SEVENTY SIX

TWENTY FIVE

Alexander Russo continued staring at the painting, even when his men came to inform him on the arrival of the girl he had asked them to bring to him… Mara Sinclair.

He had thought it would surely be a hard mission judging by the way he had made a fool of himself by grabbing her in her office and muttering such words of hate. He had let his anger show and he had sufficiently punished himself for that.

Alexander winced as he got up from where he sat, walking over to where the painting hung. He had gone over to her office the next day to offer his most sincere apologies but had been told of her break for the rest of the week. She was hiding from him and it was fine but he was a Russo and that was one thing she had underestimated.

He had figured out where she lived almost immediately and had gone visiting but as usual Lucien Rodrigues had taken her from there; tempting him.

There was only one place they had to be and it had been hard trying to figure out where Lucien lived. He