Page 132 of Twisted Temptation

Dante’s words come back to me, and my blood goes cold.

“Mrs. Di Zaro, we meet again,” Anton says with a slimy smile.

“I’m sorry, have we met?” I say, stepping down from the measuring platform.

My insult lands exactly where I wanted it to. Right in his ego.

His smile vanishes. “You know who I am, Sunny. Don’t pretend you don’t know.”

I shrug. “I’m at a loss, sorry.”

“You’re going to have to come with us, miss,” Flynn Lemar says in a thick Irish accent.

"I'm not going anywhere with you."

My voice comes out steadier than I expected, but I still take a step back.

"Don't make me do this the hard way," Anton says, showing me his gun.

I turn to Irina. She's standing three feet away, but she won't look at me. Tears fall silently down her cheeks.

"Irina, what have you done?"

She set me up, and the betrayal is as palpable as the fear racing up my spine.

"They have my daughter," she whispers.

Anton makes a sharp sound with his tongue, and Irina flinches and goes silent.

Oh God.

Flynn steps forward. He puts his hand on my elbow, but doesn’t grab or yank me, just guides me out of the room like he's escorting me out of a restaurant.

I could scream and threaten and bite.

But I don’t think things would work out very well for me if I did.

“Just walk,” he says.

We move through the back hallway, and that's where I see Freddie.

He’s unconscious on the floor with blood spreading across the front of his shirt.

My step falters. They killed him. And he was here because of me.

Fear and anger collide in me.

“You shot Freddie,” I snap at Flynn.

“It wasn’t me,” he says through gritted teeth.

“That would be me,” Anton says smugly.

The side door opens onto an alley, and sunlight blasts into my eyes. Flynn nudges me through and into a waiting SUV.

Flynn gets behind the wheel while Anton takes the passenger seat, and we pull out of the alley and onto the street.

I feel a thick, frenetic tension between them.