Chapter Twenty-One

CORA

In all the years Cora had seen her mother handle stress, it was never with a single-minded vengeance of a woman hell bent on numbing the world through distraction. The new, possessed woman planning the gala of the century terrified her.

“I want Calla Lilies in slender, water vases with tea lights. Night life. Not whatever these are.” The bushel of crystal blush was shoved into the event planner’s hands. “I want fresh, radiant. Stick to our burgundy and gold pallet, Monique.”

Cora watched from the opposite end of the ballroom as the rejected flowers were pushed into Monique’s assistant’s clutches and the group moved away from the centerpiece display to china.

Elise circled the round table, one hand bunched loosely beneath her chin as she took in each set.

“Is this all of it?”

Monique, flustered and on the verge of unraveling, slanted a panicked glance in the direction of the mousy girl following at their heels. She had yet to speak and she kept just enough out of sight as to not draw Elise’s attention.

It hadn’t been a good three weeks.

Not for Monique.

Not for her assistant.

Not for Elise.

Each new day that passed and news arrived that a new member of the De Marco clan was slaughtered, Elise became a little more tattered around the edges, a little more intent on closing herself off from everything, except throwing the biggest engagement party the city had ever seen.

Every detail was put beneath the microscope and analyzed to an inch of its life.

Every decision was made and unmade as the event day drew closer to conclusion.

Cora couldn’t even imagine what this was costing her parents.

Neither Giovanni nor Elise seemed to care.

Leaving the display room where Monique had dutifully arranged every fine detail on white clothed tables for Elise to peruse, Cora made her way back to the main part of the house. Her flats clipped softly on marble, echoing slightly in the humming silence.

Had it always been so silent? She wondered.

As a child, it had always been filled by her and Elise running through the halls, laughing at the top of their lungs as they played out whatever game they’d concocted. Later on, it was music and the trill of their voices as they danced along to whatever was blaring in the rec room stereo. Her entire life was painted throughout those halls and each moment had Elise with her creating those memories.

But this, the milestone they’d been hoping for since Cora was old enough to paste Disney princess dresses into a scrapbook was tainted by blood, loss, and death. It was memorialized in fear and vengeance.

It killed her.

“Hey sweetheart.” James appeared at the end of the hall, a dark silhouette against a blinding wall of sunlight radiating from the window behind him. “I’ve been looking for you.”

She went to him, desperate to feel something beyond the crippling cold seeping through her limbs.

His arms were already there, already open, waiting. They closed around her, a fortress of muscle and warmth securing her against the man.

She breathed him in, soaking her senses in his scent.

“I don’t want this,” she murmured into shoulders that had been there to heft her fears and pain every step of the way. They cradled her cheek now as she closed her eyes. “It’s not how it’s supposed to be.”

His lips found the top of her head in a hard stamp that she felt all the way down to her toes.

“I have something for you upstairs.” He drew back and grazed the underside of her chin with two fingers. “When you come back, I’ll have fixed everything.”

“You can’t—”

One dark eyebrow quirked. “Don’t doubt me, woman. Now go.”

There wasn’t a part of her that believed James could fix the mess her entire world had become. He couldn’t bring back Roman. He couldn’t restore her father’s empire. He couldn’t take away the haunted darkness in her mother’s eyes. Those were things no mortal man could accomplish.

But she obediently made her way up the stairs to her room. It remained as she’d left it that morning, the bed made, the floors tidy. It looked exactly as it had when she’d been living in it, except there were male clothes in her dresser, male boots in her closet, and male things in her bathroom.

She preferred them there.

She liked seeing his things amongst hers. It made the room less feminine, less lonely. And it made what they had just a little more real. She still had no idea what that was exactly, but she relished in it. She woke up in the morning expecting his weight, expecting his mouth, expecting his hands and cock before the day started. She loved seeing him at the table with his paper and at dinner with his hand on her thigh. If she didn’t know any better, she might have thought herself falling for her husband.

The idea was terrifying. James would have lost his shit if she ever told him. But the more she thought about it, the more certain she was.

She loved her pirate, and not just any kind of love, she was in love. Hard.

But that was something she wouldn’t tell him. He’d be gone before she finished vomiting up her feelings. He was so against it, so tainted by the very possibility that it was almost insulting. But she told herself she already had all the important parts of him.

His attention.

His affection.

His loyalty and trust.

Did she really need him to actually say it?

Teetering back and forth on the idea, Cora moved deeper into the room, her gaze scanning all the places a surprise could be placed.

