Page 24 of A Beautiful Crime
And I have no qualms of admitting it.
Carina Fiore may have been in the shadows to everyone else but I have always seen her.
I remember the first time I laid my eyes upon her.
She was young then, too young for a man of my age to take an interest in looking but she had this certain beauty that compelled you to.
It was her face, a face that God had crafted himself to resemble his angels. One that if you stared too long you would confess your sins in hopes to be in her good graces.
I don’t think I have ever seen anyone as beautiful.
It was when I saw her papa clutch her roughly in his arms that I knew I could never have her.
Not because I was afraid of who he was but it was because of his last name.
The damn Fiore blood.
And I knew my papa would never allow it to happen.
It was blasphemy.
For as much as I knew it was forbidden it didn’t stop me from thinking about her or seeking her any chance that I could.
There was an angel walking amongst earth and I was the Devil who wanted to walk with her.
The front page of The New York Newspaper says that I am enraptured by Carina Fiore but the truth is I have an unhealthy obsession.
Because even though her face resembled an angel I saw the darkness hiding in the depths of her eyes.
Only recently has the darkness swallowed her whole and because of that it has left those beautiful emerald eyes of hers dead.
But Carina hasn’t accepted the darkness, she’s succumbed to it. There’s a difference.
When you accept the darkness your eyes do not die, for they thrive in their new home. They dance with sin and shine with mischief.
The paper had called her a woman made of ice but they couldn’t be more wrong.
Carina is not ice. Not when her eyes flashed at mine with fury and not when her skin came alive under my touch.
She’s an ember waiting to catch a flame.
A match waiting for its strike.
Carina Fiore is a woman who believes she died.
I’m going to be the one who brings her back to life.
And when I do I know the fire that she’ll become, the darkness that she will finally accept, will be the most glorious thing to behold.
I want her to be the Queen to my King and the only way to make that happen is for her to become what she’s resisting.
It will happen soon enough and when it does the day God called ruination will be upon us.
“I’m not a traditionalist, Rico, and when I marry his daughter he will have to come to terms with that.”
He inclines his head and mimics my expression by raising a brow. “So you are accepting his offer.”
“Yes, I am.” But I’m not accepting for what I’m sure Savio Fiore has up his sleeve. I’m accepting for the woman who needs to be saved from herself.
