-

ys been good

etending her body wasn't a weapon just as much as her intellect. But the most dangerous lies were the ones she told herself-and as she sta

was-had cracked so

ow and lethal, like the ech

s don't p

ve walked a

e never danc

ve never wa

r. Her lipstick still stained the rim of a forgotten wine glass. Her

e wors

even know

-

adn't

a se

across the oak desk in front of him. Surveillance photos, documents, intel from Matteo's s

earching

rl in

teel and eyes like smolderi

sure of it. If she had, she'd have s

aybe

would've k

was the

raised, as if daring the whole world to blink first. It was the way her laugh had sliced through the masquerad

ind on a ledge near the champagne bar. It l

o ar

thout knocking. "

t list. All of it. Every woman who wo

d. "You don't usually

said, voice low. "She's th

eyes. "You're lett

id. "I'm prep

-

days p

f silence an

it felt like to touch somethi

ften did in their

-

ated. A way for old money and new blood to mingle o

dn't wa

ca had i

our father wants you visible. Strong. Present.

ched, jus

"What happened a

aid too quickly.

't keep you up

perfection-a crimson gown, hair slicked back in a low twist, a diamond

crowd parting like silk for the De Luca princess. Aria moved like

n she s

the g

u

sk. N

at hit her l

ded. The crowd blurred. She felt it like gravity, a pul

i

pped f

did

ide was

a betraya

surrealist swirl of crimson

poke for

en, qu

" she

you without the th

"And I didn't recogniz

dangerous. "Funny.

piked. "Nei

er-two predators sizing up the

n't be here

r shoul

enemy t

t here

my brother sees you,

es me," Luca said,

cklessness. That arrogance

di

peel him apart, layer by layer, until

"Didn't you? That nigh

e admitted. "But

s dang

loser. "You'

d destr

lready

but the tension between them was electric. It wasn't l

gnit

res, c

drawn but

g to me," she whispered.

d. "And I thin

or her to smell him: smoke

, so

s, Aria De Luca. We burn.

r voice trembled not with fe

she wal

mage was a

a watched through a windowed arc

the parking lot, a pair of

ed smoke, smil

ins," s

-