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It was all just shadows and mirrors. All of it.

She raised her chin. "I'm leaving Italy, Sebastian. Tonight. I'm…leaving you."

Possessiveness roared to life inside me, drowning out reason, drowning out caution.

Blood rushed to my extremities, muscles tensing for action, the savage instinct to capture and claim overriding all else.

I spun until her back connected with one of the mirrors.

The impact forced a gasp from her lips.

I pushed the weight of my body against her, pinning her between cold glass and my heat. The mirror's ornate gold frame dug into my palms as I caged her within my arms, her soft curves yielding against the hard planes of my chest.

Her body betrayed her even as defiance blazed in her eyes.

The music screeched to a halt.

Without taking my eyes off her, I shouted up to the musician balcony, "Leave us. Now."

The quartet scrambled to pack their instruments, their footsteps fading rapidly as they stumbled out, leaving us alone with the echo of the last discordant note hanging in the air between us.

Her breasts rose and fell with her labored breathing, straining against the structured bodice that contained them. A flush spread across the creamy expanse of her décolletage, rising upward to stain her cheeks pink.

Her lips, soft and full, parted on each exhale, releasing breath that mingled with mine in the heated space between us.

The diamond necklace cast prisms across her pale skin, marking her as mine.

"You're not going anywhere. What did my mother say to you today?" There was an edge of desperation I despised lurking beneath the command.

"She told me everything. How it was all a lie."

I didn't miss the pain in her eyes, the blue shimmering with barely contained tears.

"My mother has no idea what is going on."

She placed her hands against my chest and tried to shove me backward. Each finger pressed with surprising strength, the pressure both resistance and invitation.

I didn't budge.

Her defiance only fueled the fire raging inside me, the need to conquer, to possess, to claim.

The silk of my tuxedo shirt bunched under her curled fingers. "If you were so sure of that, you wouldn't be asking me what she said." Her gaze flashed with triumph.

"You're worried. The great and powerful Sebastian Diamanti is worried that something is finally out of his control."

I stared at her mouth, at the full curves of her lips, parted with her quickened breaths. "Keep it up, Sabrina."

"Or you'll what? Make a mockery of my career? Put my life in danger? Break my heart? Too late, Sebastian."

She'd said break her heart.

Break her heart.

My body stilled. The words reverberated through me, striking against ribs, burrowing deep into flesh.

"What did you just say?"

"I hate you." The words trembled on her lips, lacking conviction despite the fire in her eyes.