Page 6 of The Devil's Fire

He cocked his head to the side as he studied me. He pinned me with his gaze, and his face remained completely emotionless. His eyes were intensely focused on me, and I felt like I was in a trance, unable to look away as we remained locked in a stare from afar.

“Don’t look at him like that.” Michael abruptly appeared in front of me, taking me by surprise, and obstructing my view of the man. “He has killed people for staring at him the wrong way.” He stated as he handed me a drink.

“Huh?” I breathed out and blinked at him, confused. “I was just looking around. How am I supposed to find the person I’m looking for if I’m not allowed to look?” I gave a soft chuckle at his exaggeration and raised a brow at him.

“The way you looked at him can get your ass shot.” Michael gave me a stern look, making it clear that this was not a joke. I looked at him with wide eyes, suddenly feeling scared that the man would shoot me because I took my time to look at him.

“Wait, really? Oh, shit! What should I do? Do I apologize?” I spoke in a hurry. I didn’t mean it in a bad way; he was truly too beautiful not to look at.

Michael let out a small snort.

“No, just don’t look at him. I don’t know if you have heard of this, Althaia, but you have a mean resting bitch face. You looked like you were ready to fight him or something.” He spoke under his breath.

I choked on my drink, making a fool out of myself as I laughed.

“Thaia!” I heard Cara call out as she suddenly showed up and headed towards me with a wide smile on her face.

“Cara!” I squealed, matching her excitement as I quickly handed my drink back to Michael, not caring that it spilled a bit.

I walked as fast as I could in my heels and embraced her with a tight hug. It had been so long since I last saw her, which truly sucked because we were like two inseparable sisters.

“Oh my God, I have missed you so much. It really is not the same without you.” She hugged me tighter into her tiny frame.

“I know.” I chuckled. “I’ve missed you too!” I stepped back, holding her hands as I looked her over.

“Cara, you look amazing!” I stared in awe at her gorgeous dress. A gorgeous, long flowy rose-colored strapless gown with a corset-like top with silver detailing that cinched her waist, making her already full breasts even bigger. Her raven hair was tied up with a few pieces framing her face, and her makeup was flawless, making her hazel eyes pop.

She looked absolutely breathtaking.

“Mom really outdid herself with this dress. It’s more than I could ever imagine.” She winked slyly, and I dropped my jaw.

“I didn’t know you asked mom to make you a dress!” I squinted my eyes at her.

My mother was a designer and made drop-dead gorgeous gowns. When we moved, she opened her own little shop, and it blew up in no time. Eventually, we had to expand and now it was a well-known high-end boutique.

“Yeah, well, I didn’t want you to know because I wanted the dress to be a surprise, and -” Cara put her hand over her heart and held my hand. “I love you so much, but you fucking suck at keeping something like that a secret.” She said, smiling innocently.

I was about to say something, but she was right, so I shut my mouth. I was the type of person who would get you a gift and within the next few minutes I would send a text saying, ‘guess what I just got you!’ Case in point, she already knew what I had picked out for her engagement. I literally took a picture of the champagne glasses and sent her a text message that said, ‘OMG, these are so cute! I’m getting them for you’ and sent her the picture.

“Fair enough.” I muttered.

“But damn, look at you! That dress is so hot on you. Who are you getting your titties out for, huh?” Cara put her hands on her hips and wiggled her brows at me. Typical of Cara, always has something dirty on her mind.

“No one.” I rolled my eyes. “My tits are more covered up than yours.” I pointed out.

“True, but I have a man now that I need to impress, so he knows what awaits him, if you know what I mean.” She winked, making me laugh.

“Speaking of man…” I muttered while glancing around to make sure no one was within earshot. “Are you absolutely sure you want to do this, Cara? You can always, I don’t know, run away? You know I’ll come with you.” I said in all seriousness. If she wanted to leave the country, I would drop everything and go with her. She means the world to me. I would do whatever I could to keep her safe.

“You know I can’t do that. He will hunt me down and definitely kill me if I ever think about running away.” She gave me a sad smile. “Besides, anything will be better than living with my father. I just have to get away. I need to breathe.” She sighed. As much as I hated to admit it, it was true.

Her father was an absolute abusive maniac. One time he came back home, intoxicated from both alcohol and cocaine, and almost beat her to death. Somehow, he gained a tiny bit of his senses back and stopped before it was too late.

I hope one day someone will give him the same treatment.

Amen.

“This is my way out of here.” Cara reassured me.

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