Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 93347 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93347 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Sebastian’s warm hand turned my face to him. “Eyes on me. Don’t even look at him.”
I blinked back tears. “Did you do this just to torture me?”
His thumb stroked my cheek but offered no comfort. “We run in the same upper circles. Meeting him was inevitable.”
I thinned my lips as I shook my head. “It was only inevitable if I came to Rome.”
As we made the final turn with the other dancers, I caught my father’s scowl again.
A chill ran down my spine.
Just then, another dancer collided with us, breaking Sebastian’s hold on me.
Hiking up the long skirt of my dress, I pushed through the crowd, but the wall of bodies didn’t budge. “Excuse me. Please, excuse me. Can you let me through? Please.”
No one moved.
And then…they all parted like the sea.
Without saying a word, Sebastian laid a heavy hand at the curve of my neck.
My shoulders slumped.
His hand constricted slightly as he leaned down. “If you wanted to stop dancing, dear, all you had to do was ask.”
Anger intensified his words, clipping them at the ends.
I flagged down a passing server and snatched a champagne flute off their tray. Not caring how it would annoy Sebastian, I tossed it back like it was my last drink before the gallows as he shepherded me through the crowd.
Then I heard it.
“Abriana?”
I jolted as if struck by lightning. Abriana. My mother’s name.
The elegant older woman placed her hand against her chest and laughed, speaking in rapid Italian.
I shook my head. “I’m sorry, I don’t—”
She waved me off. “So sorry. I was just laughing at myself for being so silly. For a moment, I thought I was looking at a ghost. You are the very image of an old friend of mine, Abriana Dolce Badalamenti. Are you perhaps related?”
My heart stopped. “She’s my—”
Sebastian’s hand squeezed my neck again—harder this time.
Startled, I turned to look at him, but his face was unreadable as he kept his gaze trained forward.
Did I imagine it?
The woman continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “It broke my heart when I learned she’d been murdered.”
Murdered?
The champagne flute slipped from my fingers and shattered into a thousand crystalline shards against the marble floor.
CHAPTER 38
SABRINA
The world stopped.
The gasps from surrounding guests. The music. The servants rushing forward with a dustpan.
The blood rushing in my ears muted it all.
Murdered.
She’d said murdered.
Sebastian’s hand closed over my upper arm.
I turned my head to stare up at him. His lips moved, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying.
The woman’s face came into view. She gestured wildly as she shook her head.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I focused on what she was saying.
“My dear, I’m so sorry to have startled you with such ghastly gossip. Please pay an old woman no mind.” She nodded toward Sebastian and made to turn away, but I snatched at her forearm.
“What did you mean? She was murdered?”
The woman gave Sebastian an anxious glance before waving her hand, causing her jeweled bracelets to jangle. “It was years ago. I don’t remember.”
Stepping closer and placing my body between hers and Sebastian’s, I tightened my hold on her arm. “Yes, you do. Please tell me.”
“There was a man who was showing her a great deal of attention. Abriana wasn’t interested. Then next thing we all knew, she disappeared. There was no trace of her. People assumed…”
I leaned forward as I squeezed her arm again to encourage her to keep talking. “Assumed…?”
She sighed. “People assumed…because of who her family was…that she’d been murdered.”
This was all too much.
“What do you mean, because of who her family was?”
The woman looked at Sebastian and then at the people behind her.
Pretending to see someone, she hurried away, her parting words floating over her shoulder. “I’m sorry, my dear. I see someone I need to talk to.”
I moved to chase her, but Sebastian’s grip on my arm stopped me.
He hauled me back against his chest. “Basta. Enough.”
“I have to go after her. I need to know more.”
Sebastian turned me in his arms and cupped my face. “I’m taking you home, mia piccola. This was a mistake.”
With a strong arm around my middle, he half escorted, half carried me out of the ballroom.
Two servants rushed forward and opened the double doors leading to the massive entryway.
As Sebastian demanded our coats, I leaned my cheek against his chest.
I desperately wanted it all to just go away. The lights. The noise. The people staring. All of it.
The coat attendant brought Sebastian’s coat but said they were still getting mine.
“Dammit,” growled Sebastian as he swept his heavy cashmere coat over my shoulders.
He then swept me into his arms and carried me out of the hotel.
The rush of cool air stung my heated cheeks. The rumbling from deep inside his chest vibrated through me as he called out for his car to be brought around.
Tires screeched when the Range Rover jumped the curb of the hotel in front of us. The doorman rushed forward.