She found it in the bathroom. It was the sliver of light glimmering through the partially open doorway that propelled her to push it open further. She stepped over the threshold and paused just inside to admire the sight of a million lit candles clustered over every available flat surface, and surrounding a filled tub frothy with lavender scented foam. The entire room glowed a warm, buttery gold and smelled of heaven. Along the rim, the light glittered off the flute of champagne resting alongside her favorite bottle of Pinot Noir.

Cora gasped, overwhelmed by the sheer display of thoughtfulness from a man she would never have guessed possessed an ounce of gentleness in the beginning. He was always purely brute force and dominating, but occasionally, he’d do something unexpected and sweet, and her heart tripped all over itself.

Yet he’d forbidden her from falling for him.

It was laughable.

Nevertheless, she stripped quickly and slipped into the bath, gasping as the heat radiated up her limbs to her neck.

She reclined and let her eyes close.

JAMES

James watched as Cora ascended the stairs, her lethargic strides coinciding with the slump in her shoulders. He waited until she’d reached the top before making his own way to the ballroom, a useless bit of space that made no sense to him why anyone not in the sixteenth century would have. But his problem didn’t lie with the room itself, but the woman guarding it like Cerberus guarding the gates of the underworld.

Only, he was fairly certain the three-headed dog from Greek Mythology was probably kinder.

He found Elise exactly where he knew she would be, knee deep in party planning. She stood by a table of silverware, waving a small spoon in the event planner’s face.

“Is this supposed to be a shrimp fork?” she was seething when James approached. “These are all ridiculous.”

James stopped just behind her.

“Ms. Harris, may I have a word, please?”

Elise spun, hazel eyes going wide before she realized it was only just him. “Not now, Captain. I’m in the middle of something.”

James gritted his teeth. “Now.” He bit out, putting the full force of his authority into it. “Leave,” he told the two watching him with stunned expressions.

Neither one needed to be told twice. They turned and hurried from the room just in time to miss Elise whirling around to snarl at him.

“How dare you, Mr. Crow! Do you have any idea how much work—?”

“Stop,” he cut her off. “You’re acting crazy.”

Elise gasped. “How dare—”

“Do not dare me again, Ms. Harris,” he warned. “I have a problem with being challenged, or dared. I tend not to take it very well. Now, you are going to listen to me, because the very foundation of your relationship with your daughter depends on it.”

Anger dissolved with a flutter of her lashes and was replaced with a scan of the room, possibly searching for Cora.

“Where is she?”

“I sent her upstairs to relax.” He puts his hand up when she started to open her mouth again. “She needed it. This was supposed to be her day, but she’s miserable. I don’t like seeing her miserable, Ms. Harris. It upsets me and no one likes me when I’m upset.”

“But why is she upset?”

“Because she was under the impression that you would be planning this together. As a team. But she hasn’t been asked her opinion once in three weeks, which bothers me, because her wants and needs are the only reasons I agreed to this—”

Elise burst into tears.

James immediately ceased speaking.

Fuck...

It was the last thing he’d expected, and for several long, straining seconds, he didn’t know what the fuck he was supposed to do.

“I’m so stupid,” she sobbed. “I didn’t mean to hurt Cora. I didn’t even ... I’m a bad mother.”

James sighed. “You’re not a bad mother. I shouldn’t have yelled at you. I’m sorry.”

But the apology did nothing to slow the flood of tears washing down her cheeks.

James reached for a napkin folded in the shape of a swan and pressed it into her hand.

“Please stop,” he pleaded. “If Cora sees you, she’ll skin me alive.”

The partial teasing earned him a wet chuckle as she wiped at her face.

“I don’t blame her for being upset.” The napkin was bunched in her hands. “We’d been planning this day for years, and she’s right, this isn’t how it was supposed to be. I ruined everything.”

“No,” James said quickly before she could cry again. “You can still fix this.”

She squinted at up at him, looking very dramatic with her lashes spiky and her cheeks flushed. Even in pieces, Elise Harris looked remarkable and elegant, like an olden time TV starlet.

“How? There’s only three days before the event and so much has already been spent...”

“Don’t worry about the money,” he assured her gently. “Just give Cora what she wants.”

She sniffled delicately. “She must hate me.”

James raised an eyebrow. “Have you met her? I don’t think that’s possible.”

Elise sighed. “You’re right. I should talk to her. Fix this.”

He didn’t stop her when she left the room. He waited until he couldn’t hear the click of her heels before expelling the air from his lungs.

