Chapter Twenty-Three
Devious
I take Roselyn’s hand as she steps out of the limo. She looks stunning in the ruby earrings that I gave her. Her gown is snug, showing off her curves, and this time I made sure she wore her fuck-me heels. I want to peel this dress off and fuck her until her pussy is sore.
Two bodyguards walk in front of us, another two behind us, and two more stroll beside us. We stride into the ballroom, and Roselyn scans the décor. The tables are covered with a white cloth, and fresh flowers sit in the center. People dance in the middle of the white tile floor to soft jazz music. The other four dons are here with their famiglias , and their guards are here too. The mayor and CEOs and politicians are also in attendance. I look up and see all four owners of the American Billionaire Club standing to the side with their wives, watching the crowd. Too many powerful people are under the same roof, so security is tight. The women are gathered in the corner speaking, and the men are on the other side of the room. The waitresses and waiters, dressed in black uniforms, offer finger foods and champagne.
The don of the Barbieri famiglia , Marcello, greets us. He takes Roselyn’s hand and lifts it to his mouth. I slap his hand.
“Get your own wife to kiss,” I say.
He chuckles. “It’s nice to see you again, Devious. Where will you be sitting?”
I point to the table in front of the live band. “Next to Ajello’s famiglia .”
Like me, Marcello is the youngest don of his famiglia . He’s twenty-seven and looking for a wife to marry. He flips a coin between his calloused fingers, his brown eyes glued to Roselyn. “You have a sister?” he asks her.
“Nope, why?” Roselyn answers.
“I’m in dying need of a wife,” he shoots back.
“You’re a don. You can have any woman you want.”
“It’s not easy.”
“It was easy for Devious.”
That sounded like shade, but it isn’t.
“My rules on marriage are different than your famiglia’s ,” he responds to Roselyn. To me, Marcello says, “We need to speak about our peace treaty. It’s getting around the time to renew it.”
To maintain the peace treaty, we have one of our women marry a high-ranking member of the other famiglia to show we want peace.
“I’ll give you a call,” I say.
“We’ll catch up soon.” He pats my arm and walks away.
“Why are we here at a gala?” Roselyn asks as a waitress offers her champagne, and she waves her off.
“To donate money to kids who are homeless,” I answer, guiding her to the dance floor.
“Oh. I had no idea you would help the homeless.”
“Making sure kids eat is my priority. I know how it feels to go without food.”
“Oh.”
A few more people greet us, including the senator of the state and his wife. We talk about what we need to do to better the city. Despite having illegal businesses, I have several others that are completely clean in case I die or go to prison. So, Roselyn and my future heirs are protected. I never got into trouble with the law, but you never know how life will turn out. I try to keep a low profile because being in the spotlight draws too much attention.
Emma comes up to us, and Roselyn stares her down but doesn’t say anything to her. She eyes us with her nose turned up, and I’m assuming she’s pissed off because I’m not returning any of her phone calls or texts. I made it clear that I wasn’t going to fuck her, and I meant it. When Roselyn was locked up in her room, Emma tried to fuck me, and I declined, telling her I won’t be using her anymore. She thinks because she’s the famiglia’s whore that she has some kind of power, but we use her as a fluff in case our wives are not around to fulfill our needs. Even if Roselyn wasn’t around, I wouldn’t cheat on her.
I rest my hand on Roselyn’s lower back, pulling her close to me. I lean down, press a kiss to the side of her temple, and she glances up at me with her eyebrows knitted together. We haven’t spoken much about our relationship since I fucked her.
Emma holds out her hand to Roselyn, and Roselyn stares at it, then glances back at her.
A smug smile tugs at the corners of Emma’s mouth. “I’m Emma. Devious’s mistress.”
Roselyn glares at me, then back at Emma. She tries to slide from my grip, but I hold on to her hip harder.
“We haven’t slept together since I met Roselyn,” I shoot back, and I don’t miss the pain on Roselyn’s face. She stares at me as if she doesn’t know what to believe. “You’re fired. For now, you’ll work as a whore to my top client,” I tell Emma.
“You can’t do that!” she screams, and a few people stop and look our way.
“Work as a whore or die. You know the rules.” I smirk. “You should have thought about that before you lied on my dick.”
I guide Roselyn through the sea of people, and we have a conversation with the other dons of the famiglia , but tension builds within Roselyn. She only gives me one-word answers and avoids eye contact with me. So I yank her from the crowd and pull her to a corner, resting my arm on the wall, leaning toward her.
“What’s on your mind, nymph?”
She bites her lip before answering. “Who are you sleeping with behind my back? You don’t have to lie to me, you know.”
Why is she hurt if I’m sleeping with someone else?
“Why do you care if I’m fucking someone else? You hate me, don’t you?”
Her mouth twitches. “No, I don’t, but… you told me you wouldn’t.”
I want to see how jealous she is, so I say, “I’m fucking someone else,” I lie.
Hurt registers on her face as she folds her arms across her chest.
I know exactly what to say to get a rise out of her.
“I never stepped out on you. I said it to see how you’d respond.”
“You and your fucking mind games,” she sneers. “Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why haven’t you fucked around on me?”
I never will put anyone through what I went through with Shelby, but I don’t tell her any of that. Instead, I say, “Because I took a fucking vow. That’s why.”
“I don’t know why you would be faithful to me. Because if I had the opportunity to cheat on you, I would,” she snaps. “You’re a piece of rock no one wants.”
