Sophia's POV
His words cut through me like a blade.
Just a contract. That's all it's ever been.
I had replayed those words in my head a thousand times since they'd left his lips, each repetition carving a deeper wound into my heart. And yet, standing here now with my wrist captured in his grip, I couldn't pretend it didn't still hurt.
You fool, I told myself bitterly. What did you expect? That spending time together would change things? That sharing a bed would make him see you as anything more than a breeding vessel?
Maria had been right. In Vito's eyes, she was the one who mattered. She was the girl from his past, the one who'd saved his life, the one he would have married if not for this arrangement.
I was nothing but the third party who'd inserted herself into their love story.