That hadn’t gone the way he’d expected. Her falling apart hadn’t happened in his head when he’d first decided to confront her. They’d talk and he’d convince her to let Cora participate and everything would be fine.

Damn women.

But at least it was done, he thought. The only person left to talk to was De Marco about leaving a trail of bodies leading up to Cora’s big day. He personally didn’t care who De Marco killed, but Cora didn’t need to know about it.

After that, he needed a drink and his woman.

But first things first.

CORA

The silk hissed as Cora fastened the sash securely around her waist. The fabric glided like a lover’s hands over her soft skin, making her a little homesick for James.

But she would rectify it later. For now, she just wanted to snuggle under the duvet, her body warm and relaxed from the bath, and nap.

She got as far as the bed when the door opened without knocking. She expected James, but was surprised when Elise poked her head in.

“Hey,” the woman murmured. “Should I come back?”

It had been weeks since she’d been alone with her mother. She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do.

“No,” she decided. “Come in.”

Elise slipped into the room and shut the door quietly behind her. Then she stood there, looking tiny and lost.

“I’m sorry, darling,” she began. “I’ve made a mess of things.”

Cora blinked, not having expected that at all. “What? No, you didn’t—”

Elise put a hand up to stop her. “I took away your big day by making it all about what I wanted. I didn’t even...” she broke off with a shake of her head. “I let this party become my box and that wasn’t fair to you. This is your day. It should be what you want.”

Cora sighed and lowered herself onto the bench at the foot of the bed. “That’s just it, I don’t know, because I don’t want this.”

Elise visibly started. “What?”

There was no hiding it anymore, she thought, pulling in a bracing breath. “This party scares me, Mom. I have nightmares about it. I wake up in the dead of night reaching for James because I keep seeing him dying over and over again and I can’t stop it.” Her head rocked slowly. “This party is going to get him killed.”

“Oh sweetheart.” Elise crossed the room and claimed the spot next to Cora. “No one is going to do anything. I promise you. I’ve been very clear about that. Nobody would dare disrespect my wishes in my house.” She took Cora’s hand. “Now, enough of this. We have three days to fix the disaster I’ve created.”

Cora snorted. “Just leave it. Dad’s going to be furious when he gets the bill as it is.”

Elise pushed to her feet and took Cora with her. “Your father isn’t paying for any of this. We offered, but James insisted he would take care of it.”

Cora stopped. “James?”

Elise nodded. “Said he wanted to make sure you got everything you wanted.” Elise smiled a little. “He’s a good man, Cora. He cares about you. It almost makes me forgive him for taking you.”

Cora laughed but her mind was a million miles away from that room and that conversation. It was wrapped around the promise she’d made to James about never falling in love with him and wondered if it was still breaking that promise if no one else knew about it.

It was his fault anyway. He’d left her no choice. He’d practically shoved her into it. He couldn’t be the perfect man, the perfect lover, the perfect husband, and not expect her to love him. It didn’t happen like that.

“Cor?”

She blinked and faced her mom. “Yeah, okay.”

Elise beamed. “And I will stay completely out of it. Support only.”

“Don’t you dare.” Cora hooked her arm through the other woman’s. “You singlehandedly saved us from having the wrong lilies at the tables. I need that kind of fast thinker.”

Cora grinned when Elise laughed and elbowed her. “Evil child.”

“Besides, someone has to tell Monique the plans have changed ... again.”

Elise grimaced. “She’s going to kill us all in our sleep.”

Cora laughed. “Well, you better call and make up with Deidra after yelling at her. She might be the only person who can save us from that clipboard wielding woman.”

Elise groaned. “God, James was right, I have been a monster to everyone.”

Cora stopped. “He said what?”

“No, no, he didn’t exactly say those words, but he was right. I’ve been a nightmare.”

Cora squeezed her arm. “You were stressed.”

Hazel eyes shone in the dim lights filtering through sheer curtains. “I’ve never felt so useless, Cora. He won’t even let me talk to my friends to explain what is happening and why he’s doing this.” Her voice broke. “He’s just ... killing everyone, all our friends, people we’ve known for decades without a shred of proof. I don’t even know how to talk to him. He’s completely shut me out.”

“Dad never does anything without a reason,” Cora pointed out. “You always told me that. We have to be supportive for him.”

“This is different,” Elise whispered. “This isn’t my husband. I don’t know who—”

“It’s him or them,” Cora reminded her. “Only the strong survives in this world.”

Elise closed her eyes. “I know you’re right. I just hate being so powerless.”

