第4章

From last night until now, every sentence I traded with Victor had done the same thing to me.

It made me see more clearly that I had never known the man I had spent five years beside.

This was the ugliness beneath the mask.

Other coworkers heard the noise and crowded over out of curiosity.

They knew nothing about any of it, so of course they took Victor and Camilla's side.

"Elena, Mr. Moretti isn't just the CEO here. He's the Sicilian Don's heir apparent. A man with that much money and power would never be after your little bit of cash!"

"Right, Elena. Your salary wouldn't cover one of Mr. Moretti's auction bids."

"Mr. Moretti could marry into any of the other mafia families. He chose you, which proves he doesn't care about money at all."

Victor was pleased with the support, of course. He let out a small sigh. "Enough, Elena. If you really don't want to pay me back, I won't force you. What can I do? I love you."

Something spiteful flashed through Camilla's eyes. "Victor, you're too good to her. But a woman who'd wish an illness on her own mother for money would never command respect as the next Donna. She'd only reflect badly on you."

The coworkers who had been muttering all turned and looked at me with open contempt.

I opened my mouth to explain and met Victor's eyes.

He was savoring it: pleased with himself, with just a trace of wounded self-pity.

When he saw me looking, he arranged his face into concern. "All right, Elena knows she was wrong. I stopped caring a long time ago. Next time you need money, just ask me. I won't say no. After work I'll pick up a few things and we'll go see your mother together. I'll apologize to her properly."

That sent the whole office into an uproar. They were furious with me, convinced I didn't know how good I had it.

"Exactly. Mr. Moretti has that kind of money. If you want some, just ask."

"It takes a monster to wish her own mother sick just to get money."

"I never thought Elena was like this. I always thought she was just careful with money. I used to bring her food."

"If I were her mother, I'd regret giving birth to her."

Even the coworkers I had helped and the interns I had trained joined the rest in condemning me from their self-appointed moral high ground.

My eyes moved slowly over every familiar, unfamiliar face, and stopped on Victor.

I looked at him and said, slowly and distinctly, "Victor, we were together for five years. Why don't you tell everyone exactly how much of your money I ever spent? If you can't name a single cent you spent on me, give back the hundred and fifty thousand you took. Otherwise you'll be hearing from my lawyer, and so will this company."

He called ours a love that had nothing to do with money.

Yet money had poisoned it from start to finish.

And Victor, the Sicilian Don's heir apparent, was known to everyone as a man who threw money around.

Yet he had been counting every dollar I saved to keep my mother alive.

Victor's face changed. His mouth opened, but he couldn't produce a single defense.

Of course he couldn't.

A man who made me pay for the condoms was never going to find a cent he had spent on me.

I scoffed.

Then Camilla shoved me hard from behind.

I stumbled forward before I could catch myself, and my knees hit the floor.

"Elena, stop trying to confuse everyone! How could Victor possibly owe you money? Keep lying and we'll call the police. If you actually go to prison, who's going to take care of that mother of yours while she lies in the hospital waiting for you to earn the money she needs? Apologize to Victor now!"

Camilla still thought she could threaten me.

But there was nothing left in my life to hold over me.

Just then Victor's secretary, Grace Coleman, happened to pass by. When she saw him, she pushed her way into the crowd. She was holding a form. "Mr. Moretti, you still haven't signed off on Elena's bereavement benefit. I heard she'd saved the full cost of treatment, but someone transferred the money out without telling her. Her mother believed she'd become a burden to her daughter. She couldn't take the pressure, and she took her own life."