Page 225 of Bratva Jewels Box Set
“Seriously? Her?”
“Um.” He looks around. “Her husband gave her to me.”
“What?” I don’t mean to raise my voice, and a couple of people turn to see where it came from.
Maxim glares at me for creating a scene.
“And you took him up on it?”
“He likes to watch her fuck other men.” Thankfully he looks suitably embarrassed by his confession. “It’s a lonely business, doing what I do. It had been a while since I’d been laid, so ... you know.”
“How many times?” I can feel a pit of jealousy sinking in my stomach.
He lets out a sigh. “A couple. But that was before you, Grace.” He looks at me seriously.
“I know you had a life before me. Just tonight, I wasn’t prepared for it.”
“I’m sorry, my love,” he says, taking my hand and kissing it.
“Ladies and gentlemen, dinner will be served in the ballroom. Please take your seats.”
I take Maxim’s hand, hating the fact that I ran into one of his ex-lovers as if tonight isn’t a huge mind fuck already. No one likes to know that another person has been intimate with your partner. I shake off the feeling and follow him to our seats. He pulls out a chair for me and takes the one beside me. He then pours me a glass of wine and we wait to be joined by the restof the table. I look around the room, hoping this stupid tiara is picking up everything. I try to take in as much as I can.
A bowl of red soup is placed before me for the first course.
“This is borscht, traditional beetroot and red cabbage soup,” Maxim explains to me.
Okay, that seems fine to eat. I’m not that adventurous when it comes to my food. I take a couple of mouthfuls, and it isn’t too bad, but then I lose my appetite altogether as the devil appears at our table. My spoon clatters against the bowl. My heart is racing; this cannot be happening to me.You knew it was going to happen, Grace. This is the entire point you are here.
Maxim’s hand finds my knee under the table and gives me a squeeze.
The devil sits down as if he doesn’t have a care in the world and starts to chat animatedly with everyone at the table. He soon has them cracking up with some stupid joke in Russian, but I don’t hear it because I’m freaking out.
Maxim knows he cannot comfort me the way he wants to, not in front of Dmitri.
Tonight, I’m his mission, his job, not the love of his life.
“You’re looking as beautiful as ever, Diamond.” Dmitri grins from across the table.
Of course, he would use my jewel name, taunting me, telling everyone sitting here where my place is among them, which is on the bottom.
“Diamond?” one of the men says, looking intrigued.
Maxim squeezes my leg again. There’s probably going to be a bruise tomorrow, but I don’t care. He needs me to be Diamond for him, otherwise it will blow everything.
Dmitri is watching Maxim and me intensely. He smiles. “Yes, she is one of the famous Bratva Jewels.”
The table falls into a hush as they stare at me.
“I’m surprised that Maxim did not tell you all about her. I know if I had a jewel on my arm, I would be very proud.”
He probably thinks Maxim has kept me locked up in a cell somewhere, waiting for his instructions.
I decide to make it known to him that we have been intimate. I put on my most flirtatious voice and say, “Maxim doesn’t like to share,” as I run my hand up and down his arm, feeling the tension radiate through him.
“Oh, really now?” Dmitri’s attention turns to Maxim. He’s looking at him differently. “He’s a lucky man. I know if you were mine, I wouldn’t want to share, either.” The meaning of his statement comes through loud and clear—he thinks I am his, not Maxim’s, and he’s going to stake his claim over me.
“I think I remember our time differently then.” I rub myself along Maxim’s arm. “You liked to share me with many.”
