Page 32 of Carmine

The dinner was an entirely new experience. Eddie spent the meal viciously stabbing her food with her fork and glaring at her twin. Tony, on the other hand, was so laid back he was almosthorizontal. Dante kept poking at Eddie, wanting to be told what secrets her diary had held, and Garrett and Jake ended up in a pea fight. Meanwhile, Phoe serenely ate her food and ignored all of them.

Drake was the one who tried to keep some resemblance of control.

“Dad encouraged us to be fuckers, so now Mom refuses to deal with bad behaviour. Dad has to, and he suffers daily for it,” Carmine explained. “That’s his punishment for indulging all of us.”

The kids’ comments had me laughing by the end of the meal. None of them had a filter, and it was amusing to see how confident they all were. We’d been joined by Harley halfway through, and Carmine was asking him how things were going at the blacksmiths he’d had custom-made.

I was surprised to hear that Harley had a year-long waiting list for commissions. I didn’t realise smithing was that much in demand, but Harley explained that there were very few true blacksmiths left. Nowadays, ironwork is predominantly produced in factories, making a smithy quite popular.

There was a sadness in Phoe’s eyes when she looked at Harley sometimes, but it wasn’t my place to pry. Harley asked about Carmine’s wrist but avoided any talk concerning my work. Once dinner was done and the kids had scarpered, then Harley explained he hadn’t wanted to panic them.

We talked for ages before Carmine said he was taking me home because of work in the morning. Carmine once again walked me to my door, and our kiss was a little longer this time, but still not a full one.

“Why won’t you kiss me properly?”

“Because, sweet girl, I am courting you, and no gentleman jumps straight into shoving his tongue down a woman’s throat.Mom and Albert taught us how to woo a woman,” Carmine answered, leaning his forehead against mine.

“And if I wanted you to?” I sought boldly before cringing.

“I’m honoured, but I’ll continue to court you in the old-fashioned way. Grandpa would hand me my ass otherwise,” Carmine said before sneaking another kiss and leaving me bemused.

Carmine – two days later.

I was boiling. Absolutely freaking fuming. Angrily, I stabbed at the buttons on my phone and dialled my PR consultant, Freddie.

“Have you seen the article?” I snapped as soon as Freddie answered.

“Yes, and I was about to call. Who is she, and is it true?”

“The fuck it is. Molly is not a crank,” I stormed, glaring at the newspaper in front of me.

The headline screamed, ‘The Player and the Crackpot. The heat is on in Rapid City.’ And there was a picture of me kissing Molly. Judging by our clothes, it was taken two nights ago.

“Talk to me, Carmine,” Freddie said calmly.

I took Freddie through everything and explained what had happened to Molly. What made me angrier was her mother and father had made snarky comments once again, making Molly a laughingstock. Those bastards would pay.

The twisted theory of what was happening here was in the newspaper and her parents were clearly aiming to take charge of the project. They even stated that GS head office had requested them to take over and resolve whatever trouble Molly had caused. Which further belittled her.

They’d not met my mother clearly.

“Okay, let me get some damage control in place. I don’t like this. Someone had leaked the story. Not to harm you, but Molly, I feel,” Freddie replied.

“Find out who and let me know. I’ll destroy them. Also let me make it clear: Carmen and her dramatics are unwelcome; we were never dating. Lord knows why she’s wading in on this. And quote me, three dates don’t make a relationship. And warn Carmen privately, if she continues, her career will come to an abrupt end,” I snapped.

A model who I’d took on a few dates for publicity was wailing in the paper about me cheating. By the time Serenity and Mom finished with her, Carmen wouldn’t be fit to work in a strip club.

I slammed my phone down and gasped for several deep breaths.

“Carmine, we have wolves at the gates,” Liz, the head of security for Reading Hall, announced from behind.

“Liz, I need to get to the command centre,” I murmured, my mind racing.

“I’ve sent Matthias with some men to Molly’s home, and he’s reported she’s surrounded by reporters. Matthias is driving Molly to the command centre,” Liz said.

“Thanks.”

“And I’ll be driving you, Carmine. There’s too many of them, and they could cause an accident,” Liz stated, her tone brokering no arguments.

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