When he notices, he leans close to my ear so I can hear him over the music. “It’s just orange juice. I wouldn’t hurt my baby.”
As soon as he pulls back, I drain the glass in one go. I need every bit of strength I can muster because I feel it draining out of me, bit by bit.
Placing the empty glass back on the table, I step closer to Tony. Wrapping an arm around his waist, I guide his head down with my other hand.
He doesn’t resist, leaning in to let me whisper in his ear. “I don’t know what you’re planning, but please…let’s just go home. Don’t make things worse between us. I apologized for what I said. Can’t you be forgiving, just this once?”
His cold voice brushes my ear. “If I wanted to be forgiving, I’d be working under Carlo as a low-ranking soldier right now. Forgiveness is for losers, for those who get trampled underfoot. In my world, there’s no room for mistakes or forgiveness.”
I press my forehead to his chest.
“Not even for me? The woman carrying your child inside her?”
His hand rests on the curve of my back, and his warm breath brushes my cheek. “Other than the baby I put in you, what else ties us together? Your endless concern for your murderous husband when I’m the only man who’s ever been in your holes? What feelings do we share that would make you special to me?”
I step back slightly, gazing at his face under the faint blue light. Placing my hand on his cheek, I say, “You’re wrong. I have no feelings for Carlo. I never did.”
I pause, closing my eyes tightly, summoning the bravery to open my heart to this resolute man, to tell him how I feel. To confess that, no matter how impossible or unbelievable it may seem, I’ve been yearning for his love for years.
I open my eyes and stare into his captivating gaze. “I lo…”
Before I can finish my sentence, the music abruptly stops, and a second later, every light in the room flickers on.
The deafening music and the murmur of the crowd that had moments ago felt like they would burst my eardrums are replaced by an eerie silence, like the air’s been sucked out of the room.
My eyes are still locked on Tony’s, which now glimmer with a mischievous spark. A sinking feeling washes over me, and I sense that every pair of eyes in the room is on us.
When I turn my head toward the crowd, I see that my instincts were right. All of them are staring, and here I am, in this sheer, revealing outfit, praying the floor will open up and swallow me whole.
I turn my anxious yet furious gaze to Tony, who’s watching me with amusement. I can’t fathom what he’s planning until he starts explaining.
“I told you,” he says, picking up a drink from the table. “I don’t like being in anyone’s debt. You said I owe you 26 orgasms, right? Tonight’s the night you collect.”
I press my trembling hand to my chest as I struggle to breathe. I still don’t understand what he’s saying. He steps closer, locking eyes with me, his face hard with cruelty.
With venom in his tone, he adds, “I’ve picked 26 of my best men for you. Take your time, sweetheart. You’ve got all night.”
My eyes widen in utter disbelief, and I whip my head toward the crowd. Other than a few women, clearly servants, the rest are young, muscular men. Without even glancing at me, they begin undressing.
It feels like an earthquake hits my body, shaking me to my core.
I tell myself Tony couldn’t possibly do something like this. But he still brought me here, half-naked, in the middle of a group of drunken men.
So yes, he could.
I turn back to him in shock, but he only smirks, raising his glass toward me.
“Cheers to you!”
For a moment, rage consumes me so completely that, before I even realize it, my hand flies up and lands hard across Tony’s face.
The slap is so forceful that his head snaps to the side, and the glass in his hand, raised near his face, falls to the floor and shatters into a thousand pieces.
The sound of breaking glass snaps me out of it, and panic surges through me again. I take several steps back, horrified. When he turns his head back to me, his eyes blazing with uncontrollable fury, I waste no time. I turn and run.
The only way to the front door is through the crowd of men now standing in the middle of the room, wearing nothing but their underwear.
I wait for one of them to grab me, to lift me into the air and for the others to pile on top of me. But no one even raises a hand to stop me.
