Chapter 8
TEMPEST
When you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.— Frederich Nietzsche
You could hear a pin drop.
Embarrassment washed over me. We should have rehearsed this.
We weren’t used to being with each other, which meant we weren’t used to touching.
I’d forgotten all about that when Raven walked in with Ace, when they both stared at me with what felt like pity when really I knew it was concern.
I could almost hear Raven say ‘I hope you know what you’re doing’.
And by the look in Ace’s eyes, he too, was wondering if I had my head screwed on straight and if this was the best course of action. Shotgun wedding rather than an arranged one between the families.
The wild one settling down.
The wild one picking the boy her sister used to love.
God, it was so twisted, wasn’t it?
I grabbed a glass of wine when Louis turned on his heel and started walking back toward me.
The crowd parted like the red sea, everyone wondering what he was going to do, and in front of my dad.
How brave was this new man who shot his brother in cold blood and swore to protect me and the five families until his last breath?
How good of an actor was this pawn I took for myself?
For the first time since marrying him, I was nervous, I was afraid people would see through it all and I’d see more of it—the pity.
I hated it so much. I just wanted to be seen as someone worth protecting, someone strong enough to protect herself at the same time. Why was it impossible to have both?
False smiles and cautious steps, Louis looked lethal, calm and collected all at once. When his eyes briefly went to Raven he almost looked regretful, but as soon as it appeared he shielded them and then he only had eyes for one person in that entryway.
His wife.
Me.
I gulped.
He’d never looked at me like that before.
Not once.
And I’d never known a day in my life when someone had so intensely stared straight through my soul. Studying him, you’d think that every answer to all life’s questions were found if you drowned in one thing—my eyes.
I’d been jealous of Raven for a brief second, and now I barely remembered my own name, because Louis wanted me, he was walking toward me, he commanded the room.
For me.
He drank what I gave him.
For me.
A pawn.
A lover.
A gamble.
I straightened my spine and stared right back. If Louis De Lange wanted to pretend this marriage was a performance, then I’d give the world the best damn show they’d ever seen and have them eating out of the palm of my hand.
Louis moved like he owned the floor—like every stare in the room belonged to him.
And in that moment—they did.
He demanded people pay attention.
He was stunning in his suit. His dark hair curled at the base of his neck kissing his collar, his full lips pressed into an amused smile and his crystal blue eyes were temptation itself.
His beauty was part of his skill set, I learned in those brief seconds, just another weapon in his arsenal that he knew how to use like the sharpest of knives.
And I wondered how many women had begged him to slice.
He slipped between guests with the ease of someone born into bloodlines and boardrooms, all tailored arrogance and untouchable polish. When he reached me, his hand didn’t take mine—it claimed it. His fingers threaded through mine like it had always been that way.
A breath. A pause. A caress against my bare wrist—soft enough to make my pulse skip, hard enough that my knees wanted to betray me.
He leaned down, lips ghosting just beneath my ear. The hitch in my breath betrayed me just like my suddenly shaky hands.
“You’re staring,” he said, warm breath dragging over my skin. “You should smile. People are watching.”
Then he turned, cupped my waist like he meant it, and kissed my cheek with the slow, practiced affection of a man who had charmed entire countries into surrendering their daughters.
Laughter erupted behind us. Dante nodded in approval. The suits relaxed.
Louis kept up the act like he was born for it, whispering something into my hair that made an older woman beside us swoon into her champagne. He lifted my fingers to his lips in the most calculated display of fake affection I’d ever seen.
And worst of all?
It worked.
The crowd adored him. Ate up the performance. Fell in love with the lie.
Hell, I’d believe it too if I wasn’t so heavily involved in it, if I hadn’t endorsed it so beautifully.
The tinkle of a crystal wine glass breaking filled the entry way. I jumped a foot and nearly into Louis’s arms. He pulled me close for a brief second as I imagined it was real. The shelter of his arms was nice. Too nice.
Don’t get close.
You’ll lose yourself in him.
Think about yourself.
I yanked my hand back the second the attention shifted and I knew we were safe to act normal. “You don’t get to do that.”
