Chapter Thirteen
Dominic
Jaylen saunters over to the table I'm seated at with my sister, a smug smile on his face as he winks at me, fuelling the rage that's burning inside of me after seeing him dance with Alicia, twirling her around and making her smile.
I know my jealousy is unwarranted. My cousin is head over heels for Rory, but seeing her, my wife, smiling at someone else when all she seems to do is glare at me, has made me envious.
"Well, that was fun," he states, grabbing his glass from the table and taking a gulp of the amber liquid inside as he takes a seat opposite me. "Lovely woman."
I narrow my eyes at him, which causes both him and my sister to laugh.
"Don't piss him off, Jay. He's already been a miserable bastard all day. I don't know if I can cope with it much longer," Sophia grumbles, rubbing her hand over her stomach as she guzzles more water from the bottle Kaleb continuously fills up for her every time it's empty.
"I'm only miserable because I'm surrounded by you two, and you keep purposely doing shit to annoy me. If Jess were here, I'd be alright. She keeps me sane when you two lunatics are messing with me."
Jaylen grins while Sophia scoffs.
"Well, she's currently run off to God knows where, which she seems to be doing a lot recently. So unfortunately, you're stuck with us, because no one else can tolerate you."
"That's not true," I argue, shaking my head as soon as the words leave my mouth because I'm biting back, and that's exactly what these two devils want me to do.
"Is it not?" she asks, cocking a brow. "Name one person who can put up with you, besides us, Jess, Mum and Dad."
"And don't name me," Kaleb adds, appearing beside Sophia with another bowl of fruit. "I personally can't stand you half the time. I just have to put up with you because of Sophia."
"Simple," I state, my eyes scanning the room as I look for my closest friend, but I can't find him amongst the crowd of people. "Percy."
"Oh, wow. One person, and that's someone who's known you almost as long as I have!" Sophia says, popping a couple of grapes into her mouth as Jaylen snickers across from us.
"Fine. Leo and Charlie, too. They've only known me since that psychopath and his brother came into our lives," I tell them, pointing at Kaleb, who smirks at the title I give him.
"Retired psychopath," he mutters, pulling his chair closer to my sisters.
"Can you really claim that Leo and Charlie are able to tolerate you when they work for you?" Jaylen asks, snatching some fruit out of Sophia's bowl and shoving it in his mouth before Kaleb can snatch it back. "I feel like there's a conflict of interest there."
"Talking about Leo, where is he?" Sophia asks, glancing between Kaleb and me, knowing one of us will have an answer.
Kaleb shrugs, and then all eyes turn to me.
"He's busy."
Sophia's brows furrow, and Jaylen tilts his head as his eyes run over my face, assessing me.
"Busy doing what, exactly?"
Pulling at the cuffs of my shirt, I stand, avoiding their eyes and ignoring his question as I peer around the room in search of Alicia, wondering where she's run off to while I've been distracted.
"What have you got Leo doing?" Jaylen asks, standing from the table and walking around it until he's in front of me.
My eyes meet his, and I scratch at my beard as I sigh, knowing he won't let it go until he knows the answer.
"He's keeping an eye on Lenny while the Garcia's are still in London."
Jaylen shakes his head.
"You just can't help yourself, can you? If they realise you're having him followed, it's gonna cause trouble, Dom."
"Which is exactly why I sent Leo," I snap.
The flash of hurt I see in his eyes has me gritting my teeth, and I close my eyes as I sigh.
"Jay, I'm—"
"No, you're good," he says, waving off my apology and stepping back, looking at me with what I think is disappointment in his gaze. "I get it. I'm still not back at my best, so I'm being kept out of the loop, and you're sending Leo out instead of me. It's cool."
He turns and walks off, leaving me feeling guilty as I watch after him.
"Nice one, dickhead," Kaleb says, roughly clapping his hand on my shoulder as he shakes his head and follows after Jaylen.
My brows draw down.
"You know you've really fucked up when he's willingly leaving me alone to follow after a man he claims not to care about," Sophia says, standing from her chair with a groan.
