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My spine goes stiff when he slides in next to her, resting his arm on the back of the semi-circular seat so that it’s as close as possible to her. I hold my breath for a moment. Two moments. I’m just about to breathe out in relief, thinking he doesn’t know anything, when his eyes slide over to me, and there it is—he knows.
My hands clamp around my mug.
It hits me that Justine only hugged Mel and not me. And when she glances in my direction I know why.
She knows, too.
She was awkward with me the day before Sade surprised her with the trip to the Maldives, but I thought she was just overwhelmed with the Kings having joined us at our usual cafeteria table that day, and by the attention that came with that event.
“How can you already be here when you video-called me just yesterday?” Mel says, her face bright.
“Private jet. Plus, I wanted to surprise you, hence the sneakiness,” Justine replies with a glance in my direction. “It seems to be the rage these days, doing things behind people’s backs.”
My eyes fly from her to Sade before I let out a long breath.
“I see. It’s judgment day.”
That’s all Justine’s been waiting for. She turns to face me.
“How could it not be? I never pushed you about your private life because you’re a private person and we all respected that. We knew that Santi Rossi was old news, and never pressed to know who came after him. But Duke Romano Royales, Eva? Really? When were you going to tell us about that?”
Mel stares at me with wide eyes from across the table, squeezing her mug of coffee so hard I’m afraid she’ll crush it and get her hands all bloody.
“Never,” I whisper. “I was never going to tell you about that.”
Justine gasps in indignation, but I hold my ground. It’s a blessing that I’m good at keeping my shit together even when I’m crumbling on the inside.
“It’s true that you never pushed me to share stuff from my private life, and I always appreciated it. I’d appreciate it even more if you didn’t start now.”
Justine shakes her head while Sade’s eyes pin me into place like nails.
“I could have forgiven you for anything,” she whispers, golden waves of hair shimmering around her head. She looks around to make sure no one overhears before she leans in. “But you know damn well what Romano has done to both Sade and Micah, and me too. You know he is a fucking monster. And you decide to sleep with him anyway?”
I lean in too, everything in my eyes reminding Justine of who she’s talking to.
“I have a question for you, bff. Do you honestly believe that I’d sleep with that terrible man if I didn’t absolutely have to?”
Silence hangs in the air. Justine searches my eyes, and I keep mine open, unblinking, challenging her to answer. She should know better. But the one who speaks first is her boyfriend.
“I, for one, will never forget how you always stood by Justine’s side. How you helped our relationship. Still, had I discovered your affair with Romano before Justine and I got together, I would have given you fucking hell.”
My eyes slowly move to him. And I wait.
“I believe you have a good reason for seeing him,” he goes on with a chilling calm. I know there’s nuclear power behind this man’s endless cool. “Even if you’re in love with him, that’s as good of a reason as any other. But don’t even think about worming your way from a clandestine affair to an official relationship at the expense of my mother because I will destroy you.”
Normally his tone would give me the chills but, after experiencing his brother’s hand up my pussy and his fingers down my throat yesterday, I know Sade is the lesser evil here.
“If I swear on the bible that I’ll never get serious with your stepfather, any chance you can talk your brother down, too? He seems bent on squashing me like a worm.”
I narrow my eyes at Justine as I wait for an answer from her boyfriend. I was on her side every step of the way when Sade was an obsessed stalker, forgive me for expecting her to return the favor and at least give me the benefit of the doubt before she judges me.
But there’s no escaping Sade’s judgment. The man is a wall of menace that would tumble all over me if keeping his fiancée happy wasn’t his utmost priority.
“I can’t control Micah,” he says. “Any attempt would make him even more hellbent. He’s on a mission to finish Romano off, and I’ll back him up every step of the way.” His voice softens, if only by a degree. “But I won’t participate in your demise because it would hurt Justine. And because I owe you. But Micah? He doesn’t owe you anything.”
I open my mouth to ask Justine where she stands on this, but I stop when I notice the other Kings enter the hall and head toward us. My eyes run over them in an attempt to gauge how much they know.
Carlton Wilde seems to be getting bigger with every step he takes toward us, a mountain corded with tattoos that creep up his neck, but he doesn’t waste any attention on me when swiveling a chair around and straddling it between his thick thighs. As for Damon Saevage, the guy is too much of a gothic prince with the timeless looks of a vampire and distant interests for me to even be on his radar. Luckily, Chase Daytona is still abroad negotiating secret arms deals with foreign governments, so I don’t have to worry about him yet.
