Page 61 of A Sinner's Truth

My hands wrap around her wrists, and I hold them still above her head. “Do you know what usually happens to people who lie to me, darling?”

“I didn’t… What?” she asks me.

“You’ll never know because none of them are alive to tell you.” My lips nibble on her earlobe.

“I… just don’t want you doing something like that for me,” she says.

“You don’t want me to kill for you, Aria?”

“No.”

“Then you should have chosen your husband more carefully. Killing is what I do best, and there is no better reason to do it than to keep you safe.”

“Oliver is just a spoilt brat who doesn’t like hearing the word no. He can send flowers and make comments. He’s not going to hurt me,” she says.

I still. “What do you mean he sent flowers?”

“When I went to my office a few weeks ago, there were flowers on my desk. I assumed they were from him. The card basically said the same thing he said last night.”

“What did he say?”

“That he will get what’s his,” she tells me.

“He’s a fucking dead man. If he thinks for a second he’s getting you,” I grit out.

“He’s just an ass. He’s not going to do anything.” Aria wraps her arms around my neck and presses her lips against mine. “I’m sorry I lied. I just wanted you to take me home.”

“Don’t ever lie to me, Aria.”

“Okay,” she says as her mouth captures mine. The buzzing of her phone from the bedside table stops me before I can deepen our kiss. Aria reaches her arm out, grabbing her phone. “Hello?”

I don’t hear what the other person is saying but her face goes ashen white. I climb off her and tug her upright. When the phone drops to the bed from her shaky hand, I pick it up.

“Who is this?” I grunt into the phone.

“This is Detective Humes. Who is this?”

“Santo De Bellis, the husband of the woman you just called. What the fuck did you tell her?” I yell at him.

“Her father was found in his house by his secretary. He was shot at close range. I need her to come in for questioning,” he says.

“Yeah, you can get a fucking warrant. She’s not coming in to be questioned,” I tell him and cut the call before I scoop her into my arms. “Aria, darling, it’s going to be okay.”

She doesn’t say anything, not a single word for what seems like hours but is more likely minutes. Then she blinks up at me. “I have to shower. There are things I need to organise.” She climbs off the bed and walks into the bathroom.

What the fuck? Things she needs to organise.

I know she didn’t like her father, but the fact of the matter is he washer fatherand her only parent. This is going to hurt her. My chest aches at the thought of her in any kind of pain. It has to be sympathy pangs. She’s mine for now, but in eleven months, she won’t be mine anymore.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Santo drove me to my father’s house. I tried to tell him that he didn’t need to. I can do this alone. We might be married but it’s not real. I’m not going to lean on him at a time I could use someone to lean on. I can’t allow myself to get used to him being there. I just have to remind myself that this is temporary.

“Who are all these people?” I ask Santo, looking up at my father’s house. It’s crowded with men and women.

“Cops. Don’t say a fucking word to any of them. Don’t leave my side, Aria. Your father was murdered. And until we know who did this and why, I don’t want you out of my reach.” Santo’s hand grips mine. Tight, so tight. I don’t say anything, though. If he wants to hold me, I’ll let him. But I’m not going to let myself be lulled into the comfort his touch brings me. That would be stupid.

My father was murdered. Someone wanted him gone. Who would do that? I know he wasn’t the best of people, but he was just a businessman. Who on earth would want to kill him?

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