Page 204 of Modern Romance January 2025 5-8

Dante shook his head and got out of bed. How the hell was he supposed to tell her all of it if he had to censor every word?

‘Just because you hold everything in, it doesn’t mean I have to,’ he told her.

‘Meaning?’ she bristled.

‘Just that.’

‘I think you can say difficult things and still remain nice.’

‘Fine,’ Dante responded. ‘I’ll tell younicely, then.’

And so he did. He gave her the cleaner, condensed version.

‘I cut things off, and the rare times I was home I kept well away from Rosa, or even any conversation about her. Two years later I was walking on the walls when Rosa came running. She told me she and Sev were about to announce their engagement.’

‘He didn’t know that you’d slept together?’

‘Of course not.’

‘And you told him just before the wedding?’

‘No,’ he refuted. ‘I tried to broach the subject... I said some things I perhaps shouldn’t have.’ He pursed his lips the way Susie had. ‘Let’s not go there. I’m sure you wouldn’t approve.’

‘Dante...’

Her eyes filled with tears and he could not bear to see them. He hated it that all he ever caused was hurt.

‘Sev let me know my opinions were not welcome,’ he told her.

‘Dante...’ She reached out to touch his shoulder, but he tensed and stood up.

‘So there you have it.’

‘What?’

‘The worst action I have ever committed.’

He walked towards the shower, but she halted him with a question as he reached for the door.

‘You mean sleeping with Rosa, or not telling Sev that you had?’

It was a very good question.

One he didn’t answer.

Couldn’t answer.

Instead, he climbed into the shower, and as the water hit him there was finally relief that he’d told her.

They’d been getting too close; he knew that very well.

Given Susie’s reaction now, that would no longer be an issue.

That was the relief.

Dante was self-aware enough to know that in revealing the truth he was effectively ending them. But better to cut things off now than be standing in a jewellers considering romantic gifts, or walking back into the bedroom and asking if she wanted to come to Milan.

No.