Nico chuckles. The sound of the dry laugh sends a rush of fear down my back.
“Jake,” my husband calls out. “Which hand did Ezra touch my wife with?”
Ezra’s brow pinches. My heart rate kicks up.
“Right hand, Boss.”
Nico holds out a hand. Roc walks over and places a huge hunting knife in Nico’s open palm.
“What are you doing?” I ask as my heart nearly leaps out throat.
Nico turns to me. “Giving you what you asked for.”
I watch in abject horror as Roc grabs Ezra’s wrist and pins his hand down on the table. Before anything could come out of my mouth, Nico drives the blade down into the back of Ezra’s hand. I scream at the same time as Ezra. The knife is so deep in his hand that it goes into the table.
Ezra shakes and cries, causing the table and the dishes to rattle. I cover a hand over my mouth.
“My wife spared your life, but nobody touches her without consequences.” Nico turns to Roc and Julian as he stands and buttons his suit jacket. “See to it our guest gets cleaned up and returned home.”
“Let’s go, Tiffany.” He holds out his hand for me to take. I stare at a writhing Ezra and then down at the blade in his palm. I don’t want to move, and I damn sure don’t want to go home with this man.
His arm around my bicep doesn’t give me an option as he pulls me out of my seat. The moment I’m upright, I snatch away from him. There is a warning in his glare, but he doesn’t grabhold of me again. I quickly gathered my jacket and head out the restaurant.
The heavy footfalls behind me lets me know my husband is following. My G-Wagon is parked right at the entrance. Jake steps around me and opens the door for me to climb in. I climb in and slide to the opposite side. Nico gets in and takes his seat. The moment the door is shut, I turn to him.
“How could you….”
“Trust me,” his voice is a low growl. “You’re going to want me to calm down before you speak.”
He turns to glare at me, his dark brown eyes blazing with fire.
There is no fear that my husband would ever hit me. I won’t even pretend that crosses my mind. However, I know enough about him to know when he needs time to cool off. So, I shut my mouth, sit back in my seat and face the window.
When we get home, the house is silent. It’s still early, and my father and Ms. Rose aren’t expected back for another two hours. Stomping up the stairs, I make my way into my bedroom, kicking off my heels. The entire ride home was completely silent. I gave him his time to cool off, now I was ready to talk.
I spin around as he enters the room.
“You can’t just go around—”
“On your knees, Tiffany.”
My mouth shuts as I stare at him. I know he doesn’t think we are going to have sex after what he did.
“We need to talk about tonight.”
He unbuttons his jacket as he walks over to the bed. Once he removes the coat, he tosses it on the bench at the foot of the bed. Slowly, he undoes his cuff links and tosses them down with the coat. He then rolls up his sleeves.
“Tonight, I found my wife out to dinner with another man. A man whom I warned to stay away from her. A man my wife didnot tell me she was going to meet.” He snatches the necktie from around his neck. “A man I let live because my wife begged me for his fucking life. There is nothing to discuss. On your got damn knees.”
My heart is knocking against my chest, my mouth is so dry you could light a match inside it. I lick my lips. I understand how he thought I lied to him, but I needed him to understand that in no way was I trying to be sneaky or could ever cheat on him.
“There was nothing going on, Nico. I honestly thought his sister and her friends were coming. You know I would never disrespect you like that, right? Tell me you know that?”
His gaze softens for only a second. “If I thought you were truly out to dinner with him because you were interested, I would have blown his fucking brains out right there. This punishment isn’t because I thought you wanted him, it’s because you still don’t quite grasp how much you mean to me.
“You belong to me, Tiffany. You don’t keep things from me just because you think I’d get mad, and you damn sure don’t ever ask me to spare a muthafucker’s life when he owes me his next breath. Now.”
The softness in his eyes disappear and I’m met back with the man that showed up to an empty restaurant and drove a knife into a man’s hand without flinching. “On. Your. Fucking knees.”
