Page 47 of Damiano De Luca (The Five Syndicates)
“She could have explained that to him. Any reasonable person would understand.”
I tugged at my dress, reluctant to admit the truth. “She was afraid.”
“Of?”
“The problems in her relationship with the boy had never been just about the boy. In a perfect world, they’d be happily married by now. But the world isn’t perfect, and she was raised by a woman who showed her how to never fight for love and a man who told her to never let her guard down. So, it wasn’t just the boy I couldn’t let my guard down for. It was everyone.”
I didn’t even catch my slip up, too caught up in the realization that I needed to fix my issues before Damian and I could ever have a chance.
“Can I offer you advice from someone who’s seen you nearly every day for the past seven years?”
“Of course.”
The sympathy in Sally’s eyes struck me. “Sometimes, people don’t build walls to keep others out. Sometimes, they do it to protect what’s left inside.” She reached across the table and took my hand, all pretenses of talking about a ‘friend’ discarded. “Remember—that brick you use to build your walls can be a brick you use to rebuild what’s within them.”
A liar knows that he is a liar, but one who speaks mere portions of truth in order to deceive is a craftsman of destruction.
Criss Jami
I smiled at Gaspard, Maman’s majordomo, as he left me with a little bow and strode out of Maman’s library. My eyes strayed to the books on the shelves, noting a few new limited editions sitting beside a box of Gurkha Black Dragon cigars, like the ones Damian used to have in his bedroom’s humidor. Except I’d never seen him smoke. Come to think of it, I’d never seen Maman smoke either. Expensive decoration. That was what they were.
Taking a seat in front of Maman’s chessboard, I looked out of the floor-to-ceiling French windows and studied two birds perched on a tree.
“Thank you for coming, Renata.” Maman kissed me on the cheek before taking a seat across from me. The way her smile consumed her face made her radiant, and I understood how Papà could be so worried and insecure that she’d leave him.
People loved Maman. Gravitated to her. She was kindhearted, empathetic, and someone I could tell all my secrets to. Hell, I’d even told her about Damian’s existence before he rose to the De Luca throne. I spilled to her about falling in love with him and running away, and I trusted her to keep my secrets like I trusted Tijan to write a page-turner every time.
With her connections and magnetism, a divorce with Maman would embarrass Papà. Which was why she holed up in her fortress in the States, and Papà stayed the hell away to avoid poking the bear.
My eyes dipped to the chessboard, and I took in the pieces. “You’ve moved something.”
“Good eye,” she praised, that smile still glued to her face. “Knight to F7.”
“This has got to be the slowest game of chess ever. You’ve been playing this exact game since I was a kid.”
“It’s a game of patience, yes.”
“Not speed chess.”
“Speed chess doesn’t gratify.”
“Tell that to the multi-million dollar World Rapid and Blitz prize winners each year.”
Her bubbly laughter echoed in the room. “Remind me why I raised a smart ass.”
I suppressed my smile with pursed lips. “You love me.”
“That, I do.” Her fingers traced her queen, and she continued after a beat, “I didn’t bring you here to discuss speed chess, Renata.”
“Why am I here? Not that I don’t love seeing you…”
“We need to go over what’s required of you before the next event.”
“Event? Are you saying I’m going to the city again?”
“Yes, you had to have known that.”
“I—” After a sharp inhale, I let out my exhaustion with a deep exhale. “What if I don’t want to?”
