Page 105 of Scarred King
“Oh my…” I mumble. “I look like a bride. But one who’s burying her husband.”
“Exactly!” Leo runs his hand over my hair. “The black bride…” he murmurs proudly.
“It’s kind of scary, isn’t it?” I ask and I can’t even recognize the image that looks back at me from the mirror.
“Very!” Victor raises his eyebrows in amusement. “The most beautiful and admirable bride. And we have one more thing for you.” He smiles slyly and takes out two pocketknives from his pocket. He slips one inside my belt and gives me the other. Leo raises all the layers of fabric and I push the knife into the side of my panties.
“And two last things…” Victor places a translucent scarf around my neck that covers up the dress’s deep cleavage as he hands me the black fan respectfully.
“Crazy.” I move my head from side to side, trying unsuccessfully to find myself in the frightening image reflected in the mirror.
“Not crazy. Insane.” Leo smiles with pleasure and they pull me to the office. “Ready?” they chorus together and when I shake my head no, they laugh and lead me to the stairs. They start skipping down quickly, and I hold onto the banister and walk down step by step carefully.
“Are you ready for the Duchess?” I hear Victor’s shout and turn pale. I get on the last step, stand up straight and raise my head. The men at the round table jump out of their seats and stare at me in awe. My eyes lock on Liam’s thrilled gaze and I can’t even smile at him. I take a deep breath, and the corset tightens around my chest, hurting me. I lay a hand on my wild, pounding heart and Liam walks around the table and stands in front of me.
“You are so beautiful,” he whispers and kisses my cheek.
The other three men stand behind him and inspect me.
“You’d make so much money in my club…” Mike mutters and scratches his red hair.
“She would've made a lot more with me,” Tommy says, staring at the translucent fabric covering my cleavage.
“Three hundred thousand.” Ralph says, pushing in between them. “I’m telling you Duchess, you won’t get an offer like that from anybody else.” He looks so serious.
“Shut up!” Liam raises his voice irritably and my eyes lock on his. Finally, I can smile tonight.
“Your friends are so fucked up.” I shake my head. A second later, the tension returns, and my smile vanishes. “So, what now?”
“Leave us alone,” Liam asks and the men look at me for a few more seconds before they walk towards the club. Liam puts his arm through mine and leads me to the bar. “What would you like to drink?” he asks, without taking his eyes off me. Charlie is already placing a bottle of water on the counter.
“Thanks,” I say and rub the back of my neck. I drink from the bottle and put it back on the counter.
“Elena, we’ll receive our guests at the club to warm up the atmosphere and then we’ll come back here for the meeting.”
“Then I’ll wait for you here,” I say and try to figure out how to sit on the barstool.
“No, you’re one of us and it’s important for you to be at the reception as well.”
“At the club?” I ask in disgust. “What exactly am I supposed to do while naked girls are rubbing up against you?”
“It’s your club too,” he smiles and pulls me to him. “You claimed ownership on everything, so the entire kingdom is yours.” His hand slides over the translucent scarf and caresses the top of my breasts that are threatening to break free from the corset. “And when we finish here tonight,” his voice turns hoarse, “I want my Duchess to prove that she’s mine over and over again.”
“I’m too tense.” I try to smile at him but fail.
“I’ll get rid of that tension when we’re done with all that shit here. I promise.” He puts his arm through mine again and walks me to the connecting door.
“Showtime.” I stand up straight, raise my head up high, and snap my fan open with a twist of my wrist.
42
We enter the club. My face is partially covered by the fan and I see that everyone is staring at us curiously. Even the men sitting on the sofas right in front of the main stage, turn their heads to look at us.
“Keep walking as if it’s just the two of us here,” Liam whispers in an attempt to calm me down. When I turn my head to the right, towards the upper sofas, I see the men lowering their heads and avoiding my gaze. The waitresses are standing at the tables holding trays, the bare-breasted dancers stop their exotic dancing. It seems as if the world has stopped in order to watch me being kicked to the bottom of the pit. The tension in my body threatens to paralyze me, and I stop and turn towards Liam. He stops and looks at me questioningly. I press close to him, and when he leans toward me, I cover our faces with the fan. I lay my hand on his scarred cheek. “I love you,” I whisper, and then I kiss his lips and close my eyes. “I’m sorry,” I whisper a few seconds later. “Maybe I shouldn’t have done that in here in front of everyone, but I needed to feel safe.”
With both his hands, he holds my cheeks tightly and he kisses me passionately. When I open my eyes, he looks agitated. “I’m crazy about you,” he says with a wide smile. “So crazy about you…” he bites his lower lip and grows serious. “Let’s get this show over with.” I nod and snap the fan closed, remaining exposed to all.
We continue walking on the carpet between the sofas until we finally reach a rectangular corner sofa. Our friends are sitting at one end, Ilan is sitting in the middle, and the Italians are sitting on the other end. All the men stand up.