I bite my lower lip, hating that he’s making my progress sound small and insignificant. Like I’m stupid for ever having been excited about it.
Sam sobers. “Iris, listen. I’m asking you to leave for your safety. Anthony has enemies. You’ll become a target if you stay with him.”
Where the heck is this coming from? “Like more Audrey Duffs and wine tossed in my face?” I have no idea what’s making him say this nonsense, and the only thing that could’ve triggered it is that date gone bad. “I think I can han—”
“No! Nothing that juvenile. They will want you gone.”
“Gone? As in dead? You’re crazy,” I say. “Out of your mind.”
“It’s true. You don’t know what kind of enemies Anthony has. How vicious they can be.”
“So because somebody hates Anthony, they’re going to try to kill me? How does that make any sense? Nobody tried to kill his exes.” Julie would have said something about it when she told me about Tony and his exes.
He slaps the table with his palm. “You’re different!”
“How?”
“I can’t tell you.”
Suddenly, I’m tired and disappointed. What did I expect? Some illuminating revelation? “Sorry, Sam. This blank canvas isn’t so blank anymore. You know what? Just send the check to the foundation. I’m done here.”
I spin around to leave.
“You can’t go!”
Sam jumps out of his chair and grabs me. His thick fingers wrap around my arm tightly, and I yank back hard.
“Let go!”
“Shut up and listen!” He pulls me toward him. “Do you think Anthony Blackwood or your snotty boss is going to give a damn about you once I tell them what a mess you are?”
The words hit hard. I shake with panic and anger…tinged with fear. It always comes back to this—my amnesia.
“I wasn’t joking when I said I’d have you declared mentally incompetent!” he hisses.
“No!” I jerk back with all my might and manage to free myself from his grasp. But it comes at a cost. I lose my balance, and my feet slip.
I cry out right before I hit the cool water. I sink down…
It’s so blue under the water. Not like…
Darkness surrounds me. The water’s rough, torrential rain creating pockmarks on the surface that vanish almost as quickly as they appear. My body sinks…sinks…along with everything else around me.
I look across, see a girl in a blue dress… The same one from my nightmare. She’s not waving, though. She’s trapped in the car and unmoving. Red spreads around her. Her unbound hair… No. Blood. It’s almost beautiful in a terrifying way.
Similar tendrils are unfurling around my own head. And my mind is so foggy… So tired. I’m halfway out the side window, but no air left. I can’t swim. I never learned how. Why? I don’t know.
I sense somebody diving. Strong, rough hands grab me under the armpits and pull me up and up and up… I turn my head slowly toward my rescuer and see…
Sam drags me out of the water and dumps me on the side of the pool. The California sun is momentarily blinding. Wheezing and gasping for air, I shade my eyes with a hand and look at him. He’s drenched, his hair plastered to his skull. Water drips from his eyelashes and tip of his nose and chin.
Just like…
He looks at me. “Are you all right?”
Are you all right? a voice that sounds exactly like Sam’s asks me in my mind.
And I know.
“Oh my God,” I whisper in horror. “You’ve pulled me out of the water before!”
——
Thanks for reading Sins! I hope you enjoyed it. Tony and Ivy’s story continues in Secrets [US :: UK :: Canada :: Australia]. Pre-order today so it lands in your ereader as soon as it’s released in June, 2019!
Would you like to know when my next book is available and receive sneak peeks and bonus epilogues featuring some of your favorite couples? Join my VIP List at http://www.nadialee.net/vip.
Want to read about the secondary characters in Sins while waiting for Secrets to come out?
If you’re intrigued by the Hollywood bad boy Ryder Reed, his story is in A Hollywood Deal [US :: UK :: Canada :: Australia].
If you’re interested in Elizabeth (and her “assistant” Tolyan), check out The Billionaire's Claim: Obsession [US :: UK :: Canada :: Australia].
