Page 102 of Kings of Violence

The jealousy gnaws at me all the same.

When we arrive at Don Marino’s mansion, I smooth back my hair and press down my suit, which has gotten a little wrinkled from how much I’d slouched during my impromptu nap. I’m alert now, at least, and I tell myself to focus. I don’t have time to wonder about Sierra’srelationshipwith Yuri or how enamored Konstantin is with her.

Or the fact that I still don’t know where I stand with the three of them.

Now isn’t the time, though.

I get out of the car first, offering my hand to Sierra to help her out of the back seat. She takes it, her delicate hand fitting into mine. The light catches on the sparkly nail polish she’s wearing, and for all her complaints about the party, she certainly seemed to enjoy the day of pampering Konstantin had arranged for her.

“No masks until you’re inside,” the guard says as we approach. “No weapons. You all go through the metal detector. Purses get x-rayed.”

“Of course,” Konstant answers smoothly. He hands our invitationsto the guard, who checks them over and compares with his list. “Okay. You’re in.”

That was surprisingly easy.

I put my wallet into the little basket to go through the x-ray machine while I step through the metal detector. No beeps. The guard pats me down anyway, but he’s satisfied that I’m not secretly carrying a gun on me.

Sierra goes next. As soon as she’s under the metal detector, the thing starts beeping.

“What?” She looks at the machine. “Um, I don’t know why it did that.”

The guard eyes her up and down, and I can see that he is very, very eager to feel her up.

Konstantin notices it too. “She’s mine. If you touch her, I will consider it a grave insult.”

The guard shakes his head. “It’s my job.”

“You can fucking see she isn’t hiding anything!” Yuri says. “Sierra, just push the fabric aside a bit. Unless you’ve got a gun inside your pussy, I don’t know where you’d be hiding anything.”

“A gun in my pussy?” Sierra answers with disgust. “You’ve got a wild idea about how loose I am.” She does push the fabric of her dress around, while the guard continues to ogle her. After a few very long moments, the guard says, “It’s the metal straps on the dress.” He gets a handheld metal detector close to the strap, and sure enough, it goes off.

“Okay, you can go in,” the guard says. Sierra moves past him—and he pinches her ass as she does.

She whirls around, and she lifts her hand like she’s going to try to slap him. I catch her wrist even though he deserves more than just a slap — or a punch in the face.

Konstantin goes through the metal detector and gets into the guard’s personal space, his expression darker than I’ve ever seen before. “I just warned you. Do you see this? She’smine.” He pulls the dress back slightly, putting her brand on full display.

Her cheeks are red — with humiliation or anger, maybe, or a mixture of both — and she clenches her hands into fists at her sides.

The guard stands his ground, but I can see him sweating. “Back off, buddy. Or I kick you and your entire party out.”

It’s probably a good thing that we’re actually trying to get into this party. Otherwise, there would probably be bloodshed right here on the doorstep of Don Marino’s home.

Yuri’s expression is just as dark as he steps through the metal detector, and the guard is flustered enough to where he only waves him through when the machine stays silent.

“Try that on the way out,” Sierra snaps, adjusting her dress to try to hide more skin. All it does is reveal more of her tits as the fabric settles oddly. “I fuckingdareyou.”

The guard looks between us, and for all that I can see he doesn’t want to display weakness in front of a woman, he also has the three of us to contend with. He should have more balls if he’s going to be security at a mafia party, but this works in our favor.

“Jesus Christ, Sam, just let them go so we can get on with it,” somebody behind us says.

The guard grumbles, but he steps aside so we can go join the party.

There are ushers and signs pointing in the right direction, and every interesting looking hallway is blocked off or patrolled by more guards. Don Marino likes extravagant parties, but he’s not stupid with regards to security.

Guard at the door excepted, of course.

We all don our masks in front of the ballroom, then head inside.

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