Page 203 of Sinful Lies

He had killed Nathan Simons?

Well, that explained why I’d never gotten a follow-up text after our little sexcapade.

Unusual, really—most men couldn’t help but come crawling back for more.

I shook my head.

He yanked me closer, his fingers digging deeper into my neck.

“Because the mere thought of anyone else touching you, making you smile, taking any part of you—it drove me fucking insane. I neededallof you. Your eyes, your mouth, your thoughts, your dreams… hell, even your insults. All of it. For myself. And the fact that you gave them to other men? Under my fucking nose…” He let out a low, humorless laugh. “I couldn’t hurt you for playing me, torturing me. So I made them suffer instead.”

I knew a part of me should be terrified, but even with the blood of all my ex-flings slipping down his hands, tainting me, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was safer with him than I’d ever been with anyone else.

I hummed softly, my nails digging into his chest. “That’s a really unhealthy coping mechanism, Lazzio.”

His lips were now inches from mine, his breath warm against my skin.

“You have no fucking idea what I’d do to keep you,” he murmured, his lips grazing mine with a teasing restraint thatonly stoked the fire. “I’ve spent years drowning myself in work, running halfway across the world just to put some distance between us—to starve this obsession for you, to pretend I could cut you out of my mind. But now? Now, I’ll go to whatever lengths it takes to make sure no one else touches you, tastes you, claims you.”

I felt a shiver crawl up my spine.

His voice dropped, low and deadly. “Go ahead—drag my name through the mud, shoot me, steal from me, lie to me, try to destroy me. But you’ll never get rid of me, Jade.”

My lips parted slightly, my eyes growing half lidded as his other hand gripped my hips.

“What if I run away?”

He tilted his head. “You could try. Change your name, erase every piece of yourself, disappear into the shadows. But I’d still find you. I’d tear the world apart to do it.” His voice dropped, sharp and possessive. “And when I do, I’ll just remind you who you belong to—body, mind, and soul.”

I nodded slowly, letting his words sink in, every syllable wrapping around my throat like a chain I didn’t want to break.

“Do you forgive me, Angelo?”

His eyes dropped to my lips, dark and cold. “No.”

My chest tightened.

My arms circled his neck, pulling him closer until my forehead pressed against his.

“What do I need to do to be forgiven, then?” I murmured, my breath brushing his lips.

I would doanythingfor him to forgive me and silence the guilt that gnawed at me.

His gaze darkened. “Take me to Lake Kendrick.”

Chapter

Forty-Six

“I'm oxygen and he’s dying to breathe.”

?Tahereh Mafi

Jade

Angelo parked the car with a soft stop, and I exhaled the breath I’d been holding since we’d left New York that morning—first the helicopter ride to Boston, then the car ride to Bay Village.

Not a single word had left my lips since last night. Not one.

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