Victoria grabbed Dante's hand before he could walk away from her and leave their friendship strained. "You must believe I wasn't going to work with him. I made the mistake of not sharing it with you immediately, but I thought it would be best to wait after dinner," she explained.
"You spoke with Ophelia. It is little things like that which you do not need to do. Day after day, you give me more reason not to trust you. I cannot say for certain you wouldn't have found his offer tempting."
"It was tempting," Victoria admitted. "I could have my home back, and as he said, in exchange for a woman I hardly knew, but I didn't say yes then, and I won't say yes in the future. I would never work with him. You must trust me that I know better. I only wanted the letter to offer you."
