Page 31 of The Devil's Secret

I open and close a fist at my side.

What the hell is she doing?

“Excuse me,” I tell her, getting to my feet so I can find Joelle and ask her what this is all about.

I head to the back, knowing she’s either in the dressing room or dancing for someone, which I don’t wanna fucking think about right now. I’ll look through every goddamn square foot of this place until I find her. She can tell me to my face why she sent another woman to dance for me.

Reaching the dressing room, my hand lands on the doorknob with every intention of going inside, not giving a shit if it’ll make her mad. She won’t be pissed for long when I’m through.

Tonight, I’m gonna show her just how much she means to me. I’m done holding back. We’ll figure the rest out together. She won’t belong to anyone but me. If I have to kill every man who tries to take her from me, then that’s what I’ll do. I’ll keep her safe. No one will touch her.

The knob twists, turning all the way before I push the door open. It takes me a second to process what’s happening inside, what I’m actually seeing. It almost cripples my resolve, and I find myself reaching into my pocket, retrieving a knife.

Joelle continues to kiss a blond guy, his palms on her bare ass. She’s completely unaware that I’m standing right here, my heart downright breaking. I didn’t even know it could do that.

Suddenly, she turns her head toward the door, finding me there. Her face pales as she fixes her bra, no longer showing me what she was so eagerly showing him.

“Who thefuckis that?” I snarl, baring my teeth, the knife in my grip as I advance, almost halfway to them, wanting to see that man bleed all over the goddamn floor.

Her lower lip trembles, her features twisted up, but she doesn’t move, she just stays there. And that cocksucker has the balls to stare me down.

“You better talk quick, Joelle, before I kill him.”

“Yo, who the fuck you think you’re talking to?” The guy tries to stand and come at me, but Joelle shoves his shoulder back.

“Babe, give us a minute, okay?” she tells him.

“Did you just call himbabe?” I could hear the blood rushing in my head, the pulse at my neck pounding in my ears.

She ignores me, kissing his cheek while the need to murder something, anything, ravages for space in my heart. My entire body tenses, about to go off like a bomb. I’m going to kill whoever the hell he is.

He rises once she climbs off him, scoffing at me as he passes with a look that says he’s won a game I had no idea I was even in. If it wasn’t for Joelle in front of me, that blade in my hand would’ve ended up in his neck.

Once he’s out the door, I close the knife and place it back in my pocket. Before she has a moment to say a word, I’m on her, my body pressing into hers, pushing her up against the wall.

“Talk,” I explode, venom tangled within the word. “And I swear, it better be good.”

“Get the hell off of me!” She attempts to force me away, her palms shoving at my chest.

“Wrong answer.” I grip both of her wrists and pin them over her head. “What were you doing with him?” My face slides to hers, my lips so close to her mouth I can capture it, kiss her ruthlessly. Savagely. Like she deserves.

“Tell me I misunderstood what the hell I just saw.” I back away only enough to see her, to see the truth in her answers. “Tell me that was some damn joke.” My voice lowers as she gazes up at me, her brows pinched tight, her chin quivering. “Because otherwise, I swear, you’ll kill me, Joelle.”

“Enzo, don’t do this.” She begs for something I don’t understand. Her eyes light up with the fury of her tears, shining within them, blue oceans replaced by stormy seas.

My palm roughly clutches the back of her neck with one hand, while holding her wrists with the other.

“Who was that man, baby? Tell me,” I breathe, the question dripping with emotion. “Fucking tell me now.”

“I—” she stammers, tears rolling down her cheeks. “H-he…he’s my…my boyfriend.”

“Bullshit,” I whisper over her lips. “That’s fucking bullshit. You’re lying.”

She sighs with a deep pull of a breath. “I’m not. I’m sorry. You’re a great guy, but me, I’m not a good person. I never was.”

I laugh bitterly, my fingers straining into her flesh, her pulse throbbing against the pads of my fingers, my chest expanding with every rough exhale. “I don’t believe a damn word that’s coming out of that pretty mouth.”

“Enzo,” she urges. “Listen to me!”

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