“You’re Elise De Marco Harris, you’re never powerless. You’re going to get through this like you always do, with grace and a smile. Now,” she smoothed her mom’s hair back. “We’re going to put on a bad ass party and we’re going to smile and act like we couldn’t be happier, right?”

Elise stared at her a long moment, expression torn. “I don’t know whether to be proud or heartbroken right now.”

“Scared,” Cora decided for her. “Very scared, Because I’m going to out party plan the great Elise Harris.”

Leaving her mother laughing, Cora padded to the dresser and pulled out clothes. She took them with her into the bathroom.

“Mom?” she called through the crack in the door.

“Yes, demon spawn?”

“When did you know you loved Dad?”

There was a minute of pause before the answer.

“About a week after I met him.”

Cora frowned. “That soon? Then why did you wait five years to marry him?”

The hesitation was longer this time.

“Because he was already engaged to be married to someone else.”

Clad in only a top and panties, Cora scrambled out with her pants dragging after her.

“What?”

Elise winced.

“You never told me that!”

Her mother laughed tightly. “I didn’t want you to think badly of me.”

“Well, now you have to tell me.” She dragged her pants on, never taking her eyes off the women refusing to meet her gaze. “Who was she? What happened? Oh my god, I have so many questions!”

A fine crinkle formed over Elise’s perfect nose. “She was the daughter of a rival clan. Disgustingly beautiful and lethal. I only met her the one time, but I’ll never forget her face.”

“What happened to her? Where is she now?

Her smile faded. “I killed her.”

Cora froze. “Jesus!”

“Not so I could have your father to myself, but because I was her initiation into her father’s chair.”

“So, it was you or her,” Cora clarified.

Elise nodded. “When I met your father...” the lines around her mouth melted into a dazzling smile, the one Cora recognized as the one she wore every time she told this story. “I was in Milan, in this grand, presidential suite overlooking the most stunning view of the city. I was wearing nothing but that year’s summer swim line, and he walked in like he owned the place, this foul mouthed asshole with an ego that shouldn’t have been able to fit through the door.” Elise bit her lip, her cheeks scarlet. “But I couldn’t deny the way he made me feel when he was close. He infuriated me, he still does, then he’d look at me and I would forget everything. For a week, he chased me, sending me the most beautiful and rare flowers, and the best chocolates from around the world. He tried so hard to seduce me and I loved making him beg.”

Cora laughed at the devilish glint in her mother’s eyes. “But it clearly worked. He married you.”

“Yes and no.” Elise went to the bench and sat. “First, he made me fall in love with him. It happened so seamlessly, I didn’t even feel the trip. I just woke up one morning, looked over to where he was sleeping in my bed and it hit me, I loved him, this beautiful, insufferable man I knew next to nothing about, except that he made every part of me complete. It scared me. I didn’t want to be one of those women who fell for a guy in a week. Weak women did that and I wasn’t weak. So, I ran. I packed my things and I went back to England. I returned to my cramped, lonely little apartment so sure I would never see him again. A man like that, he would have another woman in his bed by dinner.”

A lot of the story was the pieces Cora had heard a million times over the years. A lot of it was new. The sadness in her mother’s eyes was new. Usually, the story was filled with laughter and sly glances. It was like hearing a whole other side of it.

“What happened?”

Elise shrugged. “Nothing. Months passed. I continued to model. Work was picking up. I was getting international jobs that took me to Japan and Africa. It was everything I ever wanted, but I was miserable. My agent tried to get me on medication, but I refused. Drugs weren’t going to help me with this problem.”

“You missed Dad.”

Eloise offered her a rueful smile. “I missed him, and told myself I was being ridiculous. He clearly wasn’t losing sleep over it. If he cared at all, he would have found me. It wouldn’t have been very hard. But it felt like my heart had literally been broken. I threw myself into work, unable to stand my own thoughts. I worked until I landed in the hospital, stress, not enough food or sleep. I had overworked. I needed a break, but I refused to listen. I was at the top of my game. Everyone loved and wanted me. I was attending the best parties, I was wearing top of line clothes. I was flying around the world, first class, and staying in places that cost in the thousands. I was living the dream.” She chuckled humorously. “My next gig took me to New York. It was December and it was for some up and coming fashion magazine I’d never heard of, but they were making big splashes across America. The owner had asked for me specifically, which wasn’t unusual. They put me in the most amazing dress, silver and so exquisitely crafted I was terrified of moving in case I wracked it. My hair and makeup was done and I was placed on the set of a winter wonderland. Then told to wait. The owner wanted to talk to me about the set before we began.”

