Page 32 of Fearless Sinner

“Like I said, it’s the best I’ve had. And for the record…” He pauses for a beat. “Not all monsters have horns. If I’d known you back in L.A. your ex would be dead for what he did to you. Not simply in prison.”

My heartbeat kicks up a notch, then it starts to gallop from the prospect of having someone who would have sought justice for me. “Really?”

“I think you know who I am, lass, so you know the answer to that question. See you around.” That sounds like a promise.

“See you.”

He dips his head and walks away. Roxanne rushes up to me and we both watch Cillian as he leaves.

“At least now we know why he gave you that extension,” she hums.

I can’t even argue. She’s right.

It was nice—all of it. But I could never be that foolish again.

Being with Cillian O’Ridian would be like swapping one monster for another, even if he doesn’t have horns.

He can still hurt me in other ways.

Chapter Nine

Cillian

Name: Chloe Elizabeth Ricci

Age: 26

Business Proposal for Ricci’s Ristorante:

This restaurant has been in operation in the heart of New York for over eighty years. Even with today’s stiff competition, Ricci’s seeks to be one of the best Italian restaurants in the country, welcoming people from all walks of life and is second to none…

Chloe definitely knows how to write to save her skin.

There are pages and pages of an award-winning proposal that puts her in the running for getting her loan.

It’s almost nightfall. I’ve been sitting outside on the terrace of my home in the Hamptons with my laptop for the last hour. I’ve been out here smoking while I looked over Chloe’s bank loan application and business proposal.

The lass still has my attention—even more so after last night—so I indulged myself and accessed the application from the bank’s internal systems.

I can’t hack the way Virgo can but I can do small-time stuff like this.

Yesterday’s fascination saw me looking a little deeper into her personal records from L.A. There I found all the things I missed about her on my first look. Like Nathan putting her in the hospital several times and that last admission keeping her there for weeks.

That fucker broke her legs so she couldn’t do the thing she loved. He threw her down the stairs and when she was so hurt she couldn’t move, he took a hammer to her legs and bashed them in.

I’ve met some evil bastards but that motherfucker is at the top of the list.

He seemed to be one of those slow-burn psychos. The ones who are able to mask their true nature for years, then unleash when you least expect it.

The more I read about him and what he did, the more enraged I became. I felt he got off lightly. Too lightly. He killed two people and destroyed Chloe’s dreams.

Nathan Ferrera is not my business but that hasn’t stopped my mind from working overtime to conjure a suitable punishment for his evil ass.

I’ll see how I feel once the dust settles and I’ve dealt with Lance.

I’m reading Chloe’s loan application now out of mild curiosity. She seems sure she’ll get the loan. And I want her to.

If she did it would take one of the elephants out of the room I’ve shoved us in with my ever-growing fascination for her.

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