Page 142 of Brutal Heir

Violent.

Dangerous.

Badalamenti.

My family.

His thumbs grazed the line of my collarbone, a maddeningly calming gesture. “I’m saying your family is…connected.”

I raised an eyebrow, heat rising in my chest. “Like the Diamantis are…connected.”

His jaw tensed, and after a pause, he answered, “Yes.”

“And the rumors of my mother being murdered?”

“It’s complicated.”

“Well, uncomplicate it, Sebastian.”

“It’s not that easy, Sabrina.”

I threw my arms up, breaking his hold and stepping back as anger surged through me. “How well do you know my father?”

His lips pressed into a thin line, his silence louder than any answer.

“Answer me, Sebastian. Are you and my father friends?”

“Far from it."

“And what the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“It means precisely what I said.”

“That’s not a good enough answer!”

“It will have to be.”

“Are you seriously not going to tell me your relationship to my father?”

“No.”

My voice rose, raw and trembling with fury. “Answer me! Are you and my father conspiring together? Does he know who I am? Did he pay you to bring me to Rome?”

Sebastian raised an eyebrow, his expression cool and detached in a way that made my blood boil. “Do I look like a man who needs money?”

“Then did he blackmail you? Force you? Threaten you?”

His composure cracked. “I’m not in the habit of being questioned, Sabrina.”

I stumbled back, pressing a hand to my mouth as a shiver coursed through me.

My fingers trembled against my lips while I desperately tried to hold myself together, but the weight of everything—his secrets, the lies, and the traitorous, growing feelings I had for him—threatened to tear me apart.

“I can’t believe this is happening.”

Sebastian reached for me, his expression now back to unreadable, a cold mask, but I stepped back farther.

A low-hanging branch snagged on the embroidered fabric of my dress. Twisting my torso with more force than necessary, I tore it free, the sharp motion making my frustration boil over.