Silence And Sin

nce &

One: The

ys been the kind of g

ed past her like she was part of the sidewalk. She didn't mind. There was comfort in quiet things-in the hush of l

okstore, and the tiny apartment she shared with her cat, Eliot. She didn't go to parties.

n it ha

brella flipped in the wind like a broken bird, and in her rush to cros

nd raindrops sca

he gasped, scramb

s coat was expensive-tailored to fit broad shoulders and a body built like it knew viol

, lifting her soaked no

oked up, her

like the edge of a knife. His jaw was clean-shaven, his hair perfectly styl

you," she

od, he stood, and without another word, he was gone-blendin

-

hy she couldn't sto

nket, she kept picturing those silver eyes. The way he'd looked at her-no

mat? He hadn't even given a name. Yet

wondering if she'd

.

that didn't even list its penthouse on pap

strings were held in his hand. He was the Moretti name-son of Marc

his precision, and his lack of emotional attachme

ye

t g

had apologized like she had. None had eyes like hers-so wide and s

alked away and

d picked up

pped throug

bled inside the co

Words about loneliness, resilience, silence. H

oftness. He di

to know everything

hand man, who stood by the do

-

ite envelope arrived

cate design of roses and daggers-and t

an inv

nna Gallery. Thursday night.

confused. No sig

thing-curiosity? instinc

brushed her curls into something that resembled

usly against the marble floor. The room was half-lit, th

omach

as *

ched, dressed in black again, as if

a," h

embered

rget import

now what to

here?" s

this seemed easier than chasing

ed, but no so

e added, pulling her

or it, but he

d what

burned. "Yo

ral t

-focused, unreadable-mad

. normal," sh

t I'm not the villain

crawl down her sp

o doesn't usually explain himself. B

offered nothing freely. But when he walked her to the car, something about the way he

the invitation,

ice a whisper of velvet.

door

t thudded with nerves-and someth

who Luciano Mo

her... she was al

BE CONTIN