Page 75 of Liberated By Sin
I slipped from his hold and ran toward the body, asinking feeling churning in the pit of my stomach.
“Amara, wait!”
Santino took off after me, but I was already halfway through the crowd, pushing them out of the way. I stopped cold when I stumbled to the center and found myself staring into the lifeless eyes of a familiar face.
“It’s Star,” I breathed out as he threw an arm around my waist and tucked me to his side. “Who could have done this?”
Star and I had never been particularly close, but not for her lack of trying. I was just never interested in that most often fake camaraderie that came with working this type of job. They all shared a dressing room, while I had my own. I figured I’d save myself the trouble of petty differences and envy for what they deemed special treatment.
“Come on.” He tugged me through the growing crowd, his eyes scanning our surroundings. “We don’t know who’s watching.”
Sirens could already be heard in the distance as we made our way back inside the club.
“Should we tell the others?”
“Not yet. Cops will be here soon enough, asking questions and permission to view surveillance footage.”
When we crossed the threshold into his office, he locked it and motioned for me to take a seat while he zoomed to camera angle twelve.
As he combed through the footage, I caught a glance of us in the water, and despite the tragic situation with Star, I couldn’t help smiling. Santino’s eyes fixed on me briefly, and I knew he felt the same spark, as inappropriate as it was.
“There!” I said, jumping to my feet and pointing at a dark figure who looked to be dragging a half-conscious Star. “She was alive just an hour before we walked onto the beach.”
The image was too far to make out faces or her exact cause of death, but from what I saw on the scene, it looked like she had a neck laceration and several puncture wounds to the chest.
“Star never showed up to work today,” he said, panning to theparking lot to her usual spot. “Dumping her body on this beach was deliberate. Someone is sending us a message.”
“Luca,” we said in unison.
“I’m going to pay him a visit. But maybe you should lay low,preziosa. Stay home. I can have Blaise keep an eye on your place. Or—” He rounded his desk and pulled me against his chest. “Come with me.”
The thought of going home to Santino was terrifying and tempting in all the best ways, but I was tired of hiding, least of all from Luca.
My phone vibrated inside my bag, and as if the universe had heard my wishes, the text message on my screen couldn’t have come at a better time.
“Is there any way your private jet can pick us up sooner than next week?”
His eyes creased curiously. “I told you just say the word.”
“Good. Because we leave for Philly tomorrow at noon.”
Santino nodded once and gripped my wet shirt when I tried to slip away. “Where do you think you’re off to?”
“Change of plans means I have to go home, pack, and drop Phoenix off at Cambri’s.”
He tilted my chin and kissed me. “Then come back to my place tonight.”
“We almost had sex on the beach, Santi. If I do that, I’m afraid I won’t want to leave in the morning,” I said as I wiped sand from his cheek.
His protest died on his lips at the sound of a knock at his office door. We both whipped around to the camera feed of a man in a blazer, his eyes trained directly on the camera.
“Detective Braga.”
Santino moved toward the door. “And the coincidences never cease.”
My neighbor’s eyes betrayed his poker face when the door swung open, and they landed on me, then Santino.
“Amara.”