Page 66 of A Taste like Sin
“I’m sorry,” Damien says. His steps continue their slow, steady advance and I hate how my heart
lurches at his presence. It’s dangerous to grow attached to him. To need him. To crave the touch he
runs along my lower back in quiet reassurance. “You may have full access to my legal team should
you need their assistance.”
“You don’t understand. He left me everything.” I can barely get the words out. “Everything. The
house. His money. I don’t understand. Did he love me or not? Was I his daughter or a trophy?”
Damien doesn’t answer.
“The police think he may have been poisoned,” I add. “Targeted by the same bad luck affecting every
high-profile official who worked on your brother’s case. They were even at my suite yesterday.
Invading my privacy in the name of safety—”
“If this is an accusation…” He trails his thumb up to my neck, following the path of my throat. “It is a
rather polite one, I must say. As far as cold-blooded murder is concerned, I’ve been accused of far
worse with much less tact.”
“Please.” I squeeze my eyes shut, sensing every smooth, silken dip in the pad of his finger. “Don’t lie
to me,” I beg. “You said you wanted honesty from me—but I need it from you.”
“Sí,” he agrees. “But first I must ask you directly: Do you really think that I would resort to murdering
Heyworth Thorne, knowing how much he means to you still?”
It’s a dangerous question and I loathe the way he asked it: in a strained, cautious tone. Like my answer
matters to him more than anything else.
Even revenge.
“You hate him,” I explain. “Maybe you have a good reason to. But if you care about me, even a
fraction, you’d know…he’s all I have.” Fresh tears well in my eyes and spill down my cheeks,
impossible to stop. “He’s all I have. I can’t lose him. I can’t—”
“He had a reputation on the bench, especially back then,” Damien says gruffly. “For being fair. Just. A
judge who would hear all facts and rule with honesty.”
I force myself to nod.Thatis the Heyworth Thorne I grew up with—a man admired in his
interpretation of the law.
“But as I sat in that courtroom, with Mathias’ life at stake, I saw a different man,” Damien confesses,
his tone level. The deliberate lack of anger somehow makes his words cut deeper. “A reckless tyrant
too interested in bold headlines to actually listen. To fucking see.Sí, I saw a fraud too prideful to
