Page 7 of A Diamond for My Forbidden Bride

Standing at Constantine’s side, she’d been tall and slender as a lily, dressed in a plain yet expensively tailored dress of sombre black wool, as was fitting for a funeral. The colour hadn’t suited her, making her look even paler and more washed-out than she actually was, yet her expression had been diamond-hard.

She seemed so different from the young girl I remembered. She’d been such a passionate little thing back then, a ray of sunshine in the darkness of my childhood. I’d been drawn to her, unable to help myself, at first fascinated by that passion and then, as I’d got to know her, by the sweet smile that she saved for me alone, the one that reminded me of a summer dawn.

There were no smiles now, but I could still see her passion in her anger, lighting her up from the inside like someone had put a candle inside her and lit the wick.

‘You’re insane.’ Her chin lifted with all the defiance and authority of an empress giving the order for war. ‘Let me go before Constantine calls his security team.’

‘He can try.’ I tightened my grip and held her fast, noting that her fingers no longer felt so cold. ‘But I’ve had my men infiltrating his staff for the past six months so, unfortunately for him, it is no longer “his” security team.’

Her gaze flickered. Was that fear I saw there? I didn’t want her to be afraid, but if she was it couldn’t be helped. There wasn’t time to allay any fears, not when they’d involve more than a few complicated explanations.

Besides, she should already know that the very last thing I’d do was hurt her.

‘I see.’ There was no fear in her voice, only a cold, flat tone that made her sound like Constantine. ‘What do you want with me, then?’

Her long, pale blonde hair had been coiled in a chignon at the back of her head and locked in place by what looked like a million hairpins and several bottles of hairspray. I was half-convinced that if I touched her hair it would feel as hard as the diamonds her company sold.

I didn’t have time for this conversation, not right now, yet I found myself answering all the same. ‘You really have to ask that question? What do you think I want with you? You’re marrying my brother, and I can’t have that.’

‘So, what? Instead of sending me an email, or maybe even picking up the phone, you decided to infiltrate Constantine’s security and disrupt your father’s funeral with some bizarre kidnapping scheme?’

I laughed. ‘Well, when you put it like that, it does sound a trifle...bizarre. But I have my reasons. Besides, if I had sent an email, would you have called off your engagement?’

‘No, of course not.’ Impatiently, she tugged at her hand again, trying to get free. ‘Let me go, damn you.’ It wasn’t a plea. It was an order.

Sadly for her, I had no time for orders.

Even if I had sent her an email, Constantine would never have let her go. He was too much like Domingo, which was why I had no choice except to take not only the company but Olivia as well.

Domingo Silvera destroyed people, and so did Constantine.

I would not allow him to destroy her. This was about keeping her safe from him and I would go to any lengths to ensure that.

So I didn’t let her go. Instead, I pulled her in closer to me, watching her face with its delicate, precise features.

She’d lost the openness she’d once given me, the emotional honesty that had been so precious. Her expression held nothing but icy calm, and there was a hard quality to her, a toughness that hadn’t been there before that belied her delicate build and pretty china-shepherdess face.

What had happened to her in the years since we’d last seen each other? I’d always hoped she’d forget me, that once the news of my death got out she’d put me behind her and move on with her life.

Except I’d known the instant she’d seen me come into the ballroom that my hopes had been in vain.

She’d gone dead white, frozen in shock like everyone else in the room, and for a brief second I’d regretted being so public with my plan.

But secrecy wouldn’t have worked and would have given Constantine some measure of cover if he’d retaliated. Plus, the world needed to know I was back in order for me remove him as CEO of Silver Inc. So why not make a public gesture of it? And what better timing than at that bastard’s funeral?

Olivia would get over the shock and, indeed, it looked as if she already had, her hard expression betraying absolutely nothing, not even a trace of the fury I’d seen before.

I could feel the resistance in her arm, but I didn’t relent, bringing her in closer.

Where had that fury gone? Was it still there? Did it mean she still felt something for me after all these years? Perhaps she didn’t. It had been a long time and we’d only been teenagers, after all.

Or perhaps she’d been angry because I was taking her away from Constantine. Did she love him? My research indicated that she didn’t; I thought they hadn’t slept together, but had she let him touch her after all?

I could feel my own jealous rage rise at the thought, and I let it, since anger had always been a useful fuel for me.

Domingo had once told me that emotions were vulnerabilities and they had no place in his world; that I needed to free myself of them, because only then could I become the great man I was destined to be.

But he’d been wrong. He’d always been wrong.

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