Page 48 of Silent Night Sins
“I never knew,” I breathed.
Cristiano tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. “Your sister was the head cheerleader. If we were childhood friends, they were that…and more.”
I held my breath, waiting to hear the rest.
“They dated, secretly,” Cristiano smiled sadly. “It was probably a good thing you never looked my way, because right after graduation, when Vincenzo proposed—”
“He what!” I yelped.
Cristiano nodded. “Your dad moved heaven and earth to have him locked up. Because of our family ties, it wasn’t hard to build the case. Vincenzo just left the maximum security penitentiary after an eight-year lock-up.”
The room suddenly became too hot. My sister’s words rang in my ears. This relationship, the one I clung to, was in danger before it’d barely begun.
Cristiano wrapped me in his arms, running a smoothing touch up my spine. “Hey, it’s going to be okay,” he promised.
I was shaking. Violent shudders wracked my frame, and air didn’t quite seem to fill my lungs.
“The next few years will be tough, but the reason I broke in, the reason our paths crossed, was because we’re working to blackmail your father,” he said quietly. “We’re going to survive this, Nicky.”
“I thought you were here to rob us,” I gasped, hoping against hope I hadn’t caught him in a lie. That wasn’t something I could easily stomach.
Cristiano snorted. “You assumed, I never corrected you.”
I smacked his shoulder. “You should have told me!”
“I should have.” He bent and kissed my forehead. Then my nose. Then each cheek. “And I won’t let the truth come between us again. Forgive me, angel?”
My lungs loosened, and I drew in a deep breath. “I don’t know, it seems like you need to make it up to me. You know? Show me how repentant you actually are, monster.”
Cristiano’s black eyes glittered. “Let’s go upstairs now, before someone else interrupts us.”
Without waiting for my reply, he picked me up, tossed me over his shoulder, and headed straight for the stairs. I pounded on his back, ordering him to put me down. But I would be lying if I said I hated the view of his toned ass in those suit pants.
As Cristiano locked the door and then tossed me on the bed, I knew in my heart that I would rather have this forbidden relationship than be alone with the family who wasn’t around.
I wriggled backward as he prowled over me. Catching his face between my hands, I breathed, “I will always choose you, Tino.”
“And I you, Nicky.” And then, he kissed me, sealing the promise.
THE END
-*-
Ready for Vincenzo and Amanda’s story?
The boy she loved is gone.
In his place stands the king of the underworld—cold, powerful, and obsessed with the one woman he never forgot.
She thinks she can stay out of his reach.
But kings don’t beg—they take.
Dive into the dark, dangerous world of love and obsession. Claim your copy of Crimson Night Sins now.
-*-
Thank you for reading Silent Night Sins!
