I slumped against the back of the chair. My thumb pressed hard against the inside of my ring finger, against the band that suddenly felt like a brand. A long time passed before I could force out a single sentence.
"If that's how it is, the position of his lawful wife is yours."
I didn't want to be Mrs. Santoro anymore.
I didn't want Ermanno Santoro anymore either.
After Katarina left, Ermanno sent a messenger back with word that Commission business had called him out of the city. He wouldn't return for two weeks at least.
Perhaps that was fate.
I packed my belongings calmly, climbed into the car already waiting beyond the estate's back gate, and drove south through the night until the city lights disappeared behind me.
Ermanno Santoro, perhaps you've forgotten what I once said to you.
"With heaven and earth as my witnesses, if the day ever comes that your heart changes, I will make sure you can never find me, not in this life, not in the next, not even in the depths of the afterlife."