He arched a brow and leaned in until his breath was hot on my neck. “Do what?”
“Touch me like that. Make it feel so real.”
Louis’s face didn’t change, but his eyes flared with something unspoken. “I told you not to tease me. Not to touch me unless you wanted it to be.”
“I’m not my sister,” I snapped, breath catching.
He tilted his head, smile hollow. “Trust me,” he said, voice like cut glass. “I know.”
“Louis!” Ace crooked his finger at him and tilted his chin, silently conveying, hey we need to talk.
Great, just great. The world suddenly felt too big, and I?
Too freaking small for it, like everyone noticed yet didn’t notice me all at once.
Did I bite off more than I could chew? Was I ready and what was it about Louis around my family that suddenly made me lose confidence?
Maybe it was the ease with which he walked through the crowds—like he’d done it so many times before that it was meaningless being next to the five families, rubbing elbows with the cappo’s men while senators discussed state secrets.
I grew up around it, and I still found it jarring at times, which was why I partied and found myself constantly hiding away or skipping events altogether.
Being present meant being fake, being fake was exhausting, and escaping meant I could finally breathe for a minute.
Raven suddenly sidled up beside me as the crowd pulled Louis and Ace into a conversation with one of the Nicolasi uncles. My sister sipped her champagne, eyes never leaving the way Louis charmed, laughed, and moved like he belonged to all of them.
“Wow,” Raven said, not bothering to lower her voice. “You guys got close fast.”
And here we go. I forced a smile, even as my jaw tightened to a painful degree. “It’s not like that.”
“Oh? Looked like he was ready to carry you to a suite and start the honeymoon in front of Nonna.” She was joking. I knew she wasn’t jealous, but it was still weird, so weird to talk about it, I mean I know they never slept together but they’d sure as hell kissed.
I let out a long hard exhale through my nose. “It’s not real. It’s just… to keep everyone off my back. Strategic. Easy. Clean. That sort of thing. You know how I work.”
Raven gave me a long look over the rim of her glass. “Temp, I hope you know what you’re doing.” She lowered her voice. “Men like Louis don’t like being toyed with.”
“I do.” The words came too fast. Too sharp. “I have it under control.” My phone buzzed in my pocket. “Besides, he knows exactly what he signed up for, doesn’t he smile well for the show?”
On cue, he smiled and charmed the men around him.
Good timing.
My phone buzzed again.
The vibration rattled against my clutch like a warning bell or early alarm I wanted to hit snooze on. I quickly pulled it out, heart thudding, and turned my back to the crowd—mainly Raven. “Hold on, I think it’s time to take my birth control pill.”
Raven choked on her drink. “You’re like actively—” She shook her head. “I thought it was a farce but you’re still, okay, no judgment, I mean, it’s fine.” She held up her hands. “Get yours.”
“I am, thank you,” I said smoothly. “I should at least get to take advantage of his gorgeous body and the way sweat drips down his six pack when he’s—”
“What?” Louis said smoothly. “When I’m what, wife?”
Ah, the way he said wife sounded like a threat. Embarrassment burned the back of my throat. “Oh, you know.”
“I do, I just like details.” He winked. “Excuse us, Raven, it seems my wife has forgotten exactly what happens when sweat drips between the rivets of my dick muscles.”
God, I was going to kill him.
He grabbed me by the wrist and led me down the hall then pressed me up against the wall before we could make it to a guest room.
His mouth was on mine before I could protest. He pulled back just enough to murmur against my jaw, “They’re probably watching.
He always has people watching in here, Tempest, so just one small taste, let me steal it from your mouth before they talk more. ”
I was intrigued.
I was surprised.
Annoyed.
And for the first time in a while, I felt—alive and like I was in danger all at once.
He brought things out in me I was genuinely confused about but one thing I wasn’t confused about?
The firmness of his kiss and the way he stole my yes directly from my lips before I had a chance to even utter the word into the universe.
I kissed him back.
I met each kiss with one of my own like a dueling of the mouths, of the tongues… of the egos.
