Page 108 of Sinful Sacrifice

“Break up with me, then.” Tears flood my eyes.

He jerks back. “Absolutely fucking not.”

“Please,” I plead, grabbing at his sleeve. “Cernach won’t stop until he gets his way. Until he gets a contract and you.”

“I took care of that. Vincent declined his request.”

“He knows Vincent only declined because of you. Cernach needs to know I can’t marry you because you don’t want me.”

He pulls away and stands. His nostrils flare. “I do fucking want you!”

I stare up at him in anguish. “Let me go. Don’t make me run.”

“I’ll kill Cernach, then. If you need him dead to make you happy, then that’s what I’ll do.” Spit flies from his mouth.

“You kill him, you start a war with the Koglins. I won’t let you do that. If you love me, do this for me. Don’t make me flee New York.”

“You’re giving us up, just like that?” He snaps his fingers with the last word.

I stand, inches from him, and place my hand over his cheek. His breathing is so hard that I’m waiting for his lungs to fly from his chest. I stare at him with the most heartache I’ve ever experienced in my soul.

“In another life, we’d be perfect together,” I whisper. “He killed my father. I’ll do nothing for him. Tell him you don’t want me, that you got tired of me and decided I wasn’t worth it.”

He violently shakes his head.

“I’m sorry, Damien.”

“You’re not sorry,” he grits out. “You’re being selfish.”

“If you’re not with someone when Cernach dies, maybe things will change.”

“I don’t want anyone else!” he screams.

“I’ll move my things back into my apartment,” I sob.

He walks away from me, moving away from the bed and snatching a bag from the closet. When he returns, he’s tossing his shit into it. “You’ll stay here.”

“I can’t?—”

His intense stare narrows on me. “I’ll crash at Antonio’s, and you’ll stay here until I get you a new apartment. You might be leaving me, but that doesn’t mean I’ll stop protecting you.” His eyes are glossy as he throws the bag over his shoulder and kisses my forehead. “You’re making a mistake, but it’s your mistake to make.”

He leaves the bedroom, and I collapse to my knees, falling apart.

Removing Cernach’s control from my life means breaking my heart in the process. But I’ll sacrifice that happiness to make sure my father’s murderer doesn’t get what he wants from me.

37

“What the hell happened to you?” Antonio asks, sliding into the Range Rover’s passenger seat.

I’ve been parked in his driveway for the past hour.

I’m sure I look as sleep-deprived as I feel.

“I hope you don’t plan on driving,” he adds, eyeing the whiskey bottle nestled in the cupholder. It’s there, just in case, but I haven’t touched it yet.

I won’t because in the back of my mind, there’s hope Pippa will call, asking me to come home, and we’ll work shit out. I spent last night sitting outside the townhouse, making sure she didn’t flee to her apartment. Not that she could get inside it. I had all the locks changed.

“Pippa ended things,” I say.

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