Page 75 of Sinful Sacrifice

Never.

She could charge at me with a knife and bludgeon me through the goddamn heart, and I wouldn’t hurt her. I’d take the pain because I’d rather endure it than her.

It’s easy for me to detach myself from the people I hurt.

From those whose final breaths I take.

But it’ll never be that way with Pippa.

I’d take my own before hers.

“Pippa,” I grit out, my patience running thin. “Start talking now.”

I won’t hurt her, but that doesn’t mean I won’t get angry.

While I’m considered calm in our line of business, you’ll get no patience from me in situations like this.

I don’t like secrets kept from me.

If I find out something is kept from me, I’ll rip it out, root by root, until I have every single detail.

“First,” she starts, “I want to clarify that I didn’t say anything.”

I hate how her voice shakes.

Like it’s a struggle for her to rattle out what she wants to tell me.

“Spit it out,” I snap.

Her stare turns pained, as if she really is prepared to jab a knife through my chest. “Brock—that guy out there—he came to the coffee shop to talk to me.”

Fury burns through me, though not as a result from what Pippa expects.

From something completely different.

She retreats away, her back colliding with the wall. “He’s a detective who asked me to gather intel against you and the Lombardi family.” Her body slumps forward like it took all her energy to get that one sentence out. “I swear to you, I told him no. I wouldn’t even take his business card.”

I bolt toward her, and she braces herself against the wall.

“Damien—”

I stop her from continuing by pressing my finger to her lips. “Pippa, I’m not mad at you.” I kiss her, lingering there to prove my words. “But right now, I have to go.”

She grabs my arm as I step away from her. “Please don’t kill him.”

I tug out of her hold. “He’s not who you need to worry about.”

25

I want to rip the sun out of the fucking sky and throw it as I storm toward Antonio. The heat only adds to my frustration.

Who throws a birthday party in this weather?

Has no one heard of Chuck E. fucking Cheese?

Hell, I’d have thrown it at my place if it meant I didn’t have to hang out in a goddamn kiln.

With each step I take, I will myself to calm down. As pissed as I am, I can’t let my anger get the best of me. I have to wait to confront him in private.

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