“And where is that?”

“You know where. We both do. When we kissed, I knew I had gotten in too deep. I kept telling myself that I could walk this line. That I could keep my marriage vows but still find love. But that line gets thinner and hazier every day. I’m afraid that I would do anything you ask.”

“I would never ask anything of you that would hurt you.”

“Really? And how about Alessio?”

Ross gazed at her silently. “Do you think that what we did had something to do with Alessio’s attack?”

She turned away from him. Ross suddenly understood. “You do. You think God was punishing you.”

“Maybe He was.”

“Maybe He wasn’t. What kind of God is that?” Ross’s voice turned bitter. “Don’t kiss another man or I’ll kill the boy. That’s not a God, that’s a thug.”

“It’s not for kissing you.”

“Then what was it for?”

“For falling in love with you. For loving you more than my husband. For all the thoughts I have of you that won’t go away.”

Ross lowered his head into his hands to think. “You make me sound like a sickness.”

His voice turned softer, his head rose. “I didn’t come to Italy to steal another man’s wife. It’s against everything I believe in, Eliana. If Maurizio was a good husband, if he was even trying to be, I would have already been out of here. I would have left in the night and I would ache every time I thought of you for the rest of my life, but I would do it for you and Alessio and your family.” He looked intensely into her eyes. “You deserve to be loved, Eliana. Everyone deserves love. Everyone needs love. And what I’ve learned of this world is that those who need it the most are usually those who feel the least worthy of it. And so they bend and stretch to please and miss the entire point that conditional love isn’t love at all. Conditional love is a means of manipulation and control.” His voice was direct. “At some point you need to choose love for yourself.”

Eliana closed her eyes. “And God?”

Ross stood. He walked to her. “If your God only loves you conditionally, then He isn’t much of a God.”

She covered her eyes, though tears still escaped beneath her hands, rolling down her cheeks to her chin. She began to tremble. “It was so close at the hospital. The steroids didn’t work. You know how when you’re so afraid you’ll promise God anything?”

Ross’s brow furrowed. “What did you promise?”

She began to cry harder.

“Eliana, what did you promise?”

“I promised that I wouldn’t break up this family.”

Ross lowered his head and groaned. “Oh, Eliana.” Then he looked at her, his eyes moist. “You can’t break something that’s already broken. Your marriage contract was broken the first time Maurizio cheated on you. Ethics 101, one party violates the contract, the contract is null and void.” His voice suddenly lost its force. “Please don’t make me go.”