Page 86 of Diary of a Mafia Princess

“You made it. I was beginning to wonder where you were. People I personally invite to my parties don’t normally keep me waiting.”

I didn’t miss the sharp look in his eye, nor the tone. It was masked as disappointment, but beneath that, a warning. That this was the last time I’d do that or next time he wouldn’t be so generous.

“My apologies,” I said, more for the people around us who were no doubt eavesdropping, more than for Carlos himself, since we both knew the game we were playing. “I had to close my shop to be here, and I had a client who was having trouble choosing between tattooing his stomach or his ass.”

Carlos raised an eyebrow.

A few of the people around me tittered with laughter, confirming they were indeed listening in, hoping for some gossip or to find out the reason Carlos had singled out the one man here who didn’t fit.

Carlos acted like I hadn’t just made a social faux pas and reached behind him. “Dax, I’d like you to meet my fiancée, Nyah Matish.”

Nyah trotted out from behind him in heels that were too tall for her to walk comfortably in. I hadn’t even realized it was her, standing behind him with her back to me, drinking and talking with a group of people I didn’t know. She glanced up, one hand wrapped around Carlos’s, and her gaze met mine.

It didn’t matter how many times I’d looked at this woman. How many times I’d seen her in clothes or without. Every time stopped me in my tracks.

It wasn’t only that she was beautiful. It wasn’t that her dress clung to the curve of her hips and the swell of her tits, both more pronounced than I remembered from when we’d dated.

It was that unnamable thing that had my entire body screaming to touch her. To hold her. To pick her up and carry her out of here and shout, “Mine!” at anyone who even thought about trying to stop me.

It was that my heart beat too fast when she was around and I didn’t want it to stop.

Yet all I could see was the way she held another man’s hand.

His thumb stroked over the back of it in what was probably supposed to be affectionate but was clearly possessive to me.

My mouth dried. “We’ve met,” I said to Carlos. “You know that.”

Carlos laughed. “Oh, of course you have! You dated.” Carlos put his arm around Nyah’s shoulders and drew her closer to him. But he didn’t lower his voice at all when he said, “Dax told me you wouldn’t put out for him, so he lost interest. That’s true, isn’t it, sweetheart? You’re keeping your virgin pussy pure and clean for our wedding night, aren’t you?”

Mortification twisted Nyah’s expression, but she nodded obediently. “Of course, my love.”

He turned to her and made a show of kissing her mouth, pressing his tongue past her lips, one hand sliding up her side to squeeze her boob, barely covered by the deep-red satin of her dress.

All while I had to watch.

Jealousy burned through me, the ache deep and raw, but I said nothing, made no move, forced my expression to remain neutral.

Eventually, when Carlos realized I wasn’t going to react to the way he pawed at her, he pulled his mouth away from hers and leaned in conspiratorially, acting like he and I were the best of friends. “I’ve fingered her, checked she’s still tight. She was as wet as Niagara Falls for me.”

Nyah turned away, though not before I caught a glimpse of the tears welling in her eyes.

I wanted to drown the old man in the pool. He’d fucking touched her? Forced himself between her legs, under the guise of checking she was a virgin? What the fuck kind of historic bullshit was that? Clearly one he wasn’t medically trained in, since I knew for a fact Nyah was no virgin and wouldn’t have passed whatever test he’d inflicted on her if he had any real medical training.

He’d just wanted to prove he owned her. He was doing it again now, degrading her in front of everyone.

And there was nothing I could do about it. Carlos’s men surrounded us. Even though I couldn’t see the weapons, I knew they were there. Gunmetal glinting beneath suit jackets. Knives sharp in holders beneath suit pants.

I knew enough of this world to know I couldn’t trust a soul here, especially not the man in front of me.

“Good for you,” I choked out. It was all I could manage.

Carlos nodded, drawing Nyah close to him again. “Let’s get you a woman, shall we, Dax?”

“I—”

He didn’t wait for an answer. He spotted someone through the crowd and strode toward her.

Leaving me alone with Nyah for the briefest of moments.