Page 63 of Dance of Deception

She knows me well enough to know thatno, I couldn’t “just ask” to borrow the money from her. I’m not wired that way.

“Look, after that whole audition thing, I swear, I wasn’t going to go through with it,” I blurt. “I was sure I was done, but then?—”

My mouth clamps shut.

Then he told me in no uncertain terms that I was HIS.

Bianca shakes her head. “I’m just worried about why he pickedyou.” Her eyes snap quickly to mine. “That came out wrong. I mean, he…” Her throat bobs. “Look, Lyra, I love my brother. It’s just that Carmine…” she swallows again. “He’s…more than people think.”

A cold feeling drags its claws down my spine.

“Please,please, don’t take this the wrong way,” she says quietly. “But with his pick of half the mafia princesses in the city, all from hugely important, powerful families… I’m worried why he would chooseyou.”

Well, Bianca, that would be because I threatened him with my knowledge of whatever deranged game he and a few other masked psychos play in an underground cathedral with a maze.

She takes a slow breath, her eyes lifting to mine. “Look, you’re the human psychology student. Carmine is…different. Not always, and he’s very good at hiding it away. But… It’s there. And as much as I love him? He scares me sometimes.”

Her throat works again as she takes one of my hands in hers.

“Lyra,” she says quietly. “I’m not mad at you for marrying my brother. I’m terrifiedforyou.”

Bianca’s wordshave my stomach in knots as I scan the party.

I finally spot him, weaving away from the crowd, his presence rippling through the sea of guests.

Now’s my chance.

I slip through the gathering, quickly but carefully following him out of the ballroom, down one of the grand hallways lined with gilded mirrors and framed classical art.

“Please don’t take this the wrong way. But I’m worried why he would choose you.”

“I’m not mad at you for marrying my brother. I’m terrifiedforyou.”

I should leave it alone, but I can’t.

I need to know about the money.

The million dollars means this is a transaction. Compensation for goods and services rendered. It means we have an arrangement.

If thereisno money, then I’m justhis.

And that scares the fuck out of me.

I spot him just ahead, slipping down another hallway. I quicken my pace, my heels clicking on the polished marble as I round a corner?—

I barely have time to gasp as a hand clamps around my wrist, yanking me into the dark. Then a door slams shut, the lock clicking menacingly into place.

Candles flicker on the marble sink, casting golden light across the dark tiles of a massive guest bathroom. Carmine’s lethally hard body is pure heat and dominance, his strong hands on my hips, caging me against the wall.

The panic that spikes in my chest as my breath shudders out of me is tangled with something else I don’t want to name.

His hands move, trailing up my sides, over my ribs, along the silk of my dress. Reminding me that I’m exactly where he wants me.

Taking his time, savoring the control.

I shiver as his fingers skim just beneath my breasts, barely grazing the delicate fabric, setting every nerve ending in my body ablaze.

My pulse pounds violently.

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