the Di Santo’s.

You wanted a wife you could pimp out to secure your dirty deals.

I mean, what could be more attractive than that?

To sleep with the sister to a Di Santo wife?

Especially if you’re a dirty politician who thrives on power. ”

She turns, about to walk away, so I reach out and grip her shoulders. She’s not going anywhere until she’s explained exactly what she means.

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

Her eyes round, then narrow on a dime.

“Don’t you dare pretend that’s not what you’ve just done. You exchanged me for the plans for your tech facility. Me in return for that man’s signature.”

My voice sounds otherworldly, like the devil himself has hacked into my throat. “I did nothing of the kind.”

She thrusts her hands to her hips and squares up to me. “Then why did you frown at me to be quiet while he was feeling me up under the table?”

I take a step backward, a red fog passing over my consciousness. “He was what?”

Serafina must sense something in my voice because she swallows loudly.

“He had his hand on my thigh…”

My nostrils flare like they belong to a caged animal.

“Then he moved it up and took ahold of me… of my…”

Her cheeks flush, not an adorable shade of pink, but a mortified, embarrassed red. She can’t finish the sentence, but she doesn’t have to.

“H— he touched you?”

Her eyes dart side-to-side over mine, confusion ripping through her whole body. “Yes. I thought that was what you wanted.”

I stare at her in disbelief.

I can’t get a handle on the rage flooding through me. I’ve never felt anything like it. Not when my father betrayed me over and over, not when gang lord after gang lord killed off my men in the early days. It’s singing my skin and threatening to erupt in a blaze of violence .

My voice is a shadow. A dark, bitter shadow. “I don’t ever want another man’s hands on you.”

Her eyes ping so wide I worry her eyeballs might actually pop out.

“Look at all of this…” I coast my gaze around the entrance hall and dart it back to her. She knows I’m referring to everything I’ve done to try and help her since I put my ring on her finger. “Why would I?” I seethe.

“I—I don’t know,” she whispers, breathless.

Rage infuses me and I can’t look at her wide eyes and heaving chest any longer.

“Go to bed.”

“When will I see you again?” Her words are weak and panicked.

I grit my teeth together. I can’t tell her the truth—that I don’t know. Because I can’t see any further than my anger in this moment.

“Soon.”

Then I turn and walk out the door, slamming it off its hinges.