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Soainst every instinct that warned hier he expected, hurt wreathed her features And again, this pale imitation of the old Clio he had known once twisted a knot in his gut

“You don’t think that really”

“A decade is a long ti to be kept like most women I know”

“And you must have really become a cold bastard to be able to say that to me”

Her words fell away like water on rocks Had he becoo?

Clio was no different

Wo they could get could be counted on one hand Like Rocco’s Olivia

“Touché, bella Maybe we are strangers to each other”

“With nothing more to say to each other”

She looked as if she was caught in a trap with no way out It would haunt him if he walked away now

“Dio, Clioare you in some kind of trouble? Just tell me how you know him”

Her chin lifted As if she was bracing herself for attack

“I work for hiave me a job when no one would hire me, Stefan, showed me a way to land with shame on my face I have to believe that you’reyou’re saying” As erect and stiff as her shoulders were, she trembled “Jackson’s my fiancé”

“You are” Gritting his jaw, Stefan curtailed the stinging response that rose to his lips, waited for the shock that was reverberating inside him to abate

The fact that she had ht, that she had al could dilute the acidic taste that filled him

How could Clio, of all the woed to ed that much?