Page 14 of Unholy Vows (Original Sin)

Elio firmly prodded me toward the desk, and I twisted away from his touch. If I was going to die here, I wanted to walk toward that fate with my head held high and not stumbling.

He chuckled lowly and gestured me onward with mock politeness. I stepped forward and crossed the distance between the door and the desk. A thick Persian rug muffled my steps. The fire warmed me on my right side. A clock ticked, perhaps the antique one on the mantelpiece. Counting down the last seconds of my life.

Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Do something, Charlie. Tick-tock. Save Lucy. Tick-tock.

Renato observed my approach.The boss.There was no denying that’s who he was. No one gave off power like that and served another. It just didn’t happen.

He wore a black suit with a red shirt beneath. Red like the wallpaper. Red like blood. If he wasn’t about to kill me, I could have appreciated his foreboding good looks. He looked like he’d just stepped off a runway. He looked sharp, like the lines of his cuffs could give you a paper cut. His olive skin glowed in the firelight like burnished gold. Dark chocolate waves of hair softened his powerful face, dominated by an aquiline nose and slashes of black eyebrows. His mouth was beautiful, but mournful somehow. He was a man more used to frowning than smiling. A hint of silver worked through the dark strands on his head, making him even more intimidating, though his face was unlined.

He studied me just as closely as I did him. His gaze burned hot on my skin.

“Sit,” he commanded.

I swallowed a lump of terror and the annoying urge to comply. I didn’t want to be lower than this man. He was already intimidating enough. “I’d rather stand.”

Silence ensued at my refusal. Slowly, one of those imposing black eyebrows rose. His eyes were beautiful, chestnut-colored and dreamy, fringed with lashes that were too pretty to belong on such a masculine face but somehow, they worked.

“And I’d rather you sat.”

A hand landed on my shoulder and pushed me down into the seat. I shot a glare at Elio over my shoulder, and then turned back to the boss.

“Now, isn’t that more comfortable?”

There was something so unbearably arrogant about his confidence that my roiling emotions got the better of me, and my mouth was moving before I could stop it. “Get off on ordering people around, do you?”

Oh my God. Well done, Charlie. Now, you’re really dead.

The boss merely stared at me. “You have no idea. Do you know who I am?”

I held my tongue, suddenly afraid to admit it. There was no doubt that if this freaky otherworldly office had been a step into another realm, then this man here was the dark prince who ruled it. Admitting that I knew exactly who he was, and what he was capable of, felt like suicide. My mind whirled over possible answers before discarding each one.

He tutted. “I don’t ask things twice. You should remember that, Miss Burke.” His tone was mild enough, but the tension in the room warned me that pissing this man off wasn’t a wise idea.

I found my voice and forced it to work. “It’s just Charlie.” That response was a force of habit. I hated my real name. It sounded too fancy for the reality of my life.

“Charlie? That’s a boy’s name,” Renato said. His gaze slid down my fall of brown, wavy hair. “You don’t look like a boy to me.”

“It’s a nickname, but I prefer it.”

“Charlie.” He mused on it for a moment. “I don’t care for it.”

I blinked at him, feeling far out my depth in this conversation. He was dangerously unpredictable. The meandering confidence of his speech and slow perusal made my skin feel like it was two sizes too tight. There was no way I could handle this man. I had no idea where to start. All I could do was plead my case. Plead Lucy’s case.

“I’m Renato De Sanctis, just in case you weren’t aware.” He paused, letting my mind conjure the specter that his reputation painted.

He didn’t have to try to inspire fear; just his name evoked it. I got the impression that Renato De Sanctis wasn’t the kind of man to go out of his way to scare his enemies. He just killed them. I watched him, and he watched me right back.

“So, what did you see, Miss Burke?” he finally asked.

I shook my head. “I didn’t see anything. Neither of us did,” I began.

A loud snort came from the two men who had started all this. One of them sneered. “They must have seen everything, boss, she’s just lying to stay alive.”

A reluctant laugh left me at his accusing tone. All eyes turned back to me. Renato raised a lazy brow at the sound of my derision.

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out. Isn’t that what everyone wants?” I muttered.

The man behind me scoffed again, this time annoyed that I’d embarrassed him in front of his boss. He stepped forward, hitching his trousers up in a way that felt obscene. “Let me clean up the mess. I’ll put her down, and her little sis, too, get rid of the problem. It’s my mess, so I’ll clean it up…Maybe have a little fun while I’m at it.”

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