“Don’t say that?—”
“It’s true. You don’t understand. You have your sister with you through everything. You can’t imagine what it feels like to know... you are alone.”
Lucy touched my back, and I fought a flinch. She didn’t deserve my anger. She didn’t do anything wrong. It was me.
“You have Massimo, don’t you?”
Massimo. The cold inside my chest warmed as I thought ofhim. A safe harbor in the storm. God, I hoped the police would be done with him and let him go. I couldn’t stand being apart for too long.
My gaze dropped to the ground. Half frozen and thawed, the shape was hard to make out, but when I picked it up, I knew.
A bouquet of snowdrops. My heart froze inside my chest, the sense of betrayal cutting through me like a knife.
Everyone in my life had tried to control me, manipulate me. Every single person had taken my choices away from me.
I’d thought my own personal demon was different, but those snowdrops didn’t lie.
He’d been here. He knew... and he’d never told me.
“He’s just like the rest of them,” I muttered to the wind. “I can’t trust him.”
I sensed Lucy’s concern; it was suffocating. I rose slowly, my knees screaming at me.
An electronic ringing filled the air, and Lucy answered her phone, watching me warily the entire time.
“Is that Giada?” I asked her.
She nodded and passed me the phone. “Do you want to talk to her?”
I put the phone to my ear.
“Katarina? Are you okay?”
“Did he know? He knew, right? You both did.”
Giada was quiet for a long moment and then sighed. “Would you have told you, considering the state you were in? He was trying to protect you. You’ve remembered him, so youknowhe cares about you. More than cares. He loves you, in his own twisted way.”
“Love?” The word was strangled.
“Yes, love. No matter what else you think, he would never havemarried you if he didn’t love you. He’s no saint, as you know all too well.”
A shocked exhale left me, the ring on my finger suddenly a lead weight.
“Married?” I echoed. The ice from the gravestone had crept into my heart, and now it was encased.
Giada must have heard my surprise and cussed a long stream of Italian down the phone. “Don’t fucking tell me he didn’t tell you yet.”
“No. He didn’t tell me. He decided to keep it from me, just like my mom’s death. Thanks for all your help,” I said stiffly.
“Katarina, you guys just need to talk everything out. Letting go of control doesn’t come easily to Massimo.”
I hung up abruptly and handed the phone back to Lucy. She had a hand clamped over her mouth, having clearly understood what had happened from the one-sided conversation.
“He married you—when?” she said, breathless.
I shrugged. “Last night? When I was... unconscious, I guess.”
Lucy watched me with a look that was awfully like heartbreak.