I dug into his hair with my hands and gave myself over to the lie, and God did it feel like the best thing I’ve ever done in my entire existence when he took my tongue and sucked until it was almost painful, like he wanted me to moan in both pain and pleasure.
He was more aggressive than I’d assumed he would be.
He took control in a massive way that disarmed me.
“Shouldn’t you have a little fun too in convincing everyone, Tempest?” He drew back, his mouth hot on my neck as he trailed the backs of his fingers along the outside of my left breast. “Shouldn’t you get yours too?”
Too much. Too close. I shoved him lightly. “I don’t think you can handle me.”
He reached around me with both arms and gripped my ass. “I’m handling you now.”
A throat cleared at the end of the hall.
I quickly turned.
Dad stood there, arms crossed. I almost laughed. “You should run.”
“You’re my wife.” Louis tucked me close to him.
“You.” Staring hard at Louis, Dad crooked his finger. “My office. Now.”
“Oooooh, you’re in trouble,” I sang.
He smacked me on the ass, and I let out a little squeak. “Worth it.”
“Was that necessary?” Dad asked.
“Absolutely,” Louis said soberly. “My hand would have missed the feel of her supple—”
Dad threw a punch cross his face.
“Dad!” I rushed to Louis’s side.
Dad shook his hand. “Sorry, old habits, forgot for a minute that you’re married.”
“Bullshit.” I laughed. “You’re not senile.”
“I have nerve damage.” He shrugged. “Compulsive punching is a symptom.”
“Is lying another one?” Louis piped up. “Just curious.”
“Keep talking.” Dad glared.
“Go.” I rubbed Louis’s back. It was pure instinct. When I realized what I was doing, I quickly snatched my hand back and watched them walk away from me. Then I shakily reached into my purse and grabbed my phone once I was finally alone.
Cassian.
I quickly called him back. “Yes?”
“Another package delivered,” he said, voice low, clinical.
“You have to get it into his system before the meeting. Or he dies the minute they give him his first drink. I’ve seen it happen, I’ve seen worse actually.
Part of the thrill in recommending someone to The Family is in guessing what sort of things they’ll do to test him. ”
My stomach dropped, and my throat dried. “Say that again. What do you mean he dies? I thought this was so that he could infiltrate and not die.” My lips still burned from his kiss. I paced a tight circle in the hallway and told myself to take long deep breaths.
Cassian cursed under his breath like I was the idiot.
“Every time I deliver it, Tempest. He has to take it every time. Or he won’t survive the challenge, the drugs build up a tolerance, alright?
He’s building antibodies, and I’m also dosing him with a shit ton of meds so that when they do try to make him sick his body has a fighting chance.
” That would explain why he appeared to look like he was feeling sick earlier; it wasn’t necessarily the small amount of poison, maybe it was the good stuff building up in his body.
Good. That was good.
I stared straight ahead, vision tunneling, the taste of champagne curdling on my tongue, mixing with the taste of him. Across the room, Raven glanced my way—eyes dark, unreadable. She looked away first and laughed at something Ace said. Good, that meant I didn’t look guilty, right?
Cassian hung up without waiting for a reply. I quickly shoved the phone back in my purse, fingers shaking, spine rigid.
Raven made her way down the hall and tilted her head toward my clutch. “Everything okay?”
I forced a smile. “Yeah, totally fine, I mean unless you count the fact that Louis has been with Dad in his office for the past ten minutes.”
Raven made a face. “He can hold his own.”
Jealousy slammed against my chest so violently that I almost stumbled taking my next step. “Yeah, I know that all too well. He’s strong like that.”
Raven nodded slowly. “He likes you.”
“Good. I like him too.”
“Your tongue was far enough down his throat I didn’t have to worry about your physical feelings at least toward him.”
I shrugged. “He’s hot.”
“Right.” Raven sighed. “Right. Let’s get more champagne.”
I hated the distance we suddenly had between us almost as much as I hated that she’d tasted Louis first.
He was mine now, and with any luck—my future was about to belong to me right along with him.