Page 2 of In the Dark

“What?” Tomás stuttered.

“Do you enjoy it? Putting your hands on her?”

The words fell softly. Precisely. Like glass dropped onto marble.

Tomás scoffed, nerves bleeding through his bravado. “Hey, man, I regret you had to see that. It was just—”

“If you ever do it again,” Cal interrupted, stepping into Tomás’s personal space until the smaller man was practically vibrating, “you won’t just regret that I saw it. You’ll regret that you ever had hands to begin with. I’ll take them from you, along with your entire legacy.”

Tomás swallowed hard. His gaze flicked to me, then away, like he couldn’t quite meet my eyes anymore.

Cal nodded once toward the doors. “Go inside.”

Tomás didn’t even try to argue. He turned and walked back into the gala like a scared puppy with his tail between his legs.

I didn’t know whether I was relieved that the asshole had left or disgusted that he’d left me with a man who had threatened him with violence.

It was the latter, I decided. The guy was a spineless coward, and now I was going to have to feed his ridiculous, damaged ego all night.

Cal didn’t seem concerned about the conundrum he’d just created for me. He didn’t even watch Tomás leave. His focus was entirely on me, letting the silence stretch until it felt like a physical weight. He was sizing me up, and for the first time tonight, I felt a genuine spark of heat—not from anger, but from the raw, carnal intensity in his gaze.

He leaned back against the brick wall and let the charm unfurl again. “You okay, beautiful?”

I blinked, scoffing at how effortlessly he’d flipped the switch back to gentleman.

“I was always fine.” I tilted my head, my voice dripping with ice. “But leave it to a man to think he’s the hero of the story.”

He looked genuinely caught off guard. “Wasn’t I? You’re clearly better off without that pathetic excuse for a date.”

“Or maybe I’m worse off. Now I’m stuck out here with a stranger who threatens people with bodily harm. Better the devil you know than the one you don’t, right?”

A low, dark chuckle escaped him. “Are you saying I’m a threat to you, Viper?”

My pulse jumped at the nickname, though I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to ignore the way my body liked hearing him laugh. Man, he was way better looking than my date. Still, I reminded us both, “You’re an unknown, and that’s always a risk.”

“Let me introduce myself, then.”

Before he could say another word, though, a familiar, condescending tone flowed from the building’s doors. “Jas, what are you doing out here with him?”

“Paolo, is that the way to introduce me to …” Cal smirked as he tasted my name on his lips. “Jas?”

“She needs no introductions to you.”

“And why is that?” he asked, dragging his eyes slowly over my body. The fire I felt was one I never got from Tomás.

“Because she’s my niece,” Paolo spat, stepping between us as if I were a piece of property he was shielding from a thief. That was Paolo’s way.

I was an asset. A tool. I’d worked myself to the bone to earn a seat at his table, and he never let me forget who owned the chair. He’d actually told me if I was going to have a seat near him, I’d better prove I could adopt the same mentality.

I’d endured enough to get there.

“And she knows a Diamond and a snake when she sees one, Callahan Knight.” I tried not to stumble back as my uncle said his full name. “Right, Jas?”

Callahan Knight.

I knew how to kill, cheat, and survive within our family. But schooling my expression as I stood in front of one of our greatest enemies was a skill I had to learn quickly. We’d lost a lot of ground on the East Coast, and I was very aware it had a lot to do with the Diamonds.

The fact that I was even conversing with one was completely wrong. To find out it was a Knight …