Page 72 of Seeking Shadows

"But how do you say it… some things need punishment, don’t they?"

There was something in the way he said that. The way he looked at her.

My vision darkened for a moment. I knew what he was doing. Playing. Testing me.

But what bothered me wasn’t him. It was her.

Why was Mia so quiet?

He didn’t laugh, didn’t retort, didn’t provoke. Nothing.

I turned to her, studying her face, and then I saw it.

She was scared.

Not of me.

Of him.

My throat tightened.

"You okay?" My voice came out lower than I intended, too heavy with the weight of my concern.

Mia blinked, clearly startled.

"Don’t you have anything to say?"

She forced a smile, small, empty. "Just listening."

A lie.

She could be many things—chaotic, irritating, impossible to follow—but never silent.

And Nico knew that. He saw what I saw now.

His smile faded, his expression turning cold. "If your future husband wants you to speak, he’ll tell you."

His voice was sharp, impatient.

Mia froze.

"Or have you forgotten how to obey?"

She cringed, her fingers tightening on the fabric of her clothes.

Then he made a sudden gesture, his hand slicing through the air. Mia jumped in her seat.

That was enough.

My jaw clenched, my chest burning with anger, almost blinding in its intensity.

Before I even realized what I was doing, I stood, the chair scraping across the floor. My hand slammed onto the table, enough to make the glasses tremble.

Nico’s gaze snapped back to me.

"I asked her to speak," I said, my voice low, lethal. "And you won’t be bossing my fiancée around. I don’t tolerate anyone trying to command what’s mine, Riviera."

The silence that followed was thick, suffocating.

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