Page 23 of SINS & Riley
Blankly, I stare. Yup—got nothing.
His impatience snaps back into place. “Let’s get you to your feet. We don’t have time.”
The dizziness I braced for never comes. I stand. I walk. I act like I haven’t just imagined six ways to slice him if I needed to. Though the pocketknife’s still comfortingly within reach.
He circles me, like I’m some forgotten statue tucked in a gallery corner, waiting to be dragged back into the light.
Then he raises his hand. Way too close to my head. Before I can stop myself, I flinch.
An instant reaction that makes me burn.
For all my brave bullshit about reaching for a knife, I didn’t. I froze. Heat creeps up my chest, across my cheeks. I hate that I froze.
But, I’m not the only one.
When I look up, he’s also frozen, hand suspended midair. “May I?”
“May you… what?”
“Just, trust me.”
I don’t trust him. But, tight and reluctant, I nod. Because he isn’t my step-monster. And if he wanted to hurt me, I doubt he’d bother asking.
I’m not sure exactly what I’m consenting to until he gently tugs the scrunchie free from the rat’s nest piled on my head. Inky black spills down, cascading across my shoulders, down my back.
“Remarkable,” he murmurs, voice low, almost reverent.
I roll my eyes. If this is supposed to be a seduction, he swings, he misses.
Though as potential predators go, he’s not nearly the asshole you’d expect. He’s nice. Attractive even, in a way that MILFs probably adore.
But me? I’m not auditioning to be part of Zver’s tasting menu. And I’m half a second from telling him as much when?—
“You look just like her.”
Unease and curiosity flicker together. “Her…who?”
“Your sister.”
Kennedy?
The realization slams in, a fist around my heart. I haven’t seen her. Haven’t talked to her. God, she probably thinks I’m still mad about her marrying Enzo.
Which I am. But not at her. At him.
And when Zver cut me off from everyone, it was easier not to hurt when there are no reminders.
But just hearing her name… It sharpens me. Gives me something to fight for.
“Mr. Ricci?—”
“Ricardo,” he corrects.
“I need your help.”
His mouth quirks. “And I need your cooperation.”
“If I cooperate… will you help me?”
