Page 42 of Contempt

Renzo blinked at the wall.

He’d … messed up.

Badly.

“Rose, I’m sorry.”

His sister let out a shaky breath. “God, I thought this was going to be a changing point, or something, Ren. I know you didn’t say that when you came to my shop earlier, but you were there … and I just assumed things were going to be different if you—”

“I’m sorry.”

It was the best he could do.

It was the only appropriate thing to say.

“I shouldn’t have come around yet,” Renzo muttered. “It wasn’t the right time. I just … acted rashly. I know better than that. Will you tell Diego I’m sorry?”

“No, you can do that when you see him.”

“I’m not staying in the city, Rose. I’m leaving before the night is out.”

“But you’ll be back someday, right?”

Her question came out more like a demand than anything else, and it almost made Renzo chuckle. It was like he could hear the threat in her tone—she didn’t try to tamper it. There was only one appropriate answer, and his sister wasn’t going to accept anything else.

“Someday,” he echoed.

“Good, then someday,” Rose said firmly, “you can apologize yourself. She saw you, by the way. She knew it was you.”

Renzo stilled in place.

So … then Rose did know.

Lucia had been going to visit.

Huh.

“Did she?” he asked.

Stupid man.

He knew better than to put himself in this position; knew better than to ask about her, or the conversation she might have had with Rose after he took off like an idiot. Not only would it be punishing for him personally, but it would also feel like a dangling treat on the end of the rope. One he was all too likely to chase, especially when catching the treat meant getting Lucia.

God.

He was fucked.

“I told her you were back in the city for a bit,” Rose added.

Great.

That meant a lot of things—none of them good. If his sister had confirmed to Lucia that he was well and good, plus around … well, what did that mean?

“And?” he asked.

“That woman, Ren …”

“Yeah?”