100

"You know, I might hire someone to carry me if I have to wear these heels around the palace all the fucking time," I joke with Xavier, the two of us walking down the flight of stairs to the ballroom.

He smiles easily at me and throws his arm over my shoulders, pulling me to his side he kisses my temple, "If you're open to riding me, I could carry you."

His words are whispered and my gut tightens, I slap his arm on instinct, "Behave, maiale." (Pig).

"Impossibile," (Impossible) He smirks and opens the door to the ballroom.

All evidence of there ever being emotions on our faces slip off instantly, Xavier and I hide behind the cover of ours and I raise an eyebrow at him before entering the room. He follows right behind me, placing his blazing hand on the small of my back. A simple gasp leaving my lips when his strong hand makes contact with the exposed skin of my back.

He tries to hide a smirk, by dropping his gaze to the floor momentarily. The sight has me fighting off a smile, and I bite my lip in a desperate attempt of controlling myself. Our eyes meet and he shakes his head, the promise of a smile on his familiar lips has me intrigued.

Both of us hide it once the first member approaches where we are, bowing his head respectfully at Xavier and then at me.

"Romano, Martinelli," He speaks and I nod my head at him.

Multiple members from different bases step up to us after that, nodding and greeting politely. Xavier deemed it necessary to entertain the mafia tonight, he wanted everyone here after everything that went down and the palace makes that possible. All of them are here and dressed to their finest.

My emerald dress is hanging by the thin straps across my shoulders, the straps cross each other on my back and connect to the low cut on my lower back. The patterned sequin compliments the emerald color in my eyes. It hugs my curves and falls elegantly to the floor, along with the silver heels I'm wearing I feel quite elegant. My hair is curled and draped to one side, a dark nude lipstick coating my lips complimenting my tan skin.

Xavier's favorite feature is the side slit up my leg, he has, more times than I'd care to acknowledge, tried to grab my gun from me. To no avail. Not that I would ever let it out of sight, but I quite enjoy showcasing my thigh holster. Especially with the wicked stare of the man next to me.

He is looking as delicious as ever, his black suit emphasizing the dark aura around him. His hair is messy and yet seems to be controlled. My eyes travel down his broad frame and catch sight of the rings on his strong hands, I've always adored how often he wears jewelry.

It suits him.

"Mr. Romano," A somewhat familiar voice speaks.

My eyes meet the ones of a female, she left Marc's room in the mansion months ago, barely clothed. This was his girlfriend at the time, now ex-girlfriend, what is she doing here?

Xavier's hand jerks against my back, looking up at him he seems to be irritated. His dark eyes staring down at her with such disdain, "Why are you here, Arabella?"

Asking the questions all of us are wondering.

"I came to see Marc," She admits, her brown eyes cutting to me momentarily. I'm slightly taller than her and I find myself liking that fact.

I know Marc ended things with her because she had done something fucked up, but I'm not entirely sure what happened. It wasn't any of my business and I had other things to worry about at the time.

"Bella," A darker voice sighs from behind me. I glance towards Marc and the display of his heartbroken eyes has me angered, she really did something to mess him up. "I don't want you here."

"It was a misunderstanding, Marc," She mumbles, her eyes cutting to Xavier and me. "I didn't mean anything with it, you know that."

"You tried to sleep with him, Arabella," He speaks sorrowfully.

I'm thankful that the rest of the party hasn't taken an interest in this conversation, they're presumably doing it out of respect for the leader and second in command.

Her eyes flicker with something that I recognize too well, some mischievous gleam hiding, "No, you're reading it wrong, Marc. I never took him home with me that night. We were together, don't you remember? Why are you twisting the truth? It seems you want to twist the truth and make me the bad guy, your paranoia is getting the better of you. I never did anything to hurt you. Your memory has been shit for a while though, so I suppose I get your confusion."

"What?" Marc speaks incredulously, shaking his head.

"This is what you did all the time in our relationship," She states regretfully. "You read into situations, you twist things, you misunderstand and blame me of things I would never do."

"I literally saw you kiss him," His eyes carry the confusion he must be feeling, my blood seethes at the sight of him looking so inexplicably heartbroken.

"No, Marc," She groans. "That is what your mind wants you to believe, you want to paint me to be the bad guy. This is what you do-"

"May I cut in?" I find myself cutting her off, blazing with fiery rage underneath my skin.

"Please do," Marc scoffs, clearly over this whole ordeal.

Looking towards his ex-girlfriend, I tilt my head to the side, "What you just said, right?"

She nods, glaring at me with hatred scouring behind her eyes, "What about it?"

