Page 22 of Liberated By Sin

Santino’s eyes lit with amusement, but before another word was exchanged, Blaise and Ash cocked their weapons and a third man disarmed Luca.

“Cuginetto,” he said, turning around as he lit a cigar. “I’m going tooverlook what happened here tonight because I know you’re upset. But I won’t forget. If you ever come by here again, I promise you’ll regret it.”

Luca’s teeth clenched when Santino clapped his jaw.

By the time he was escorted back to his car, I’d walked halfway to mine.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Amara.”

I didn’t turn around, mostly because I was aggravated by the stupid grin on my face.

10

Everyfloor number lit against the elevator panel became blurrier than the last the harder I stared into the void of my thoughts. Until I finally leaned into the back metal railing and expelled a long breath, my brain in overdrive after tonight’s events. Santino represented a change at Illusion, one where the details weren’t clearly outlined just yet, but it was a hunch.

And my vibes were usually never wrong.

Unless he was a master deceiver, it was apparent that he and Luca were polar opposites in their approach to interactions with people.

I brushed slow fingers where he’d grabbed me, and maybe it was crazy, but I still felt the pricks of his touch moving beneath my skin. It had been so unexpected that I had to commend myself for keeping it together and refraining from stabbing his throat.

The man was charismatic, brave as he was stupid, and cocky as hell. But none of that mattered. His good looks wouldn’t absolve him from mywrath.

When the elevator came to a stop, I pushed off the railing as the doors slid open, but instead of walking onto my floor, I froze at the small figure standing before me.

A boy, no older than three, clutched a stuffed dog beneath his arm. Big brown eyes watched me as I started toward him cautiously. A child alone at this ungodly hour was either a horror movie coming to life or an ambush. I reached into my bag and pulled my gun, making sure to keep it out of his sight as I cleared the floor on either side of him.

“Hey,” I said, kneeling to his level. “What are you doing out here alone?”

The toddler blinked but said nothing. Not having been around children since I was one myself, I wasn’t even sure if kids his age spoke, let alone understood language.

“Where’s your mom? Where did you come from?”

He shrugged and pointed down the hall, which told me nothing, considering there were four units, none of which had an open door or signs of children.

“This is not happening.”

The boy smiled, staring at me with those big eyes, and began trotting down the hall opposite, where he’d pointed, toward a stairwell whose door was propped open by a maintenance cone.

Fuck.

“Hey, get back here.” The last thing I needed was this kid trying to climb down and eventually tumbling eight stories’ worth of stairs. But as if on purpose, the little shit ran, giggling the moment he heard me striding after him. “Stop!”

Fisting the scruff of his green pajamas just as he reached the threshold, I yanked him back toward me and knelt again, tipping his chin.

“Listen, kid, it’s late. You and I should be in bed, not playing Tag out here. I need you to tell me where your people are.”

His eyes fell on the bands around my wrists, and he reached up and gently tugged one of them.

“Boo-boo,” he said, finally speaking. “Ouch.”

I nodded slowly, a slight smile cracking through at his compassion. “Yeah, ouch.”

Hyper-focused now, he grabbed my fingers and tugged back down the corridor. I let him, hoping he knew where he was headed.

Unit 804.

The black door opened when he pushed against it, but quickly closed due to its weight and the automatic hinge against his little hands.