When She Tempts (The Fallen, #2)

by Gabrielle Sands

I wish Lazaro was alive so that I could kill him a second time.” It was his wife who killed Lazaro, but I decide not to rub it in.

“You’re in good company. Priceless art, ancient artifacts, enough solid gold to fill a walk-in safe…” Slowly, he turns his head and pins me with his gaze. “Every object under my protection is of immense value, Martina.”

“He means he doesn’t like people in his personal space, not in general.” “No, in general too,” he deadpans.

My heart pounds out an unsteady rhythm as I gape at him. How dare he just toss that smile at me like it’s no big deal? Legally, it needs to come with a warning.

Damiano may respect my expertise, but not enough to risk putting her innocence into question. Bad luck. Bad fucking luck to want the one thing you can never have.

Thirty-three years of schemes, plots, close calls, and tragedies. And yet it seems my compass has finally broken. The needle’s stuck, and it’s pointing in a single direction. Martina. The only woman in this world I categorically can’t have, and yet it’s her that I crave.

“I’m broken, Martina. I don’t know what it feels like to be whole.”

“I hated myself, Giorgio.” He clenches his jaw, clearly displeased at hearing that. “And now?” “Now, I think even the most broken of things can be mended by the right pair of hands.”

“I’ve craved you from the moment I saw you, and I promised myself I’d carve that craving out of me. But the deeper I cut, the deeper you burrow. I’m afraid that if I don’t stop trying to rid myself of you, I’ll end up cutting out my own heart.”

What do you want more? Her or revenge? The satisfaction of revenge is fleeting, but Martina… Martina is forever.

I guess beneath that handsome face, fine suit, and facade of permanent control, he’s made of the same stuff I am. The stuff that makes us human.