Chapter 24

• •HAZEL SANTORO•
• I don’t remember the last time my heart pounded this hard.
• Maybe the night I first stepped into Raffaele Mancini’s mansion, knowing I had just traded my freedom to save my father. Maybe when Raffaele had me on my knees in his study, his voice a rough, intoxicating whisper of control and command. Or maybe the moment I realized the way he looked at me—as if I fascinated him, as if he was trying to figure out what made me tick.