Chapter 72
Cassian
We’ve barely even tried!
Did Gemma just tell every wife of every mafia boss in the criminal underworld that I don’t fuck her enough?
Granted, it was only once.
But that was our business and no one else’s.
I go still and keep the easy expression frozen on my face, but Gemma still looks up at me like she knows something is wrong.
I try to help her, and she goes and airs our personal issues like this?
To my
I lean down to Gemma’s ear, so my lips brush her skin, and say, “Wrap it up here. We’re leaving.”
Then I step away.
Reyna comes up to me immediately, and I can tell from the look on her face she heard. Of course, she had. They all heard.
“I can’t believe she said that out loud,” Reyna whispers, handing me a drink. “She might as well have just called you impotent in front of everyone.”
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My hand tightens around the glass she brought me. It’s whiskey. She knows what I like.
I throw it back in one gulp and growl at the burn.
Just then, Gemma pushes her way through the crowd and comes over to us. “Reyna. What are you doing here?”
Reyna smiles and shrugs. “I’m here with Cassian. I had some people to speak to.”
Gemma scoffs and looks at me. “Oh, great. So, you didn’t come here for me. You came here to bring Reyna to socialize, and you just so happened to see me and decided to play savior.”
Annoyance flashes through me. I did come here for her, actually. But if she’s going to act like this, why would I tell her that?
Reyna puts a hand on my arm. “Gemma, none of this is important. What’s important is that you said something that embarrassed Cassian.”
Gemma stares at her. Then she says, loudly enough for everyone in the area to turn their heads toward us, “Reyna, what happens in our bedroom is not your concern. And by the way, Cassian is my husband. Stop touching him like you think he’s yours.”
*****
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Chapter 72
Gemma
I’m not sure what’s gotten into me. I just know that I’m done.
And there’s a wicked little part of me that believes, if I behave badly enough, Cassian might give me the divorce I keep begging him for.
“Gemma, don’t be upset-” Reyna starts. Her eyes are wide, and her face is as innocent as a lost fawn’s.
“Upset?” I smile and my voice is perfectly calm. “Why, Reyna, I’m not upset. I just don’t think your behavior is appropriate.”
Rage flashes through my half–sister’s eyes. She looks
Cassian.
Her arm is still through his.
up at
“Cassian, explain to her, please. It’s just that my ankles in these shoes…”
I lift a brow at my Alpha mafia boss husband, bracing for whatever he’s going to unleash on me for calling him out in public.
I know what he’ll say now. He’ll tell me I’m overreacting. Misunderstanding, Misjudging poor little sweet helpless Reyna.
Instead, Cassian’s jaw clenches. Then he disentangles his arm
Chapter 72
from Reyna’s.
“She’s right,” he says to Reyna in a low voice. “You should watch the way you touch me in public.”
You could knock me over with a feather I’m so shocked. But I recover quickly and give Reyna the same fake sweet smile she always gives me.
“That’s right, Reyna. I’m just looking out for you. I’d hate for anyone to think you’re a homewrecking little-‘
“Gemma,” Cassian snaps, cutting me off.
་་
I keep my smile in place and my eyes on Reyna and finish my sentence with, “-sister,” instead of what I was going to say, which definitely would not be appropriate for the kind of company that’s surrounding us right now.
I forgot, and I shouldn’t have—in places like this, everyone is watching me. Watching Cassian. And through our actions, they judge the strength or weakness of the Smokewind Pack and the Blackwell companies.
Cassian steps away from Reyna’s side. Without him, she looks lost and abandoned. She hugs herself and smiles sadly. “You’re so right, Cassian. I apologize. I’ve just been abroad for a while, and I’m used to the way people do things overseas. They’re so much more affectionate with their friends.”
Chapter 72
It physically pains me not to roll my eyes and call her a lying trollop. But I don’t.
I’m proud of myself for being so restrained.
Cassian exhales a quiet sigh through his nose and puts an arm around me. “Come on, dear. I think it’s time for us to leave.”
His aunt Sibille clearly doesn’t like this. She confronts us as we walk toward the door.
I can see in her eyes that she brought me here to humiliate me. Instead, all she got was Cassian standing up for me. She thinks she’s not done punishing me yet.
“Cassian, the party isn’t over. Why are you in such a rush to leave?”
“Parties aren’t for me, Aunt Sibille. You know me. I’m more comfortable in a boardroom or a back alley.”
The people around him chuckle, especially the men and women who actually run their businesses and families, like Cassian does.
Sibille says, “Oh, but I had so many more people to introduce Gemma to-”
“Sibille,” Cassian cuts her off with a clipped voice that once again has heads turning our way. He lowers his voice and pulls
Chapter 72
me close to his side.
“You were the one going on about us not having a Blackwell
heir. How are Gemma and I supposed to make that happen if we don’t have some time alone?”
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