"Yeah, we aren't going to do that," I proceed and smirk at her. Xavier's hand supporting the lower part of my back twitches, he must be enjoying this. "Gaslighting really isn't a great look on anyone. So I'm sorry, honey, but you fucked up this relationship and that's all on you. Don't disregard his feelings, don't manipulate his views and memory, don't come into his home and demand pitiful attention like this."

"You don't know shit," She ejects, her anger only proving my point of her manipulating him.

"You're absolutely right, I don't. Not about this exact situation anyway," Shrugging my shoulders, I take a threatening step closer to her. Getting all up in her personal space, her eyes flicker with an intense spurt of fear. "Although, what I do know, is what a manipulative and gaslighting bitch looks like. And as I said before; it certainly doesn't suit you, darling."

She glares at me with hatred in her eyes, a humored scoff leaves my lips when she doesn't even try to retaliate. Arabella clearly knows that she was caught.

What an absolute piece of trash.

"Will you escort yourself out or will you and I have a problem?" I ask her tactfully.

"I want to talk to Marc," She concludes.

I turn to a smirking Marc with a lifted eyebrow, "You wanna talk to her?"

"Nope," He says and shakes his head.

"Great," I smile at him and turn to her again, wiping the smile off my face instantly. Gripping her wrist in a sharp hold in my hand, I violently haul her embarrassing ass out of the ballroom and close the door behind us. "Now, evaporate."

Her eyes are blinking in nervous motions, particularly when I bend my knee and push my thigh through the slit in the dress. She spots the gun almost immediately, with a sharp intake of breath she sprints up the stairs and away from sight.

My poor eyes had to look at her for too long; such cruelty.

Gesturing to one of the security guards nearby, "Make sure she actually leaves, I don't want to see her face anywhere near this house again."

"On it, Miss Martinelli," He nods dutifully and leaves me standing here.

Entering the crowded ballroom again, Xavier is standing right in front of me and tilts his head to the side. The beautiful smile on his lips is reserved for me, "You're alluringly insane, amore."

Smiling at his beautiful black eyes, I'm so fucking tempted to kiss him. My gaze falls involuntarily upon his full lips and his eyes darken instantly, a shiver tortures my body and dances down my spine. The tightening of my gut forces a deep breath to leave my lips, his intense eyes are carrying my stare, "How long before this evening is over with?"

He licks his lips and offers his arm, I lock my arm with his strong bicep, "I have to stay for a little while longer, but later tonight I'm all yours."

A man spots us and inches closer to where we're standing, I see my shot and whisper darkly in Xavier's ear, "I'm not wearing any underwear."

His sharp intake of breath has me smirking, I tear myself away from his strong frame and take two steps backward. My eyes carry his dark and piercing gaze before I turn around and leave him there to talk to yet another member. My body humming with the attention he always seems to be giving me.

Oriana waves at me from a distance and I meet up with her, she smiles at me in humor, "You officially met Arabella, I see."

"And officially kicked her out, sì," I chuckle, before hiding it again.

"Well, I'm glad," She laughs, drinking from her glass of wine. Her eyes scout out the area, "Is Rocco here tonight?"

Shaking my head, "No, he said something about not wanting to end up in a possible massacre."

"You never know with the Italian mafia," She shrugs, clearly agreeing with his overdramatic words. "Will Xavier take the stage and speak tonight?"

"He doesn't want to," I tell her, thanking a waitress for bringing me a glass of wine. I place the glass on the table and refuse to drink from it. Looking at Oriana again, "He told me that they would appreciate him more for talking individually with everyone, hence me coming over here and leaving him to fend for himself."

She laughs at this, throwing her head back with the biggest grin. She has always been so easy to entertain, "I love you being our mafia queen, you know?"

"Not yet though," I smile.

"No, but Xavier would never mess things up between the two of you, he's too afraid of losing you," Her words actually warm me and my eyes search the room.

Finally settling on the attractive beast standing in the middle of the floor, talking intensely with members in a circle. His dark eyes lift from the crowd and instantly connect with mine, the passion behind his stare has my mouth running dry. The side of his lips lifts in a small smirk before he drops it again, and it has me tempted to clench my thighs together.

"I could literally cut the sexual tension with a spoon," Oriana's familiar voice chuckles from beside me.

I laugh at her as she fans herself dramatically, "You silly fucking nutjob."

She gasps at my words and slaps my arms playfully, "I'm looking forward to your wedding."

"If I want to get married, that is," I tell her with a smirk. If it's with Xavier I most definitely do, but better to keep her on her toes.

"Fine," She reluctantly agrees. "If you want to get married."