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“Good choice. The five we already have are not enough,” he smirked as he leaned over the table and picked up the pen. I tried to peer over his muscular shoulder to see what he was writing.
$6,000,001 Mr Justin Sideher.
I slammed my hand over my mouth and had to turn my back to hide my laughter from the man who was working behind the auction table. My laughter immediately died. Our eyes met across the room. Suddenly, we were alone in the crowd. My heart hurtled into a frenzy as neither one of us moved. Those chocolate brown eyes blazed with so many unsaid words and emotions, and I felt as if I had fallen into an abyss, unable to find my way out. Giovanni. What was he doing here?
I felt a strong hand slide around my shoulder and Joel’s fake British accent pulled me out of my trance. “Your turn sweetheart. What are you going to bid on?” I almost jumped back from him as I looked up at his smiling face. I opened and closed my mouth as my brain tried to catch up with what was happening. I glanced back over at where I had seen Giovanni standing on the other side of the room to check I hadn’t imagined it. But there he was. Mouth-wateringly handsome in a tailored and intrinsically detailed wine-coloured suit and black shirt open at the collar. I saw his dangerous eyes rake down my body and freeze on Joel’s hand that was resting on my arm and his jaw clenched. He looked furious. No, he looked deadly. Now I knew who he was and what he was capable of, panic rose in me as I realised Joel was in danger just by being stood next to me. I turned quickly, my eyes wide and Joel’s happy features changed to concern.
“You alright?”
“You need to go. No. I need to go,” I muttered as I turned to walk away from him quickly. He grabbed my wrist to stop me.
“Liv? You look really scared. What’s going on?”
I don’t know how he had made it across the room so fast, but in the blink of an eye, Giovanni had grabbed Joel’s arm that was holding my wrist and twisted it behind his back, pulling his body awkwardly into Giovanni’s chest. My eyes widened as Giovanni wrapped his hand around Joel’s throat and growled in his ear. “Don’t you fucking touch her.”
“Giovanni! Let him go! Now!” I screamed, causing lots of people in close proximity to turn around and stare at us. Gio’s menacing eyes locked with mine and I gulped. He must have been able to see the fear on my face because he slowly released Joel and pushed him away. Joel’s face was full of icy fury as he charged towards Giovanni and I jumped in between them both. Even though I was sure Joel was more than capable of winning a fight, he had no idea who he was taking on.
“Joel! No. Stop. This is a misunderstanding. Please.” Joel stopped his rampage but kept his angry glare over my head fixed on Giovanni. I had to get one of them away and I knew if I walked off with Joel, it would only make everything ten times worse. Turning on the spot quickly, I stepped towards the man that was making my body burn with anger and arousal at the same time and pushed him away. His eyes were still locked in a death glare with Joel’s, but as he felt my hands on his chest, pushing him back, he glanced down at me and his face softened slightly.
He wrapped his arm around my waist and turned away, pulling me towards the dancefloor.
“What are you doing?” I hissed up at him but he ignored me and continued to drag me along. Taking rapid steps in my heels to keep up with his pace, I looked around the room and spotted Cecilia, Elle, his cousin I had met at dinner that time, and… that woman. She was here. His fiancé? They were all watching us intensely with looks of worry on their faces.
When we reached the middle of the dance floor, he pulled me into his chest forcefully, wrapping one arm around my waist so tightly his fingers were digging into my skin and his other took my hand. I glared up at him, unable to comprehend what he was doing.
“Are you fucking kidding me? You want to dance?”
He looked down at me and I recoiled slightly at the terrifying look on his face. His chiselled features were rigid with pure rage and I could feel every muscle in his body was tense.
“Yes. Because I need to calm the fuck down before I commit a murder in front of all these people. And holding you is the only thing that will calm me,” his voice was so deep and grisly that my core tightened in response. Why? Why did seeing him like this… at his worst…turn me on? Why wasn’t I running for the hills? What the fuck is wrong with me?
I didn’t say anything, just stared up at his strong jaw, perfect full lips and dark eyes. He had the face of an angel but the mind of a killer. I allowed myself to become mesmerised by his beauty one last time, tracing every curve to memory because after tonight, I will never see him again.
After one song had ended and another started to play, I felt his hard, muscular body relaxing slightly and his thumb started to caress my skin on the small of my back as we moved slowly to the music. “Who was he?”
His voice was calmer now, but it still had an edge to it. I rolled my eyes and looked away from him, my nostrils flaring. “Don’t roll your eyes at me bambola. Tell me who he is before I lose my shit again.”
“He is a friend. Gigi’s boyfriend. So yes, once again, you lost your fucking head over a man who did nothing wrong,” I snapped at him. Now it was my turn to be angry. This is how it would be. Even if I could look past the crime, the violence, the betrayal. He would always be this man. He would always try to own me. See me as his property. I was no one’s property and he needed to understand that. “This is why we would never work, Giovanni. Forget your job, your family, the fact that you are engaged to that woman over there. You see me as something you own and I will never allow a man to control me like that.”
“I am not trying to control you, Liv. I am trying to protect you. Everything I do is to protect you,” he growled down at me.
“And Joel? What were you protecting me from then?”
“He was stopping you from walking away. He had his hands on you,” he hissed, anger flashing in his eyes again.
“And in France? The gay man I was dancing with? How were you protecting me then? Don’t you ever stop to see how I am feeling in those moments. That I am happy and not looking to be saved!” I argued. His jaw ticked as he realised I was seeing through his excuses. “Admit it, Giovanni. You don’t act that way just because you are being protective!”
He snapped. He pulled me up against him so tightly that I could barely breathe. My lungs felt like they were being crushed against his chest as he grabbed the back of my neck, so my face was inches from his. “Fine. You want the truth. I hate it. I can’t stand it. I can’t see you with another man. I can’t watch a man put his hands on you and not want to rip his fucking head off. I am trying to be a better man for you but there are some things I just can’t fucking tolerate.”
My lips parted as my heart drummed in my chest at being this close to him again, this intimate. His eyes bore into mine in challenge and I held his gaze. “Then that is why this will never work. Let me go. I am leaving.”
I pushed his chest as hard as I could and wriggled out of his embrace. Picking up the hem of my emerald dress, I weaved and dodged my way through the crowds of people and tables to make it to the door. I had to escape. I had to get out of here. I had to run.
A Final Farewell
Giovanni
She sped away from me in a flash of emerald and I raced after her. Her petite frame squeezed through the throngs of people easily, while I was getting more and more aggravated as people stepped in my way. Flying through the exit of the grand hall, I searched the lobby frantically for any sign of her. The sway of green satin caught my eye as it disappeared behind a door. Marching towards it, I yanked the door open and found myself in a cloakroom with an array of guests' coats and jackets hanging on the rails and a woman in a uniform standing behind the desk.
