Page 35 of Vicious Rule

“I don’t think you’re stupid. A little erratic. Confusing as all fucking hell. But not stupid. You have to believe me. She’s not here for me. I got her here for Nico.”

“And why would I want to watch him have sex with this woman?”

A slow smile spreads across his lips. “Because she’s my ace in the hole. Now come with me so we don’t miss a thing.”

“What do you mean ace in the hole? Who is this woman?” I ask as he begins to push me back toward the room.

Behind me, he kisses my ear before answering, “No more questions. All will be revealed in a moment. And for the record, I don’t want another woman, so stop thinking I do.”

I let him guide me through the doors and see nearly everyone has stripped out of their clothes and are having a good time. Only Nico and a woman with long dark hair and a huge diamond ring on her finger remain standing and dressed.

“Who is she?” I ask.

“Lucrecia Antonucci. She’s a contessa. Her husband is some duke,” he explains, punctuating his comment with a chuckle.

“And what is she doing here?”

He holds my jaw and turns my head in the direction of where Nico is standing talking to her. “He thinks he’s going to get the best of me. I needed a plan to make sure I have ammunition when he tries. That’s where the Contessa Antonucci comes in.”

I watch as Nico and this woman quickly get down to business as he begins to undress her. She stands out from Alex’s usual guests so much she seems like an outsider.

Turning back to face Alex, I ask the obvious question. “Why would someone like her come to one of your parties? She’s practically slumming it compared to everyone else here.”

“Let’s just say she’s a young wife to an old man and heard I know how to have a good time.”

His grin makes me wonder if he’s slept with her. Before I can ask about that, he adds, “And no, I didn’t do her. I wanted to make sure she had nothing on her mind tonight but my new partner Nico.”

“Doesn’t he know her?”

Alex shrugs. “I don’t think so. I mentioned the duke’s name the other day, and Nico didn’t seem to recognize the name. I don’t think his family travels in those circles.”

“And you do? You’re not exactly royalty, Alex. How did you get to know the duke and his wife?”

A sheepish look comes over him. “Let’s just say I have something the contessa likes.”

I swear to God this man is going to make me strangle him. “What? What do you have? A big dick? A heart of gold? I want to know what you have that a woman like that could want.”

He rubs his thumb and fingers together. “Money. It seems the duke isn’t good with his fortune, so they’re practically broke but have a title. The Rules have no titles but we have money, so when I found out she has expensive tastes but not enough money to afford them, I made sure to make her acquaintance. She took it from there. It wasn’t hard at all to convince her to do this for me. All I had to do was buy that dress.”

“What I don’t understand is how giving Nico a gorgeous woman to sleep with is somehow going to help you.”

With a grin, he explains, “The husbands of married women, even if they’re old, don’t want to be embarrassed. If my good pal Nico steps out of line, I’ll simply tell the duke about him and his wife and let nature take its course.”

Okay, I guess that makes sense. When I glance over at Nico and the contessa, I have to wonder how happy she’d be to have Alex tell on her. She looks like she’s having the time of her life.

“By the way, you women have lost your minds when it comes to clothes. That dress cost ten thousand euro. No kidding. Ten grand. Fucking crazy. But if it gets me what I want, it’s worth twenty times that.”

As he rambles on about the contessa’s expensive tastes, all I can think of is Alex has slept with her. She’s gorgeous with an incredible body Nico’s enjoying at the moment, and I swear I see something like envy in Alex’s gaze as he watches them.

“Did you sleep with her?”

He turns his head and smiles at me, making my heart sink. He did. Why do I care? I never cared about his brother sleeping with other women. I need to get back to that version of Sasha and leave this weepy bitch in the dust.

For now, though, I need an answer to my question. “Well, did you?”

“Would it bother you if I did?” he asks, still grinning and making me hate him.

“That’s not an answer. Did you or no?”

---