Page 101 of Sinful Lies

I sipped my wine as casually as someone who had just launched themselves off a cliff, pretending Sofiya’s face wasn’t now practically glued to the screen, her wide eyes full of judgment, her jaw on the verge of unhinging.

“Nothing.”

“Did you seriously strip naked in front of yourboss?”

“No.”

“Jade.”

“… Maybe?”

“Are you insane?”

I sighed, swirling my wine. “Look, I think we’ve known that for a while.”

“Jadie, I love you, but I cannot—cannot—defend you on this one.”

I plunked my glass down on the coffee table, slid even deeper into the couch like it might swallow me whole, and pulled a cushion over my face to muffle the dying sounds of my dignity.

“I know! He’s just so—ugh! He’s infuriating! Always so tightly wound, so smug, so perfectly in control. I just wanted to see him sweat, to make him lose it for once! I’m going straight to hell for this. First-class ticket. Window seat.”

“Forget first class, Jade. They’re naming the gates after you. Welcome toJadieland: Eternal Damnation Edition.”

I peeked out from under the cushion, glaring. “Not. Helping.”

She lifted a shoulder. “Hey, I’m just saying, it’s bold. You really stripped naked in front of Angelo Lazzio? The man who could probably intimidate a brick wall into crumbling?”

I groaned again, flopping back. “It wasn’t some grand plan, okay? It was the heat of the moment. I got carried away.”

“Heat of the moment,” she repeated, arching a brow. “So… did it work? Did you break him?”

“A bit.” My voice was barely above a whisper. “He was pissed. Likereallypissed. He said I’d better remember he’s not just my boss, but a man first. And next time?” My breath caught. “Next time, he wouldn’t hesitate to fuck me.”

The silence was deafening.

When I glanced at the screen, Sofiya’s expression was frozen—wide eyes, parted lips.

“What?” I snapped.

“Oh my god, Jadie,” she whispered, leaning closer. “Angelo Lazzio wants to sleep with you.”

I rolled my eyes, dismissing her with a flick of my hand. “No, he doesn’t. He said it to scare me, to assert control or whatever ridiculous power play he thinks he’s running.”

Her brows shot up. “Stop lying to yourself. He said it because he meant it. Men like him don’t bluff when it comes to things like that.”

I buried my face in the cushion again, my words muffled and pathetic. “Why are you even my friend?”

“Because I love watching this trainwreck you call your life,” she shot back without missing a beat. “And because, somehow, you’re even funnier when you’re spiraling.”

Peeking out from the cushion, I glared at her, but it only made her smirk widen.

“Jadie,” she drawled, “he wasn’t joking. He said it because he wanted you to know exactly what he’s capable of.” Her grinturned dark, conspiratorial. “And because he’s probably thought about it more times than he’d care to admit.”

“Shut up.”

“You shut up. Or better yet, admit it—you liked it. Maybe not his words, but the way he looked at you when he said it.”

Heat flared across my cheeks.

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