Page 134 of Sinful Lies

This was the kind of numbness I needed—the kind only he could give.

For just a moment, I wanted to forget everything: who he was, who I was, the blood on his hands, and the wreckage I was planning to leave behind.

I wanted him, needed him like a drug—in me, on me, every messy, broken inch of him.

As if he knew exactly what I needed, he flipped me effortlessly, his weight pressing me into the bed as I found myself beneath him, my legs instinctively wrapping around his waist.

He lingered above me. “I need to know what happened outside before I can fuck you, Jade.”

“Stop trying to be sweet, Lazzio. That’s not what I need from you.”

“What is it you doneedthen, Miss Whitenhouse?”

I let my nails scrape lightly down his skin, just enough to make him shiver, before letting my hands drop to his waist.

“You,” I breathed, pushing my hips up against his. “You, inside me. Right now.”

My fingers made quick work of his belt and zipper, shoving his pants down just enough before pulling him closer.

The truth of what happened tonight?

It couldn’t slip from my lips.

Not yet, not until I did what I needed to do.

How the hell could I explain the panic attack that had nearly swallowed me whole?

That every Christmas for the past six years, I spent it alone—curled up in my bed with a bottle of cheap wine, a sappy movie on the screen, all to help me forget.

To help me forget that they were gone.

That I’d never see them again.

And that the only thing left to look forward to was this cold, empty existence.

Alone.

And it was all because ofhim.

The fact that my body betrayed me, craved him—every single time, it made me sick.

It made me want to take a blade to my own heart for allowing myself to need him, for feeling this twisted hunger for a man who wasn’t supposed to exist in my world.

A man who—whether I wanted to admit it or not—had become my weakness.

But I just need itonce.

Just once to fall into the abyss of lust, to give in to him fully, so I could take everything I needed from him.

Once I had him out of my system, then killing him would be easy.

“You sure?”

I nodded. “Sì.”

Angelo’s fingers toyed with the hem of my T-shirt—hisT-shirt—and in one smooth motion, he pulled it over my head.

I wasn’t wearinganythingunderneath.

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