knife could be beautiful, sha

e sheen of a chandelier that likely set her back more than anything she'd ever paid. Expensive paintings and stern watcher

t arrived t

-like eyes, took her silently up a broad staircase and down a ver

he said, pu

o-ceiling windows, velvet drapes, and a vista that stretched

exactly t

mpress me?" she sna

d the door behind her, confining

the storm raging within her. She had just begun to soak up the fires, the lies of a man she was coming to

clasped th

d not

ld neve

ve

. Three soft raps, followed

nne

d. "I'm no

slacks; sleeves rolled to his forearms. The first few button

eat,"

n. "You don't get

d the room was sud

ll you now," he said quie

t a house,

. "A jail with silk blankets and

hed. "You burned

"Because that store was fanta

t have a

born to," he said to her. "But they

o do? Sit at your table like some obedient pawn wh

. Now they stood inches apart, and she felt the cra

re leverage. And your name, your blood, is the

it? I'm a h

loyalty. Of heritage. But don't for a second think,

u seriously believe threatening m

r bar of the room, "that you're intelligent

d a l

ad a c

ine and offered her on

said, taking a s

never get anything from me, Dante. I will not pretend

almost calming. "I won't

hy are you trying to bother

seemed an eternity. "To see what

in the he

ot fear. Something heavier. Something that tasted like having been d

be like my fat

was a coward in the end.

nd fast, ricocheting of

re, a flushed spot on his cheek,

her breath. "You never

tightening, but not with rage.

. "But the next time you touc

worst," s

more slowly, more purposefully

ut watch what you wish for. You might find yourself lik

und and walked away and clos

in a bed too comfortable, her

her, intimidation on his face that he intended to o

h men like him as a child.

d ever hurt and bruised h

hate

wo

di