She’s swimming in dangerous waters with her words. She doesn’t know Shelby cheated on me. Her eyes flash, but when she sees the look on my face, she schools her features.
“I’m sorry. That was harsh. You pissed me off, trying to manipulate me,” she says.
I would say I’m sorry, but I’m not. I needed to play with her mind to see where her head was at. And the way she glared at me as if I gutted her in the stomach tells me she was worried I was sleeping with someone else.
“You don’t have to pretend you care about our marriage. Remember, I’m a business transaction.” She throws my words back at me.
My snide comment bothered her. It was the truth at the time, but now, I don’t know how I feel about her. I don’t expect us to have any happiness ever, but I want us to get along. I haven’t felt anything for a woman in years. With the women I did fuck, I kept my cock in their mouths, and if I wasn’t face fucking them, I was fucking their pussy. Once I was done, I sent them on their merry way.
Her eyes glint with hope. Maybe she thinks I might love her, but she’s wrong. I need to crush her hope. Because I don’t do the whole love thing anymore. I tried and I failed, and the pain of losing Shelby was too unbearable. I couldn’t function to the point I almost lost my mind. I will never make myself vulnerable to another woman ever again.
“I don’t care about this marriage and you’re right.” My tone is cold as I lie straight through my teeth.
Her face scrunches up in pain, and tears gloss over her eyes. “This will be our last date, Devious. I’ll never forgive you for forcing me to marry you.”
I didn’t expect her forgiveness, and why should she? I haven’t done anything to make her believe I actually care about her because if I did, she might take advantage of it. People are always using people for something. She might try to use me, to abuse her freedom and power. And I have no doubt that when the opportunity arises, she will run away from me. Like she did with the underbosses she was engaged to before me.
“I need to go to the ladies’ room. May I be excused?”
I nod, tapping the Bluetooth in my ear to call Max. “Follow her.”
She stomps in the opposite direction, bumping into a waiter with tattoos on the side of his neck, and he spills red wine on her gown. She takes a napkin, wiping viciously.
“This stain won’t come out,” she says.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Vitali.”
“No problem. Mistakes happen all the time,” she answers.
“After you come from the restroom, we’ll go home,” I say.
She proceeds to the bathroom.
The other famiglias come and speak to me. Nero stands across from me, a woman on his arm. If he says anything about Roselyn, I’m going to butcher him like meat. He has always had an issue with me ever since high school, and I don’t care to find out what it is. As long as he doesn’t cross any lines, then we won’t have a problem.
“Devious,” he says, placing his hands in his pockets.
I check out his new date. She’s pretty with blonde hair and freckles across her nose. She appears to be in her early twenties. She might be the whore on his side of the territory he runs.
“Nero,” I say.
He nods.
“You’re getting married?” I ask.
“Nah. Not right now. I’m going to wait for a while. This is my date. Alyssa, this is my boss.”
“Pleasure to meet you,” she says.
“Likewise.”
There is an awkward silence, and I check my watch. Roselyn should have been back from the restroom.
“Excuse me,” I say. I call Max on my way to the bathroom, and he doesn’t reply. I open the bathroom door and look in every stall.
Panic envelops me. Has she decided to escape me? Where did she go? If she tries to escape me, I’m going to end her life.
Where the hell is Max? It’s unusual for him to not respond.
“Roselyn, where are you?” I shout. “If you’re playing games, I’m going to take you over my knee.”
There’s a woman in one stall, and her face turns bright red, tears in her eyes. She flinches as I tower over her.
“Did you see a woman with strawberry blonde hair in a black dress?” I ask, assessing her from head to toe. She gets up from the toilet, and I turn my back to give her privacy.
“She left with two guys dressed in black. “
I turn around and grit my teeth. “What?”
“Yes. One of the other guys stripped down her guard and put on his clothes, and he was dragged to the last stall.”
I kick the door open to the next stall, and Max slouches over with blood coating his forehead. “Why didn’t you get help?”
“Because… he threatened to rape me and kill me if I screamed or said a word,” the woman stammers. “He was scary as fuck, and he told me to stay put for another thirty minutes.”
I dial Aiden’s number, and he picks up on the second ring. “Yeah?”
“Meet me upstairs in Irvin’s office. I’m at the America Billionaire Club.”
I tap the End button and call a few of my soldiers to get Max home.
Once the soldiers get Max, I waltz up to the stairs and knock on Irvin’s office door. He opens it and Snow, Keanu, and Jameson stand by an unlit fireplace. Several seconds later, my brother enters the room.
“My wife is missing,” I tell them.
Snow sets his glass onto the mantel piece.
“What do you mean?” Keanu slides his fingers into his pockets.
I tell them everything the woman told me in the stall.
“Check the tapes from the bathroom area, Jameson,” Snow demands. “You didn’t put a tracking device on your wife?” He cocks an eyebrow.
I shake my head. “I didn’t think to.”
“We put tracking devices in all our women, and children, you should too. You have too many enemies not to, especially in this fucked-up world,” Irvin suggests.
They have a whole set of rules when it comes to how they run their businesses.
“Follow me,” Jameson says.
We enter the security room, and he tells the guy at the desk to move. He checks the cameras on the main screen. Sure enough, Roselyn is escorted by two men, and the terror on her face sends a shiver down my spine. Jameson also checks the street cameras, and he gets the car tags. We follow the SUV on the live feed and he’s at a hotel. I’m going to get my wife back if I die trying, then I’m going to kill everyone who was involved in her kidnapping.