Page 34 of Brutal Heir

Rafaello put his hand on my shoulder. “Whatever you are doing, it’s for the family. The family must always come first.”

I held up my glass in a mock toast. “To the family,” I said, before draining its contents.

I checked my watch. Sabrina should have arrived by now.

Just then, my driver entered the room. “Your pardon, Dottore Diamanti.”

The space between my shoulder blades tightened as I took in the driver’s strained expression. A sinking weight settled in my gut when I realized Sabrina was not with him.

Had someone gotten to her first? The unknown man lurking under the awning earlier? Benedict’s text warning me of the judge’s men in Paris came back to haunt me.

The glass trembled in my hand. “Where is she?”

Rafaello squeezed my shoulder, already sensing trouble. For once, no longer finding humor in the situation.

“Easy, Sebastian. I’m sure there is an explanation.” He looked at the driver. “Right?”

The driver’s knuckles turned white as he worried the brim of his chauffeur hat. “She wasn’t there. I waited and waited. She never showed.”

Rafaello grabbed my upper arm when I turned to leave. “Sebastian. What are you going to do?”

I shook him off. “I’m taking your suggestion.”

His eyebrows rose as he pointed to the center of his chest. “My suggestion. And what suggestion was that?”

I buckled my gun harness over my shoulders before shrugging into the coat a staff member held out for me, then I stormed toward the door.

Rafaello called after me, “Not the kidnapping one, right?”

“What do you think?”

CHAPTER 10

SABRINA

Iwasn’t supposed to be here.

My phone screen glowed in the dim light of the cafe. A few heads turned as I slammed it facedown against the tabletop.

It was one minute past when I was supposed to meet Sebastian Diamanti’s driver.

Hating myself for doing it, I flipped the phone back to face up and hit the screen again.

Two minutes past.

The screen dimmed.

Doubt crept over me as my fingers clenched around my glass.

I shouldn’t have disobeyed Sebastian and come to this party instead.

Disobedience to his commands wasn’t really an option.

He’d made that clear earlier.

But something deep inside me rebelled against the idea of being his possession. I’d been told to obey my whole life—by my mother, by fear, by men like him. Not tonight.

I wasn’t sure if I was being brave or reckless, but I knew one thing: I couldn’t let him win.