Page 81 of Sin & Secrets

I can feel a gentle breeze from the open window, soothing my skin as I stretch. My arms pop in satisfaction.

They reach down to cradle the woman at my side. She’s the reason for this sense of peace that seems to have enveloped me, this woman who has submitted entirely to me, as I have to her.

But my hands find nothing but air.

Finally, I crack my eyes open, only discover the bed beside me is empty.

Ruffled white sheets and her scent are the only things that linger.

“Don’t leave me.”

“I won’t.”

She wouldn’t. Not so soon.

I can feel my heart beginning to pound within my chest as my mind spins into catastrophe.

I knew exhibiting Cassandra on my arm at theCandelabrahad been a risk. Any woman I associate with has a target on theirback. But usually, my preemptive measures were enough to keep them safe.

I would send someone to trail after them for a few weeks to ensure they left the city or else help them drop into obscurity with a handsome paycheck. My reputation had ensured the rest. I didn’t care enough about those women for them to warrant my enemy's interest.

Danny was the only one to insist on sticking around, and Alessandro had reported several incidents that had concerned me.

But Danny could look after herself, and my public displays of affection for her could never have been misconstrued as anything but transactional.

Cas, however…

Had I been so transparent? Had someone somehow realized the truth when I held her possessively at my side? If anyone had entered that parking lot last night and seen how utterly ruined I truly was, there would be no doubt.

Cas is my weakness.

And now she had disappeared.

I jump from the bed, scrambling to find a pair of pants as I examine the scene before me.

The window is open. Someone could have approached in the night and taken her. There was no sign of a struggle, but that meant nothing in my line of work. If she’d been asleep, it would have taken nothing to render her unconscious.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

The sound of the fire alarm has me springing into action.

The gun I keep in my bottom drawer is in my hand, and I’m out the door a millisecond later.

“CAS! Donatella!”

Who would be foolish enough to attack me in my own home? For one, setting fire to the place was so damn cliche I want topunch something. For another, none of my enemies know where this place is.

Its location is a secret kept between Donatella, Teo, and myself.They are the two people I trust most in this damn world. And now, I suppose, Cassandra.

I hadn’t bothered to blindfold her when we traveled to and from theCandelabra.In truth, it hadn’t even crossed my mind.

I shake the thought away as I pound down the hall, shoving open every door and aiming my gun inside as I pass.

“Cassandra!”

But every door reveals nothing, and every step takes me further panic.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

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