Good, some bitter part of me thought as I guzzled my wine down too fast.Let them guard her while I play the Dynasty’s favorite villain and Rocco’s favorite patsy.
Was this his game?
Pitting me against my own wife, or was he after something else? Emilia DiSangue’s eyes kept finding me over the crowd, lips pinched together in disgust at my blatant display of infidelity.
ShelikedEmberline. Was pissed on her behalf.
Losing her support would be a blow to my plans. I wished I was better at these careless games, wished I hadn’t spent fifty years rotting in a pit, fighting to survive, something none of these pampered creatures could comprehend.
But there were others who didn’t share her sentiment. Rocco, for one, who looked absolutely delighted when his daughter dragged me toward the middle of the room.
“You don’t have to be so grumpy. At least dance with me,” Valeria pouted. “For old times’ sake.”
“Old times are long gone,” I hissed, sidestepping her grasping claws. “Don’t turn us into a spectacle; they’re already staring.”
I should find Emberline and get the fuck out of here. Whatever allies we’d hoped to make tonight… nothing was worth this.
She just laughed. “Which is exactly the point, lover. Why do you think Father went to all the trouble to throw such a lavish party? Your marriage is a farce. Putting you two on display only speeds up the inevitable.” She batted her eyelashes at me. “Something I’m all too happy to help with.”
“What are you after, Valeria?” My hands were clenched so tightly, I thought my knuckles might split. “Or should I ask… what does Rocco want?”
Her expression turned calculating, “The truth is, now that you’re back, father wonders if the Demente family might benefit froman arrangementbetween us.”
“Explain what you mean.”
“You’re wasted, joined to the DiRavellos. Enzo is dead, the son is…” Her gaze went to the other side of the room. “He’s weak. You should be paired with a strong family, not a dying one. You should bemine.”
She reached for me, and I caged her wrists, stopping her cold.
“No. You will never touch me again.” Violenceshimmered around me like a halo, the kind of violence I’d worked hard to control, but right now, it was a song in my veins, begging to be released.
The kind of violence that would leave this room painted in blood.
And these monsters knew it. Silence rippled outward through the crowd, along with the sour stench of fear.
“You and I share no past, we have no future.” Every word was a threat, every word had her flinching away. “I do not want to ever see you again.”
Across the room, Emberline watched us with a drink in her hand. She was a queen carved out of the night—unbothered, unamused, untouched by the spectacle, still flanked by Gabriel and Nico.
Except… her knuckles were white on the glass.
And a small, vicious part of me liked that.
Satisfaction was petty and ugly, yet some selfish, damaged part of me basked in the knowledge that I could make Emberline DiRavello—with all her poise and power—feel something as base as jealousy.
That shecared,despite herself.
That, like me, she was a slave to this thing between us.
“But… my father… he wants…” Valeria’s wide eyes were shocked, bereft of the careless cruelty from before.
“Now listen carefully,” I enunciated every word, cold, quiet rage drenching every cell of my being. “If my wife enters a room, you will leave immediately. You will never speak to Emberline, you will not so much as look at her. Tell me you understand.”
“I…” She licked her lips, chest heaving. “I understand, Dante.”
I left her there, intending to find my wife and get the fuck out of this place.
To explain, beg her forgiveness, erase that look of hurt from her beautiful face. But when I looked to the last spot I’d seen Emberline… my wife was gone.