Cora couldn’t help herself. “It was Dad.”

Elise smiled. “It was. He walked into that room and I was transported back to Milan and the first time I saw him. He didn’t say a word as he crossed the room and took me in his arms. He grinned when all I could do was stare, and said, ‘I’ve been looking everywhere for you.’ then he kissed me and it was like coming home.”

Cora’s heart melted as it always did on that moment. Her parents’ story had always been her favorite. No fairytale love story could ever surpass it.

“Okay, now tell me the rest,” Cora teased. “This other woman.”

The glow in her mother’s smile vanished into one of pain and annoyance. “Her name was Allara. Beautiful just like she was. She was part Egyptian so she was just stunning. Thick dark hair, enormous brown eyes, skin soft and dusky. If she ever tried her hand at modeling, she could have easily given me a run for my money. But she was cold and cruel. Gio’s father and hers had been at war for decades over turf. So much blood had been shed on both sides, and through all that, they’d come to a tenuous agreement to align their clans through marriage.”

“Dad agreed?”

Elise squinted indecisively. “Your grandfather was a very hard man to say no to. He was the head of the clan up there in Italy, one of the biggest. You never met him, but Giuseppe De Marco could scare the mane off a lion with no more than a look. Your father fought the decision for as long as he could, but he knew it was inevitable.”

“What happened?” Cora pressed when Elise went quiet.

“Well, he met me that night in Milan. He’d been there to shake the photographer down for the money he owed the clan and we met. He went home after I left and told his father he wouldn’t marry Allara that he was in love with someone else. Gio never told me what happened after that or why it took him so long to find me. But he cut ties with his clan and his family, and no one does that easily. He never talked to or about his father again.”

Cora had always known her father leaving the clan was the reason her grandfather refused to speak to him, why he never cared that he had a granddaughter. It had never mattered, because she always had the rest of the family and her parents. But it finally made sense.

“What happened with Allara?”

Elise shrugged. “Gio walking away from their arrangement was an insult. Her father ordered a bounty on my head and she tried to claim it. She broke into my hotel room and ... I won.”

Cora squinted warily. “But that still doesn’t explain why you waited five years to get married.”

“Because I loved the courting.” Elise grinned sheepishly. “I loved the flirting and the dance of dating a man who’s crazy about you. But mostly because his world scared me. It was nothing like mine and I didn’t know how to adapt. Gio was building his own clan here and I was constantly worried he might not return. Honestly, and I have never told your father this, but there were days I wanted to walk away, days when I didn’t think I could handle being the thing he was turning me into. I couldn’t be the wife he wanted. I told him that once. A mafia wife ... he should have married Allara. He’d been an idiot not to. No one, especially not some twenty-five year old supermodel, could simply slip into those shoes and be expected to perform. It’s terrifying. I was terrified. I couldn’t do it.”

A dry, pasty sensation had begun to fill Cora’s mouth, contradicting the shimmer of relief over hearing she wasn’t the only one afraid of taking on that task.

“How did you decide?”

Elise stared off into the distance as if the whole thing was playing on repeat on a screen only she could see.

“I made a choice. I could leave and return to my life before, and eventually fade into nothing as someone younger and prettier took my place, or I could stand by the man I love and become one of the most powerful women in the world.”

“Power? That’s why you—?”

Elise sighed. “I love your father, Cora. I have loved him like I have never loved any man before or since. I have killed for him. I have kept secrets for him. I have been his wife, his lover, his confidant, his right-hand, his friend, and his shoulder. In return, he has been all of those for me. So, when I say power, I don’t mean against the world. It’s the exchange between two people who trust and respect each other impeccably. With him by my side, I am given strength, confidence, a poise in everything I do, because I know he will always have my back. That, my darling girl, is power.”

Cora turned that over in her mind, trying to garner as much wisdom from it as possible and still not getting her answer.

“James wants me to take that role for him,” she mumbled at last. “He wants me to become all the things I’ve avoided my whole life and I don’t know if I can.”

“You can,” Elise said with confidence. “Because you’re strong and capable, and because it’s already in you. The question isn’t if you can, though. It’s if you want to. It’s not an easy step take and an even harder one to take back. So, whatever you decide, make sure you can live with it for the rest of your life.”

“Have you ever regretted it?”

Elise smiled. “Not once, but I also took five years to decide.” She rose to her feet. “Now, come. We have a mess downstairs to clean up.”

