Page 64 of Devil's Bride

I already regret my decision. I had from the moment I said yes. I can’t shake the foreboding feeling things will go awry tonight. I don’t care if I die, I just want her safe.

“We’ll be fine,” she assures me. “Both of us, and the guys. We’ll all be fine.”

I want to believe those words, but I’ve stayed in this darkness long enough to know things won’t be fine just because she says so. “If anything happens—”

“Don’t worry about me, make a run for it,” Irina recites, repeating the same words I said when we left our home an hour ago. She chuckles. “You’ve said that a hundred times already. I don’t think I’d forget it even if I was dying.”

I frown at her.

“Alright, I won’t die. You’re such a drama queen.” She chuckles.

I’m struggling to understand how she can be so cheerful at a time like this, but I can’t deny how beautiful she is when she smiles. I lean toward her, cup the back of her head and kiss her. When I pull away, I pull my mask over my face and say, “Let’s go.”

The bodyguard opens her door. I open mine and slide out, then I round to car to meet her and allow her to loop her arm through mine.

My wife is wearing a beautiful black dress and a mask that makes her look mysterious. She’s stunning, and if it were another time, I’ll probably push the dress up and fuck her.

Dimitri’s gaze meet mine at the entrance. We’d decided not to travel together to lower our chances of being discovered. He looks like he’s about to explode from the way Nikolai is clinging onto him, pretending they’re lovers.

We enter the hall which has clusters of masked guests. Music from a piano encourages a few of the guests take to the dancefloor. I scan the hall for a sight of Paulo.

Nikolai grabs a grape from a moving tray and holds it close to Dimitri’s mouth. Nikolai can be a complete asshole sometimes, he just wants to piss Dimitri off and it’s working because Dimitri looks like he would shoot him if he could lay his hand on a gun.

“Handsome couple, aren’t they?” Irina asks, giggling. “I wish I could take a picture of them.”

“Dimitri will throw up for days if you do.” I manage a smile. It’s hard not to when Irina is smiling so widely. Her happiness is contagious.

“But it will be worth it.” She reaches for two glasses of champagne from a tray a waiter is carrying and hands one to me. We don’t drink though, we’re merely holding the glasses to make our façade a little more believable.

An hour passes before I spot Paulo, fat as a cow, talking to woman who looks distressed. She looks no older than nineteen.

I’m boiling with rage just looking at him.

“Is that him?” Irina asks, looking in the same direction I am. “What is he doing to that girl?”

“I warned you. You can see what he’s doing. She’s probably one of the girls they kidnapped and groomed to—” I can’t bring myself to complete the sentence. I blame myself for all of this, I should have guarded my territory better.

“Does that mean he’ll try to sleep with her even if she doesn’t want it?”

I nod.

“We can’t allow that happen,” Irina says, her voice laced with panic.

I explore my options. I can either walk up to him and shoot him dead, or I can trail him and strangle him before he has a chance to do more than touch the young woman.

I’m still contemplating my next move when Irina shoves her drink in my hand. “Hold this.”

Before I can stop her, she’s striding across the room to Paulo and the girl.

Paulo takes an immediate interest in her, waving off the girl and scrutinizing Irina like she’s a whore he’d like to stick his miserable dick in.

My jaw ticks and my fists clench. Rage flares at the way he’s looking at my wife, and I don’t know how much longer I can hold it in before I do something stupid.

They talk for a while, then he places his hand at the small of Irina’s back and starts to lead her upstairs. She turns to me and inclines her head.

This wasn’t the plan. We’d planned to capture his attention and lead him to a place where we can kidnap him, not this. But Irina…she’d thought this through, and she didn’t tell me because she knew I wouldn’t agree.

“We have to go with them,” Nikolai whispers to me. Dimitri is standing beside him. I hadn’t noticed them walk up to me.

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