She grabs onto my arm, squeezing it until I look down at her, and my shoulders slump as I fiddle with the rings on my fingers, knowing she's about to give me an earful.
"I know you're angry, Dom, and I know you feel like everything is slipping out of your control, but you can't keep lashing out at people.
Especially not the people who care about you.
I understand you're under a lot of pressure right now, and you're stressed because there's a lot of change going on, but don't push us away.
Especially not Jaylen. He's been working so hard to get back to where he was so he can be back at your side. You need him there, Dom."
With those parting words, she hobbles away towards my parents, who are across the room speaking with Brody. I sigh as I grab my glass from the table, knocking back the drink before signalling a waiter to come and top my glass up.
Twenty minutes have gone by, consisting of people bidding goodbye to me as the guests in the room surrounding me slowly start to dwindle down as the night comes to an end.
It's not until there's only about ten members of my organisation left that I find myself curious as to where the little viper has disappeared to.
Come to think of it, I haven't seen her since she was dancing with Jaylen, and glancing at the watch on my wrist confirms that was almost an hour ago.
Draining the remainder of the liquid in my glass, I pull my phone from my pocket as the burn of the alcohol slides down my throat, trailing a warm path into my stomach.
Dominic:
Any idea where the viper is?
Percy:
Who?
Dominic:
My wife…
"Last time I saw her, she was heading out to the lobby, looked like she was in a rush to get somewhere," he says from behind me, causing me to jump slightly. He laughs at me, patting me on the shoulder.
I frown at his words, glancing around the room again as if I were expecting to see her, but I'd know if she were here.
She may annoy me and ruffle my feathers, but I'm drawn to her.
She's a beacon, and I hate to admit it, but my eyes struggle to stray from her when we're in the same room.
"It's cute you already have a nickname for her, although I think you should try picking a nicer one."
I swing around in my chair, glaring at him as he blinds me with his megawatt smile.
"The name suits her," I grunt, standing from the table and walking towards one of the many exits in this room, Percy following behind me closely.
"I personally don't see the issue with her," Percy says, moving around me and opening the door for me. "Don't get me wrong, I haven't interacted with her just yet, but from what I've seen of her tonight, she seems pleasant."
I scoff, pushing through the door, intent on walking to the lobby to see if she's hanging around out there, but a glimmer of sparkles in the corner of my eye has me stopping as I look down at the floor to see a pair of silver heels tucked against the wall.
My brows furrow deeper as flashes of Alicia wearing them filter through my mind.
"They're her shoes."
Percy moves beside me, crouching down to pick them up.
He hums and then shrugs. "Well, I did say she seemed to be in a rush. I don't blame her for ditching these, they look extremely uncomfortable."
Storming away from him, I hurry down the corridor and into the lobby, ignoring the few people scattered around the room. Knowing none of them are the woman I'm looking for, I walk straight outside, stopping at the top of the steps that lead down to the driveway.
My eyes instantly drop to the pool of white fabric in the middle of the pebbled drive and I rush over to it, picking it up from the floor.
Dread settles in my stomach as I hold her tattered wedding dress in my hands.
Glancing back at the venue, my eyes scour the exterior walls, searching for any cameras, and when I spot one directly pointed at me, I start moving back towards the lobby as panic shoots through my system.
I may not like the woman, but I still don't wish any harm to come to her.
Plus, she's my wife now, and our agreement with her family would most likely be void if I allowed anything to happen to her.
Charging towards the marble desk in the middle of the lobby, I slam her wedding dress down on the side, garnering the man's attention who's stood behind the desk.
His eyes are wide as he stares at me. I watch as he gulps, his mouth bobbing open and closed as he tries to find the words to say to me.
"I need to see your security cameras."
He nods immediately, his eyes dropping from mine as his hands shakily skate across the keyboard in front of him before he turns the computer around so the screen is now facing me.
I look at the multitude of squares displaying different parts of the venue until I see the one I need.
"Click on that one, and go back about an hour."