Castellano's Mistress of Revenge Read Online Free PDF Page B

look.
    His eyes bored into hers as if he was deciding whether to believe her or not. ‘You lived with him as his legal wife for five years,’ he said. ‘I can’t imagine there would be much you didn’t do with him, especially with the amount of money he spent on you. That’s probably why he ended up close to bankruptcy, trying to keep your gold-digging hands full of designer goods.’
    â€˜I couldn’t give a damn what you think,’ she said, searching in her evening bag for a tissue. ‘It’s pointless discussing anything with you. You’ve made up your mind and you are never wrong, or so you like to believe.’
    Marc frowned as he saw the scratch on the creamy skin of her blue-veined wrist. He took out his handkerchief from his inside pocket and, taking her arm, gently dabbed it. ‘It was not my intention to hurt you,’ he said.
    Her grey-blue eyes glittered. ‘That’s the whole point of this, isn’t it? To hurt me until I finally break.’
    He frowned and released her arm, stuffing the used handkerchief in his trouser pocket. ‘Perhaps there is a part of me that wants you to suffer the way I suffered,’ he said, looking her in the eye. ‘But I am not a violent man and you can be assured you will always be absolutely safe with me, Ava.’
    Safe? Ava wondered if she could ever be safe from his effect on her. She had told herself over the years she no longer loved him. Denying what she felt for him had been a coping mechanism, a way of navigating herself through the heartbreak of having to leave him while she still could. But in the end it had blown up in her face, for men like Marc Castellano didn’t forgive—they got revenge.
    She chanced a glance at his brooding expression. He was looking straight ahead, his dark eyes narrowed in fierce concentration, his sensual mouth pulled into an almost straight line. A nerve ticked at the corner of his mouth, like a miniature fist punching beneath the skin.
    As if he sensed her eyes on him, he turned and locked gazes. ‘Tell me something,’ he said, his eyes like steel as they pinned hers. ‘Were you involved with Cole the whole time you were seeing me?’
    â€˜Of course not.’ She bit down on her lip. ‘How can you think I would—’
    â€˜A month,’ he bit out the words as if they were bullets, his black eyes flashing with fury. ‘Within a month you were married to that silver-tailed, silver-tongued creep.’
    Ava closed her eyes, her head dropping into her hands. ‘I can’t do this…’ Her voice was muffled as she struggled to hold back tears. ‘Please take me back to the villa…’
    â€˜We are going out to dinner as planned,’ he stated intractably.
    She lifted her head and threw him a castigating glare. ‘You never used to be such an unfeeling bastard, Marc.’
    His eyes brewed with resentment. ‘It’s a bit late to be lamenting my lack of feeling. After all, you were the one who showed me how foolish it is to trust a woman who spouts words of love all the time. But that was your intention from the start, wasn’t it? You lured me in and then once you had me dangling on the line you cast me off for a bigger, richer catch.’
    Her brow creased in bewilderment. ‘Is that what you really think?’
    â€˜I should have seen it coming,’ he said, throwing his arm along the back of the seat. ‘I’ve had enough gold-diggers try it on me in the past. You were good, I’ll grant you that. Convincing and beguiling, and that little lie about only having one lover and it being an unpleasant experience was a nice touch. You really had me going there.’
    Ava felt as if he had struck her. The pain she felt at his words was indescribable. He was one of the few people she had told of the night she lost her virginity at the age of nineteen. Even Serena, her sister, didn’t know