Page 78 of Where the Wicked Reign

As it was, it was too early to tell.

The clack of heels sounded, and Caterina rounded the corner into the living room.

She looked a far cry away from last night when I’d had to carry her limp body in her barely lucid state up here from the parking garage. And from the club itself, actually. She’d been drenched in sweat, blood, and Nico’s cum, her hair matted, her makeup smeared all over her face.

Now, though, she looked impeccable.

Her wavy auburn hair was cascading about her shoulders, brushing the rich fabric of her black wrap dress that really highlighted her breasts. As if that crystal Swarovski necklace wasn’t already doing that with its turquoise square-cut gem. I’d seen the bag when Julian’s personal shopper had brought in those things for her. It was something Nico had dropped his secret stash of money, independent from the family on. Apparently, the shoes, Louboutin’s, according to Julian, hadn’t been enough.

She was fingering the necklace as she stared between us suspiciously, her phone in her free hand. I tried to ignore the sight of Nico’s marks all over the exposed skin of her cleavage, her throat, her arms, and her legs.

That was made easier when her next words were uttered, a whole lot of accusation—and what sounded like actualhurt—spewing forth as she glared at Nico. “You videoed us fucking last night?”

Nico walked to her. “It was a whole lot more than fucking or—”

“Explain or I walk right fucking now,” she demanded.

He stopped in front of her and slid his hands to her hips, but she jerked away. “It’s not what you think.”

“There was a recording device in that roomandit was active, so how is it not what I think?”

“How do you know that?” I asked, concerned about her reach.

“I have an app constantly running on my phone that alerts me to any recording devices in my vicinity. A necessary precaution.”

Julian pushed off the couch. “There are secret cameras inNocturne,yes.”

“J!” I cried at him revealing confidential information to her like it was nothing. Information that was Marchetti business, that the princess of the Leone Family most definitely shouldn’t be privy to. He was risking implicating himself, for fuck’s sakes.

He looked back at me, but didn’t get to respond when Nico told Caterina, “It wasn’t intentional to record what happened between us. Not at all.”

“Nico wasn’t even a part of it.”

“Ihad Julian activate the camera inside that room to keep an eye on Nico. We did so before you even showed up.”

“But you kept them running once I did?”

“To make sure you were okay,” Julian told her. “Because of how Nico is. The footage has been deleted, I swear.”

“I know it has. I made sure,” she bit back.

“You hacked his system?” I demanded.

“You recorded me without my permission. Which violation is worse?”

“Well, ours wasn’t intentional, so—”

“All right!” Nico snapped. “Enough.” He took Caterina’s hand, and she didn’t pull away this time. “You were never in danger of being exposed by us. You never will be. What happened last night meant a great deal to me. I’d never fuck all over that. I’d neverhurtyou like that. And if you can’t believe in that at this juncture, follow the logic. My goal is to earn your trust and something like this, if it had been intentional and done to release it to the public to embarrass you or expose you, or to hold over your head, would be in direct opposition to those efforts.” A possessive growl escaped him as he said, “The idea of anyone outside of the four of us seeing you in that state, unleashed in all your glory, taking me like that, makes me murderous,principessa.”

Her lips twitched. “Okay.”

“Yeah?” he asked warily.

“Yes. I believe you.”

“So, we’re good?” Julian spoke.

“We’re good. You do it again, though, and I swear to fuck—”

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