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I moved into her personal space again, ignoring the inner voice asking why we needed to be so close. “You’re my bitch at the moment. Are you not as smart as you look, Scarletta? Because I thought you’d have gotten the picture by now. I own your ass.” The corners of my mouth curled upward at her snarl.

Her hands landed on her hips, drawing my eyes to her figure. She looked like she’d been sewn into her dress by the way it hugged her so perfectly. I’d been so distracted earlier that I hadn’t really taken in her body.

“Is that your favor, then? You want me to sit with you at dinner? Because if not”—she turned, yanking the door open and darting out of reach—“go fuck yourself.”

CHAPTER 10

SCAR

GREAT, I WANT TO KILL MY COUSIN’S FIANCÉ…OR FUCK HIM. BOTH?

God, his hands were the size of dinner plates, and their warmth seeped through my skin like a brand. A shiver ran through me, and I wasn’t sure if it was from disgust or excitement. I’d almost made it out of his reach, but these damn heels I’d worn made me slower than usual.

“No. This isn’t my favor.” Hot breath fanned across the back of my neck before he spun me around to face him. “But you’re still going to do what I say, because unless you have a way of overpowering me,” he paused, eyeing me condescendingly, “you can’t do shit to stop me from sitting your ass where I want,” Caleb stated, jutting his chin and crossing his arms over his muscled chest. “And something tells me you don’t want to cause a scene in front of your uncle.”

Smug bastard.

The hard steel nestled against my thigh tempted me to show Caleb exactly the type of scene I was capable of causing. But that would mean revealing too many of my secrets to way too many people. It was the same reason I hadn’t fought against him in the bathroom. At the time, it seemed like the lesser of the two evils, but now that I had some ominous favor hanging over my head, I wondered if maybe I should’ve gone with option A: Leaving the bloodied body of a former Irish Mob member on the tiled floor.

“Lead the way,” I stated, flipping him off as he walked past. “Wait.” I grabbed Caleb’s arm, halting him before we left the cover of the secluded hallway. “This isn’t a sexual favor, right? Because I’m not paid pussy.”

His laugh surprised me. I hadn’t thought the dick knew how to do that. This whole time, he’d been an angry ass. Hadn’t even bothered being gentle with me. And I didn’t want to explore why that was a turn-on.

“Do I look like I pay for pussy? And I’d rather let my dick freeze off than stick it in a Romano cunt,” he said, taking out his phone and shooting off a text before pulling me behind him like a naughty child. The volume increased as we entered the dining room. Scents of spices and comfort food lingered in the air, making my stomach growl in anticipation.

“What?” I snapped at Caleb’s questioning glance. “It smells good, and I’m fucking hungry.”

He blinked at me like my admission surprised him, which I supposed was possible. Most socialite women were on crazy regimens to maintain unrealistic and unhealthy body standards. Meanwhile, I regularly polished off lobster tortellini by myself and lifted heavy shit so I’d be strong enough to take on a man.

The room was fuller than when I’d made my break for the powder room. There must have been thirty or so people in here. Some familiar faces from members of the Four Families were spread out along the table. None of them were very high up in the ranks, though. Probably sent to investigate what this gathering was about.

Dominick stood at the head of the table, his head thrown back as he laughed at something a man in a well-tailored charcoal gray suit with pinstripes had said. A mess of blond hair was artfully styled back. Dominick looked sloppy compared to the mystery man whose back was to us. I couldn’t tell who he was from my angle, but something nagged at the back of my brain, telling me I knew him. I was so distracted that I hadn’t noticed Caleb had led us to the spots to the left of Dominick’s.

“I can’t sit here,” I hissed through my teeth, careful not to draw my uncle’s attention. Caleb pulled out a chair next to him, completely ignoring my protests.

He arched an eyebrow when I still hadn’t moved. “Why not? You’re family, right? Besides, I don’t give a damn what Dominick says. I’ll sit next to him, and you’re next to me. Now, ass in the chair, Romano.”

Something warm and moist ran up the column of my neck, and my hand reached for the hidden blade, ready to sink it into the gut of whoever stood behind me, until a smooth voice whispered in my ear.

“Cheer up. You get to be next to me too.”

I turned to face Kenji, a manic gleam in his chocolate eyes. I knew that expression, the borderline unhinged excitement that coursed through one’s body. Mine always came before inflicting violence. I had an inkling Kenji’s might be the same.

Would I find myself at the end of his blade tonight?

A shudder racked through my body. Excitement was not the correct response to that line of thinking, but the man was a walking sexual awakening of all the things I didn’t know I was into until seeing him. Kenji had a nose ring and a subtle face tattoo on his temple that followed the hairline of his effortlessly messy inky hair. It read Insane and was done in gothic lettering.

That’s not concerning at all.

Then there was the not-so-subtle throat tattoo. It looked like it was the lower half of an oni mask. The reds and blacks were beautifully vibrant against his skin. I had to resist running the tip of my finger along its lines.

My cheeks heated further when Niko walked up to join us. He stood so close to my shoulder that we were practically touching. My bathroom encounter with Caleb hadn’t given me a chance to analyze what had possessed me to act the way I had around Niko. I wasn’t sexually shy, but flirting with these three men was not good for my health. Literally, anyone else would be a less complicated fuck.

Except maybe Enzo.

A flurry of goose bumps broke out over my skin when Niko leaned forward, running the tip of his tongue along the shell of my ear.

What the hell is with these men licking me? And why the fuck do I want it to happen again, maybe just a little farther south…