Operetta

The pillar of the ruined Avril family; nothing left but a talent for words and a sharp tongue;

The secret author of the novel 〈The Marchioness〉—

Zoe Avril.

The illegitimate child of a musician and the grandson of a great magnate.

The young heir of Eisenhaum & Co.—

Lloyd Eisenhaum.

“No matter how desperately you say ‘I like you’ or ‘I love you,’ your answer will keep circling back to the same place forever.”

Even a lie would do. Just tell me you love me.

/

“You want something too. That’s not the attitude of someone asking a favor.”

The provocative woman yanked the man’s tie roughly toward her,

and the man stretched out his fingers and violated the line of her jaw.

Their warm breath and eyes met, and only then did the woman laugh aloud. See? You want this.

It was a very old love. That’s what she called the thing mixed into his eyes.

Desire amplified by deprivation, grown maddeningly large, until they looked almost like mirrors of each other.

Do you know?

“Go ahead and beg me to hold you, Eisen.”

She’d wanted it to hurt you, just a little, you who knew nothing.