sia

felt their stares, a thousand points of judgment in the glittering darkness. Tonight, I wasn't the wife of a pow

small of my back, steering me

ous smirk playing on her lips. Her eyes found mine across the r

oice dripping with false sweetness. The cr

d whisper only she and Dante could hear. "W

e was flawless. "I don't know what yo

I said, the words

. The mask didn't just drop; it shattered. Her face, so eerily

re?" sh

side, my cheek burning not with pain, but with the cold fire of public humiliation. A coll

e stood there, his face a cold, impassive mask. He did no

mboldened her. A wild, cra

eeched, her voice raw with a jealousy so profound it was p

ate movement, she flung the golden liquid across the front of my silk maternity gown. The beautiful dress, a gift

cipation. I stood there, exposed and humiliated, my arm

ll trying to protect the little jackpot. But he's not an

She turned to the room, to the leering faces of E

ging with triumph. "The wager was just a

long, manicure

tertain me. You will make this substitute see her true place, right

is lips, his eyes cold with clinical detachment. Frank and two other men began to m

st my ribs like a trapped bird. My eyes found

ce was empty. He was a

reath washing over my face. He reached

ver, little queen," h

his was it. The end. There was no on

were about to make cont

en with a force that made the crystal chandeliers tremble. The wood s

ved from granite, wearing an impeccably tailored suit that couldn't hide the raw

n't need to be. His pre

scene with a chilling, predatory calm. He saw the leering circle of men, my ruined dress, th

by the violent intrusion. Enzo's

his eyes was replaced by a flicker of something raw and paternal. Then, that fury re

enzo Moretti commanded, his voice a low, dan