Page 90 of Taming Seraphine

I can’t keep my eyes off her, and the way she moves in that golden dress is mesmerizing. With her hair darkened and the makeup, she finally looks her age. Seraphine looks radiant, dancing with the other women as though she belongs with them.

Someone approaches from the side. I rise off my seat and lock gazes with Roman, who grins at me like I’m Santa Claus.

“When the fuck did they let you out?” I wrap an arm around my cousin’s shoulders.

“A few hours ago.” He slaps me on the back. “I fucking owe you, man.”

“We’re even.” I lower myself back into my armchair.

Roman takes the seat next to mine, his eyes scanning the crowd. “Cesare told me your girlfriend was tall.” He nods towards Seraphine. “You got someone new?”

“Sort of.”

I shift in the seat. Roman might be my oldest friend and cousin, but I’m not about to open up wounds. He won’t take kindly to knowing that Uncle Enzo was taken out by an underage assassin for being a prick who couldn’t keep his hands off little girls, and not a heart attack as we’d all been led to believe. Some secrets are best left festering in the grave.

“See that girl dancing with yours?” Roman says.

My gaze darts back to where the sextet still performs the same steps. “Which one?”

“Patchwork denim.”

“What about her?”

“That’s Emberly Kay.”

I turn to look Roman full in the face. “You have got to be fucking joking.”

“Benito noticed her the moment she stepped through the doors. That’s why I rushed here.” Roman’s eyes gleam. “I wanted a closer look at Capello’s hidden daughter.”

My mind stalls for the split second it takes for me to realize he’s talking about the woman he wanted me to kill and not Seraphine. While both of them might consider themselves Capello’s daughters, only the taller one with the dark curls is his heir.

“What are you planning?” I ask.

He rubs his chin. “I’ve changed my mind about taking her out.”

“Why?”

“Last week, our lawyer set up a meeting with Joe Di Marco.” He pauses. “That’s Capello’s attorney. We wanted to work out a legal way to get back Dad’s assets, but that bastard had a will that left everything to her.”

“So?”

“I just heard that if she dies, her next of kin is a distant relative with connections to the Galliano family in New Jersey.” He shakes his head and grimaces. “Too risky.”

“Does she know she’s a billionaire?”

He flashes me a grin. “Someone murdered Joe Di Marco before he got a chance to deliver the news.”

I nod, my features falling into a mask of indifference. “What’s your next move?”

“Emberly Kay, and everything she owns is going to be mine.”

“Don’t tell me you plan on romancing her out of her fortune,” I say with a laugh.

“Watch me.”

He claps me on the shoulder and rises, only for his brothers, Cesare and Benito to appear at the other side of the cordon.

I stare at my cousins, wondering what they plan on doing to Emberly after they’ve divested her of her fortune. Most of Capello’s wealth originally belonged to the Montesano family, but Emberly Kay never met Capello and is innocent.

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