She followed her mom down, only partially present as her mother explained the importance of the right flowers. She made the appropriate noises, but she kept going back to everything Elise had told her, all the new information about her parent’s pasts, and the road that had led them to the present.

There was so much.

They’d gone through impossible feats to get to where they were, to be together. Did she and James even stand a chance? How could they when he refused to love her, to allow her to love him? That wasn’t a partnership at all. It was like lovers with benefits.

She wanted his love.

She wanted to love him.

She wanted him to accept that willingly.

A deafening crash shattered her thoughts, sending her plummeting back to the present and the raised voices echoing through the corridors. She and Elise both froze on the bottom landing as the yelling raised in volume.

They started towards it.

“What I do in my own home is none of your concern!” Giovanni’s roar met them halfway down the corridor.

Elise grabbed Cora’s arm, stopping her from going into the parlor.

“I don’t give a flying shit what you do in your home, De Marco,” came James’s snarl. “Kill the whole fucking city for all I care, but flaunting that bullshit now, only days from Cora’s big night, that shit needs to fucking stop!”

“My daughter was raised in this. She knows—”

“Knows what?” James cut him off. “That her dad’s a mental case going around slaughtering people she considered family her entire life because he’s a paranoid fuck?”

Cora winced.

Elise did too.

“Don’t you fucking talk to me like that, boy. I was doing this before your mother even opened her legs—”

Something crashed, the thud of a body hitting something and sending it splintering across the floor.

“Talk about my mother again and I will tear your tongue from your throat, De Marco.” The eerie calm in James’s tone sent a chill down Cora’s spine. “This isn’t about what you know. It’s about what I’m telling you, and I’m telling you that if I hear about one more dead person between now and Saturday, I will bury you. I will make you dig the hole and I will fill it with you still breathing. Your need for blood will have to wait the next three days. After that, kill them all. I’ll help you. Hell, I’ll hold their children down so you can pop them in the fucking head. Anything to feed your sick need for death.”

Cora started forward. “We should...”

Elise shook her head, gaze fixed on the door. “Not yet.”

“I don’t kill children,” De Marco sounded resigned. “People I do kill, deserve it.”

“And how many people would agree that you deserve to die?” James countered. “You’re not a saint. You’re a monster. You’ve killed more innocent people than anyone I know.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Cora held her breath, so certain that this was the moment James would tell Giovanni about Annie. That they would see once and for all that her father was not capable of those things.

“Would you even remember if I told you her name?” James murmured. “Is it written somewhere in your little death book?”

“Who?”

“My sister. Annie Crow.” There was a tinge of dark amusement when he said her name. “You’d have to go back several years. Fifteen, actually. Look it up. Let me know when you find the red stain where her name was in your ledger.”

Neither Elise nor Cora were prepared for him when he stomped out of the room. He skidded to a halt at the sight of them. His gaze found hers and the violence, the pain in his eyes cut into her. But just as quickly, he regained his footing and stalked off before she could utter a word.

“Did you know?”

Cora looked away from the sharp line of her husband’s retreating back to her mother. “What?”

“About his sister.”

Cora nodded.

Elise sucked in a breath. “Oh dear.”

Cora left her mother and hurried after James, sprinting slightly to catch up before she lost him in the maze of corridors.

But he was throwing himself out the front door when she caught up. She barely caught it from shutting behind him.

“James.”

“Not now, Cora.”

He kept walking, long, angry, defeated strides down the driveway.

“Please don’t walk away from me,” she called after him.

He paused. His chin turned over one shoulder.

“I’m not walking away from you. I’m walking away so I don’t break my promise.”

Cora scrambled down the steps and hurried to him.

“Come back inside. I’ll make tea and we can—”

He laughed. “Did you just offer to make tea and crumpets?”

Cora wrinkled her nose. “I didn’t say crumpets.”

“Do I look like someone who drinks tea?” The question was asked with silent laughter in his eyes.

She shrugged. “I can make yours extra Irish.”

He snorted a chuckle and shook his head. “I’m fine. Go back inside.”

Cora sighed. “You’re picking fights with my parents for me. Don’t deny it,” she scolded when he opened his mouth. “You talked to my mother and you’re yelling at my father ... for me.”

His gaze left hers, averting to some place off to his left. They narrowed as he sucked his bottom lip between his teeth.

“I told you marrying you the way I did hadn’t been my plan.” He met her eyes once more. “If I’d had a choice, it would have been done the way you wanted. The way you deserve. I’m giving you that, even if I have to yell at your parents to make it happen.”

Right.

Don’t love him.

At all.

As if that was even a fucking possibility anymore.