Page 120 of Sinful Sacrifice

Damien was desperate when he agreed to marry Riona.

And now, I’m just as desperate.

I should’ve married Damien.

I tried to play a hard bargain with Cernach and stupidly forgot who I was dealing with.

Regret has haunted me all day.

I canceled two dance classes and completely messed up every dance routine during another.

I throw my pointe shoe across the studio and curse it as I clean up after class.

Two more to go, and I can go home and sit in my sorrows. If Cernach didn’t have Lanie in his grips, I’d fled New York. You can’t marry off a woman you can’t find.

The chime above the door rings, and I whip around to find Damien in the doorway.

“You need to leave,” I say, scooping up the thrown shoe. “I have class in five minutes.”

He locks the door behind him, so similar to how he did it on my birthday. “Your next class starts in fifteen minutes.”

I glower at him. “Stop stalking me.”

“No.”

“How about you tell me your schedule then?” A hint of mockery is in my tone. “Tell me your honeymoon schedule, the times you plan to fuck my cousin.”

He recoils at my words like he ate something rotten.

“I wish I could shove those words back down your throat.” He stalks toward me. “The only woman we should ever speak about me fucking is you.”

The closer he comes, the more I feel like I need him to wrap his arms around my body and comfort me.

My body, my heart, my everything will never forget our history.

I should force him out and push him away, but I don’t. I stand there, frozen in place.

He reaches out and cups my cheek with his cold hand. “I don’t want Riona.”

There’s so much silent apology in his tone—like it’s seeping off his hand and through my skin.

“Yet …” It takes me a moment to finish my sentence. “You’re marrying her.”

Unlike his voice, mine has more spitefulness than softness.

He scowls, his brows bunching. “I had no choice.”

“You could’ve said no.”

“If I’d said no, people would’ve died. I—or even you—would’ve died. We needed a weapons deal, and no one in the city would sell to us. Cernach was our only option, and that was his stipulation.”

“How convenient that it had to be you.”

“It was me or no deal.”

I straighten my shoulders and shuffle back a step, hating the loss of his touch, but knowing it’s for the best. “I’m attending your wedding. Per Cernach’s orders.”

A hint of a smirk plays at his mouth. “Good. I love seeing you every chance I get. Wear something sexy and easy for me to take off.”

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