Want to stalk me and see what I’m up to next? Find me at:
Website: nadialee.net
VIP Hangout (reader group): facebook.com/groups/nadialee
Facebook: facebook.com/nadialeewrites
Twitter: twitter.com/nadialee
Instagram: instagram.com/nadialeewrites
——
Playlist of all the classical pieces in Sins
Franz Schubert
Fantasie in F minor
Franz Liszt
Liebestraum No. 3
“La Campanella”
“Mazeppa” étude
Grand Galop Chromatique
Frédéric Chopin
“Torrent” étude
“Black Key” étude
“Waterfall” étude
Claude Debussy
“Clair de lune”
Arabesque No. 1
Anton Dvořák
Piano Quintet in A major
Charles-Louis Hanon
Virtuoso Pianist
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Piano Sonatas
Titles by Nadia Lee
If you want to receive notices about my latest books, please join my VIP List at www.nadialee.net/vip!
——
The Sins Trilogy
Book 1: Sins
US :: UK :: Canada :: Australia
Book 2: Secrets
US :: UK :: Canada :: Australia
Book 3: Mercy
US :: UK :: Canada :: Australia
The Billionaire’s Claim Duet
Book 1: Obsession
Book 2: Redemption
US :: UK :: Canada :: Australia
——
Sweet Darlings Inc. Series
Book 1: That Man Next Door
US :: UK :: Canada :: Australia
Book 2: That Sexy Stranger
US :: UK :: Canada :: Australia
Book 3: That Wild Player
US :: UK :: Canada :: Australia
——
Billionaires’ Brides of Convenience Series
Book 1: A Hollywood Deal
US :: UK :: Canada :: Australia
Book 2: A Hollywood Bride
US :: UK :: Canada :: Australia
Book 3: An Improper Deal
US :: UK :: Canada :: Australia
Book 4: An Improper Bride
US :: UK :: Canada :: Australia
Book 5: An Improper Ever After
US :: UK :: Canada :: Australia
Book 6: An Unlikely Deal
US :: UK :: Canada :: Australia
Book 7: An Unlikely Bride
US :: UK :: Canada :: Australia
Book 8: A Final Deal
US :: UK :: Canada :: Australia
——
The Pryce Family Series
Book 1: The Billionaire’s Counterfeit Girlfriend
US :: UK :: Canada :: Australia
Book 2: The Billionaire’s Inconvenient Obsession
US :: UK :: Canada :: Australia
Book 3: The Billionaire’s Secret Wife
US :: UK :: Canada :: Australia
Book 4: The Billionaire’s Forgotten Fiancée
US :: UK :: Canada :: Australia
US :: UK :: Canada :: Australia
Book 6: The Billionaire’s Holiday Bride
US :: UK :: Canada :: Australia
——
Seduced by the Billionaire Series
Book 1: The Billionaire’s Revenge
&n
bsp; US :: UK :: Canada :: Australia
Book 2: The Billionaire’s Pursuit
US :: UK :: Canada :: Australia
Book 3: The Billionaire’s Baby
US :: UK :: Canada :: Australia
Book 3.5: The Millionaire’s Crush
US :: UK :: Canada :: Australia
Book 4: The Billionaire’s Secret
US :: UK :: Canada :: Australia
Book 5: The Billionaire’s Scandal
US :: UK :: Canada :: Australia
——
If you want to receive notices about my latest books, please join my VIP List at www.nadialee.net/vip!
About Nadia Lee
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Nadia Lee writes sexy, emotional contemporary romance. Born with a love for excellent food, travel and adventure, she has lived in four different countries, kissed stingrays, been bitten by a shark, ridden an elephant and petted tigers.
Currently, she shares a condo overlooking a small river and sakura trees in Japan with her husband and son. When she’s not writing, she can be found reading books by her favorite authors or planning another trip.
To learn more about Nadia and her projects, please visit www.nadialee.net. To receive news about Nadia’s upcoming releases, sales and promotions, giveaways, exclusive epilogues, bonus scenes and more, join her VIP List at www.nadialee.net/vip!
Sins
Copyright © 2019 by Hyun J Kyung
Kindle Edition
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without the prior written permission from the author except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical articles and reviews.
www.nadialee.net
Excerpt of translation by Scott Horton of Ferdinand Freiligraph, O lieb, so lang du lieben kannst
Copyright © 2009 Harper’s Magazine. All Rights Reserved.
https://harpers.org/blog/2009/11/freiligraph-_o-lieb-so-lang-du-lieben-kannst_/Noember 8, 2009
Reproduced from the June issue by special permission.