Page 74 of Shattered Diamonds

“You left.”

“Yeah.”

“You didn’t want to watch the fight?”

“I only watched the first round.”

“Why?”

“I was worried about you.”

“Worried about me?” She stands with unsure movement. “Did something happen? Did someone approach you while I was gone?” She stays silent. It tells me all I need to know even without seeing it on the security footage. “Haven,” I push with a warning, waiting to see what part she will tell me. The security footage showed a man talking to her. It also showed her standing by the door, watching when Tegan and I were in my office.

“It was nothing. Just some jerk. I didn’t think anything of it at first. I thought he was harmless, just a spectator. He asked me a question about the fight. I answered. I guess that opened it up for him to start a conversation.”

“And?”

“He told me I was beautiful. It made me feel good, but when I didn’t return his complement with a thank you, he got mad. In his next breath, he told me I looked like a cheap whore because I was wearing a see-through shirt. That if I was his, he would never allow me to wear such revealing clothes. Because no man should let his woman be seen by any other eyes than his. That my man doesn’t care about me. It made me feel uncomfortable. Then he started saying I should have been his. That he would never leave me to my own defense.”

“Then what?”

“Nothing. It creeped me out.” She fidgets.

“Where was the security I placed on you?”

“He wasn’t there.”

“Dead man,” I mutter under my breath.

“It wasn’t during Ghost’s fight. It was before.”

“What? When?”

“When you went to speak to some of the fighters when we first got there.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I question, confused because when I saw the guy approach her on the security feed, it was during Ghost’s fight.

“I started to, but then Mr. Heart showed up and he called you over. I didn’t want to interrupt. Then you left. While I was watching the first round of Ghost’s fight, I saw the guy again. He was on the opposite side of the ring. He was staring at me through the cage. It creeped me out. I pretended like I didn’t see him. I kept my focus on the fight, but then the next thing I knew, he was standing next to me. The security guy was talking to a woman who asked him for help. I told him I was going to go lay down in your office.”

“You should have told him about the man.” I’m furious at her and ready to murder him. That female was a decoy to get his attention off her and he fell for it. At least Haven listened to her intuition and removed herself from the situation. Now I know why she was nervous when Mr. Heart was speaking to her. “You are going to be my wife, Haven. It comes with consequences. You need to be vigilant in watching your surroundings. In the future, if something happens, if someone makes you uncomfortable, or if something doesn’t feel right, you need to tell me immediately.”

“I just didn’t want to bother you while Mr. Heart was there.”

“He would have understood. He has a wife, two daughters, and granddaughters.”

I wait to see if she will tell me she saw Tegan in the office with me.

She steps into me, placing her hand on my chest. Her hesitation is led by insecurity. The emotion doesn’t have a chance at succeeding. I grab her upper arm and pull her up against me. “Learn from your mistakes, giovane cucciolo.” Her body stiffens at my sharpness and moves to step back. She’s pissed at me for calling her young and naïve again. “I don’t think so, firefly.” I pull her back up against me. “Let’s be clear. The only man whose opinion matters on how you look is mine. Trust me, tonight I am going to show you exactly how I feel about the way you look.” I lay a harsh kiss on her. She melts in my arms, becoming pliable. My erection grows as soon as her ambivalent tongue barely touches mine. Thoughts of laying her down right here blister my insides, but she is holding back, and I don’t like it.

I pull apart from her but still hold her in my arms. “Anything else I need to know?”

“No.”

That’s a shame. The lie rolled right off her tongue. It’s unacceptable. I know she saw Tegan and me. I also know right after seeing us, she was upset and came up here. If seeing Tegan with me made her not trust me, then I need to make sure she knows she can, or this isn’t going to work between us. I made a promise, a commitment and I will see it through until my death and then beyond.

“Come.” I turn on my heel and hold out my hand. She reaches for it, but the movement is laced with skepticism. I wait until she has stepped closer to me. Then I walk her toward the door to the basement and nod for her to place her hand on the security panel to unlock the door.

“Did Ghost win?” she asks, her steps falling in stride behind me as I walk down the stairs.

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