Chapter 10 - Dinner with the Devil
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Lorenzo didn't lead her to the grand dining room. He led her to a private, glass-enclosed conservatory attached to the rear of the estate. Rain battered against the glass roof, but inside it was warm, lit by dozens of flickering candles and filled with the scent of blooming night jasmine.
A small, intimate table was set for two.
"Marco prepared this," Lorenzo explained, pulling out her chair. "He is surprisingly skilled with Italian cuisine when he isn't breaking kneecaps."
Emma laughed, a genuine, bright sound that echoed beautifully in the glass room. She sat down, feeling the heavy burden of her past finally beginning to lift from her shoulders.
Lorenzo poured a vintage red wine, taking the seat across from her.
"You look exhausted, but incredibly beautiful," Lorenzo said softly, raising his glass. "To the brilliant woman who just conquered Manhattan."
"To the man who gave me the sword," Emma replied, clinking her glass against his.
The dinner was spectacular, but the food was entirely secondary to the conversation. Stripped of the monitors and the financial ledgers, they talked like two people trying to understand the demons hiding in each other's shadows.
"Why did you stay with them for so long?" Lorenzo asked, his dark eyes studying her intently over the candlelight. "A mind like yours could have ruled Wall Street. Why let Charles Whitmore take the credit?"
Emma traced the rim of her wine glass, looking down. "Because they convinced me I couldn't survive without them. My mother always said I was too plain, too quiet to ever make it in the corporate world. Vanessa was the face of the family. Andrew was the heir. I was just the machinery kept in the basement to make sure the lights stayed on. If I left, the family collapsed."
"And you thought it was your duty to save them," Lorenzo murmured, his voice thick with a strange, dark anger directed at her family.
"I wanted them to love me," Emma admitted, the raw, painful truth finally spilling out. She looked up, a tear shining in her eye. "I thought if I just worked hard enough, if I fixed enough of their mistakes, one day they would see me."
Lorenzo stood up. He walked slowly around the table, stopping beside her chair. He gently reached down, his large hand cupping her cheek, tilting her face up to meet his intense, burning gaze.
"They were completely blind," Lorenzo whispered fiercely. "You are the most extraordinary woman I have ever met. I saw you the moment I read your first financial report three years ago. I saw the genius they were hiding."
Emma’s breath hitched. "Lorenzo..."
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He didn't let her finish. He leaned down and captured her lips in a kiss that was desperate, consuming, and fueled by days of heavy, unspoken tension. Emma gasped, her hands instinctively coming up to grip his broad shoulders, melting into the heat and power of his body.
He kissed her like a man starving, and for the first time in her life, Emma felt truly, completely seen.
