The Affair: Week 5 Read Online Free

was like someone had mainlined adrenaline into his blood. The world took on a lucid, vibrant cast that hadn’t been there before, the brilliant colors of the flowers on the terrace of his villa, La Mer, the bright blue sea below the cliffs shocking his brain. If he didn’t know himself better, he would have sworn that swooping feeling had been pure relief . . . euphoric joy?
    The rush of feeling had been so sharp and overwhelming, and so unfamiliar that Vanni wasn’t sure he trusted it. That didn’t diminish the emotion any, however.
    “Can you do me a favor?” he asked Niki presently as he turned onto the road to the airport.
    “Of course,” Niki replied.
    “Call Vera and let her know I’m returning a day early. Have her send a car over to the airport. I’ve tried to reach her several times and failed.”
    “What car do you want delivered?”
    “A fast one,” Vanni replied grimly before he signed off.
    * * *
    On Sunday morning, Emma almost ran down Amanda on the way out the door. The meeting was unexpected. Both of them were startled and flustered, given their new, strained relationship and sudden close proximity, laughing and trying to get around each other. She noticed Amanda’s heavy backpack slung over her shoulder
    She had to give her sister credit; Amanda had been incredibly dedicated to her schoolwork so far. Emma had been a little worried this new thing with Colin would distract her just when she needed focus the most as she started medical school. It had pleased her to see that didn’t appear to be the case. Amanda had been up at dawn to go to the library to study since she had to work the evening shift at her waitress job tonight.
    “Where are you off to?” Amanda asked breathlessly, leaving the front door open for Emma.
    “I thought I’d go downtown and do a little shopping.”
    “You’ve certainly grown uncharacteristically interested in clothes lately,” Amanda said, her expression friendly and amused, but curious as well. “It’s nice. I could never get you interested,” she laughed. She focused on the angel at Emma’s throat. “I suppose it all relates to Vanni?”
    Emma shrugged. Several times this week, Amanda had tried to broach the topic of Vanni Montand, but Emma hadn’t been willing to share much except to say that she’d met him on her last work assignment and that they’d begun seeing each other on a casual basis. Given everything that had happened recently with Amanda and Colin, she felt hesitant sharing intimacies with Amanda. It was a fact that she hated, but that didn’t make it any less true. She prayed for the prickly, uncomfortable atmosphere to ease between Amanda and her, but it certainly hadn’t yet.
    Besides, since discovering that Vanni had inexplicably bought her apartment complex, Emma was especially agitated on the topic of him. She wasn’t sure what to make of the fact that the man who made love to her with such ruthless precision and yet made it clear he didn’t “do” long-term relationships now owned her home. The whole scenario had left her bewildered and anxious. Talking about it with Amanda in the past would have probably helped her to clarify. All of that had changed, though.
    What
had
Vanni intended by it all? It certainly left her in debt to him . . . not in debt, but
responsible
to him, somehow. He could drop her and forget her anytime he chose, but she couldn’t remove
him
from
her
life so easily. Not when he owned the very rooms where she walked, ate, and slept.
    Besides the issue with her apartment, she was still very heartsore over the news about his young wife dying. She’d tried to find more information about his marriage and the identity of his former wife, but there hadn’t been anything online. Had Michael Montand Sr. used his influence, perhaps, to silence the news of his heir’s unapproved marriage and his wife’s untimely death?
    “It would be hard to see a man like him and not want to look good,” Amanda said,