Page 238 of Modern Romance May 2026 Books 5-8
Mira was envious of her for having Axel to lean on. For more than two weeks, she had been wallowing in that other side of love’s coin: hatred.
Today, after saying a few words at the service that had felt like blatant falsehoods, she was forced to play hostess in the nearby reception hall, accepting condolences and continuing the charade that Otto had been her father.
She missed Rocco. He had always been adept at turning a conversation from rocky waters, or extracting her from a bore. She had always felt bolstered when his hand was in the middle of her back, or his fingers casually linked with hers.
She was chatting with Joy while staring longingly toward the door, wishing she could be the first to leave, not the last, when she realized who that was in the black suit.
“Oh, my God.” She nearly dropped her plate of untouched finger foods.
“Who is he?” Joy followed her gaze to where Rocco had spotted her and was making a beeline toward her.
“Would you get Axel for me, please?” Mira began to shake. She set down the food before it skated off the plate, then gulped some cool wine to wet the back of her throat.
“Rocco,” she said tightly as he came close enough. “Here to gloat?”
“No, cara. I came for you.”
She choked on her disbelief.
“I know I hurt you very deeply, but I couldn’t let you think I don’t care.” The tenderness in his eyes and the compassion in his voice nearly undid her. “Is there anything I can do to help you?”
“Leave me alone?” she suggested, voice striking a higher octave.
“I don’t want you to be alone, Mira,” he said with quiet vehemence. “I don’t think you want that, either. I think you want to be with me as badly as I want you with me.”
“Which is not at all because I don’t want to be with a liar,” she hissed, conscious of the fact people were milling nearby.
“One omission. Everything else between us was real.”
“How can you say that?” she countered.
“What should I have done?” he asked, in a low, heated tone. “Ignored you that first day? Icouldn’t. There was no right answer, cara.” He held out a palm.
She shook her head, not wanting to see his side of it because she might start to crumble and let him back into her heart.
His gaze lifted to a point behind her shoulder and flared with animosity.
“Problem?” Axel arrived beside her with an anxious-looking Joy.
“Axel has taken over at Vorstoben,” Mira told Rocco. “It’s all his now, so I’m no use to you. In fact,” she continued in a quavering voice. “Now that Otto is dead,you’reno use tome.”
It was a spiteful thing to say, blurted in an effort to save face.
His mouth tightened and his cheek ticked.
“I’d like to discuss a truce,” Axel said, forcing Rocco to look at him. “Let’s find my assistant and set up a date for discussions.”
Axel was being kind. Perhaps Rocco walked away for the same reason. She had essentially told him to get lost, but she was bereft as he turned his back on her.
“Shall we fix our lipstick?” Joy suggested.
Mira’s mouth was quivering. She could feel it.
She let Joy guide her into the ladies’ room, where she hid in a stall, toilet paper pressed to her eyes, until Joy assured her Rocco was gone.
Mira was upset for days after seeing Rocco. Flowers arrived without a card and she threw them out without bringing them inside her apartment, certain they were from him. She tried to push him from her mind completely, but she kept hearing his voice.
I came for you. I couldn’t let you think I don’t care. I don’t want you to be alone.
