Page 53 of Ruthless Sinner

"Just take deep breaths. You will be fine."

I love how she's giving me that type of advice, and I haven't even looked at the message yet.

Eager to see what orders he has for me today, I ignore her advice, pick up the phone, and read the message properly.

When I see what it says, I curse myself for not at least breathing before reading the darn message. It says:

I've arranged for you and Matthew to have a date tomorrow night. He'll pick you up at 8:00. I want the two of you to get to know each other, so I've arranged a series of dates for you while I'm away. Make sure you give him a chance.

Love you.

I set the phone down and rest my hands on my head.

"This is just great."

Harper picks up the phone, and her eyes go wide when she reads the message. She bites the inside of her lip and shakes her head.

"Your old man is really going hard for this." She slides the phone toward me.

"What am I going to do, Harper? At the rate Dad's going, I could seriously be marrying this guy. Chances are I am. I know my father. He wouldn't be going through all this trouble if he wasn't set on me marrying Matthew."

I’m sure Matthew Bouchard would make someone who doesn’t mind a billionaire playboy a great husband. Just not me.

He's handsome and filthy rich and definitely up there with the best of the bunch, but I know I’ll never have any sort of connection with him no matter what I do. That’s not because of Dante or because Dad chose him for me. I just know myself.

Harper taps my knuckles. "Try to stay calm. I think you should ride this out, and when your dad gets back from Japan, you can talk to him."

"That's two weeks. Two weeks is a long time."

"It will give you a chance to let time pass, if you know what I mean, and when you speak to him, you can tell him you gave it a fair shot.”

“But then he's just going to find another guy. Or maybe he'll force me to marry Matthew and my life will go to hell after that."

"You don’t know that, so please don't think of the worst-case scenario until it happens. I know it's easier said than done, but trust me, it's for the best. Or you’ll go crazy.”

“I think I’m already heading that way.” Why else would I imagine Dante watching me?

“No, you are not going crazy.” She waves her hand across her chest and shakes her head. “You’ve been through worse shit than this. We just have to find a way around it.”

Even she doesn’t sound convinced, and I can’t exactly blame her. What can she say? No one can help me out of this.

“Serenity, please.” She holds my gaze.

“Okay, I’ll play along.”

“Good. Just think happy thoughts and about the show.”

“Yeah. At least I have the show.”

“Come on, let's order some dessert. I think we need something extra fattening and tasty, like that triple chocolate sundae."

"Sure." I nod, trying to settle my mind. I just wish I didn’t feel like my head was going to explode at any minute.

* * *

I enjoy the rest of the day with her. We go shopping and to the movies. Like always, Harper does what she does best by distracting me, but as soon as I’m home and the silence hits me, I’m right back to square one.

I head up to my bedroom, and it’s like I can see Dante. But he isn’t there, or anywhere.