Thin Lives (Donati Bloodlines #3) by Bethany-Kris Read Free Book Online Page A

to remember. Cal, it’s not that I don’t want you to remember, it’s that you’re happy, and alive right now. The past two and a half years that you’re missing were hard for you. After your mother died, you didn’t just go downhill, you might as well have ran down it. You were in so much pain, my boy. And now you’re not, you’re okay again. Why would I want you to feel that way when you don’t have to?”
    Emma literally had to clench her fists to keep herself quiet.
    Calisto had all but relaxed entirely. His anger was seemingly gone as his fists uncurled at his sides, his arms limp. The tension in his back released as well, softening his posture.
    “You’re right,” Calisto said. “I just …”
    Affonso sighed. “What?”
    “Still feel like I’m missing something.”
    Emma’s eyes prickled, but she willed the tears away.
    Right then would have been a good time to leave.
    She almost did—Calisto’s confusion, his unknown pain, was so clear to her that it felt like a thousand tiny knives slicing at her very soul.
    Because this man was her soul.
    He was everything to her.
    Calisto just didn’t know it.
    “Of course you feel like you’re missing something,” Affonso said, bringing Emma from her warring thoughts. “You’re missing time, sadness, and your mother. Why wouldn’t you feel like something wasn’t there, Calisto?”
    Emma despised her husband a little more with every word he spoke. She didn’t even know how it was possible for her to hate him more than she already did, but somehow, she managed to do it.
    Affonso was manipulating Calisto and the affection he held for his uncle. He was using Calisto’s own feelings and confusion against him, making him seem like the paranoid party, or the guilty one between them. Affonso was the innocent. Calisto was making up things that didn’t exist.
    Simple.
    Gaslighting.
    God, she hated Affonso for doing it.
    But she hated herself a little more for staying quiet while it happened right in front of her. How could she possibly help Calisto without endangering herself, Calisto, and their child?
    Emma didn’t have the first clue.
    Calisto raked a hand through his hair, nodding quickly. “I’m sorry. I don’t even know why I thought like that, zio . It was just … a shock, and maybe I was trying to make sense of it.”
    “Maybe,” Affonso agreed. “I can understand that, but it hurts me that you think I want to cause you any kind of heartache, Calisto. I’ve only tried to help you when I could.”
    “I know, you’re right.”
    Emma clenched her fists tighter in her lap, feeling her fingernails biting into her skin.  
    Calisto hadn’t been wrong, not if he felt paranoid or distrustful in some way about Affonso’s actions or thoughts. The man couldn’t be trusted—he was a snake.
    Whatever had happened to the priest, Calisto had in some way blamed Affonso for it. Somewhere, deep inside, he knew to be wary of his uncle.
    The old Calisto—her Cal—was still there. Somewhere inside the shell of a man standing just feet away from her. He was there, waiting to come out again.
    “Do you want to discuss what you saw in the priest’s office, hmm?” Affonso asked. “It might help. I know you said when you first called that it was a … bloody mess.”
    “It was. I have seen worse, but it might just be because of who it was.”
    “Likely.”
    Calisto shot a look over his shoulder at Emma. “You should go.”
    Emma opened her mouth to refuse, but Affonso cleared his throat, stopping her.
    “Sure,” she whispered, standing.
    The very last thing Emma wanted to do was leave Calisto behind with Affonso. Especially alone. In a matter of minutes, Affonso had already managed to quell whatever concerns Calisto had, and rid him of suspicion.
    And really, it seemed like he’d also placed guilt on Cal for feeling that way at all.
    She didn’t want Calisto to be manipulated like that.
    He was so much better than that. He never would have allowed