Page 136 of My Sweet Poison
I shook my head. She was making this too easy.
Her slight frame shivered in the cold.
Where the fuck is her coat?
Rain had drenched Paris for days.
She should’ve bundled up.
Someone should take her in hand.
I rolled down the rain-speckled window. The tinted glass blurred her figure, keeping her just out of reach.
The sharp tang of car exhaust and the muddy stench of the nearby Seine filtered in.
She continued scanning her surroundings, bewildered.
Her innocence struck me. It didn’t matter that she was twenty-four—she looked untouched by the world.
Vulnerable.
The perfect prey.
Her mother had tried to protect her.
Sheltered her, hoarded her away from danger.
But in doing so, she’d only turned Sabrina into the ultimate prize.
Men like me didn’t share our toys.
We liked them shiny and new.
Virginal.
My brother Rafaello broke into my thoughts. “Are you really going through with this?”
I leaned back and pressed a button to raise the privacy screen between us and the driver. “Do you have a better plan to save the House of Diamanti?”
I raked a hand through my hair.
What the fuck did he expect me to do?
I’d wanted to kill the judge and be done with it.
Rafaello was the one who insisted the bastard was too high profile, that his murder would draw too much heat.
He was the one who told me to show restraint.
Well, this was me being restrained.
Forcing the judge’s daughter under my control—and into my bed—was mercy compared to what I wanted to do.
She should be grateful I was giving her the illusion of a choice.
Rafaello rubbed his jaw. “I admit we’re fucked right now,” he muttered, nodding toward Sabrina. “But she’s not involved in this. She’s innocent. You’re going to ruin her life just because?—”
“We all bear the burden of our family’s treachery,” I interrupted. “She’s no different.”
