His favorite Sin

Blood on marble always looks darker than it should. I watch it drip from my knuckles onto the Toussaint family crestinlaid in the library floor.Gold.Obscene.My father chose it because he said legacy should be stepped on daily,so you never forget it's weight. Tonight,it's just something to bleed on. "Matteo" The voice comes from the doorway.Cold.Amused.My older brother, Lorenzo,leans against the mahogany frame with a glass of scotch he doesn't deserve.Father wants you upstairs the Roux girl is here. I don't look up.Flex my hand.The split across my knuckles pull.Good.Pain keeps you honest. "Tell him I'm busy" "He said it wasn't a request"Lorenzo swirls his drink.She's early.Her father sent her to discuss terms.Alone." That makes me look up. Because Helena Roux doesn't do alone.She travels with bodyguards,with her father's reputation,with the entire French Quarter whispering her name like a prayer and a threat.She's the heiress to the Roux shipping except tonight, apparently. I stand up.My shirt sticks to my ribs where the last guy got a lucky shot in"Where?" "Drawing room.And Matteo"Lorenzo's smirk sharpens."Try not to bleed on her.The dress is probably worth more than that guy's life" The drawing room smells like her before I see her.Not perfume.Helena doesn't wear perfume.She wears presence.Citrus and gunpowder and something I can't expensive I can't name.She stands by the fire place,one hip c****d,black slip dress catching the candlelight like it was made to ruin men.Pearl choker tight at her throat.Red lips.And her hand,a black rose She didn't turn when I entered.Just traces one fingertip along the petals. "You're late"I shut the door.Lock it.The click makes her stiffen,but she still doesn't look."Did your father finally run out of men to send in his place" Now she turns. And God. Photos don't do her justice.Photos don't capture the way her eyes drag over me, cataloging the blood,the torn shirt ,the way I'm breathing too hard.Photos don't show that sharp confident smirk that said she's already won something I didn't know we were playing "Papa thought I should meet the dog he's leashing his company to"She steps closer.Her heels don't make a sound on the rug.Predatory."He didn't say the dog would be rabid. I cross to her in three strides.Close enough so I can see the pulse in her throat,right above those pearls.Close enough that she had to tilt her head to hold my gaze. "Careful,principessa"I murmured"..rabid dogs bite. Her smirk doesn't drop.She lifts the black rose and presses it to my chest,right over my heart.The thorn catches on my shirt"Then bite, Matteo Toussaint" Her eyes drop to my mouth.Then lower to my hands.To the blood drying on my skin. "Or are you only dangerous when it's men in the alleyways?" It's a challenge.It's an invitation.Its the first time in twenty eight years I've wanted something that I know would destroy me. My father wants me to marry her.Merge the Toussaint and Roux empires.Make us untouchable. He doesn't know I've wanted her since I saw her at sixteen,in the cathedral in New Orleans.Lighting a candle for a mother she never talks about.He doesn't know I've had men follow her for years.That I know she prefers her coffee black,that she carries a little opener in her clutch,that she sleeps with her balcony doors open because she likes to feel she could run.He doesn't know she's already mine. I catch her wrist . The rose falls.Her pulse jumps under my thumb. "I don't bite men in alleyways,Helena"My voice is rough.Ruined."I break them.For touching what's mine" Her breath hitches.Just once.Then the smirk returns,sharper.Deadlier. "Possessive,"she whispers"I didn't take you for the type" I lean in,mouth at her ear.Close enough to feel her shiver."You don't know anything about me" "I know you're bleeding on my shoes" I look down.She's right.A drop of blood,dark against her satin heel. I drop to one knee. Not to apologize.To press my thumb to the blood,smear it into the silk.Mark her. When I look up,her eyes are black.No iris,just want and fury and something that looks a lot like fear. "Good"she says"now we match" And that's when I know. She isn't the dept my father is paying. She's the sin I'll never repent for.