They looked just as confused as me.

Heavy footsteps sounded to my left, and slowly, I turned.

My eyes widened when I found Gabriel calmly walking up on stage, but his face…

I took a step back, and his expression darkened.

I forced myself to hold still as he got on stage next to me, Johnny and Raphael following close behind him.

“Leave,” Gabriel said, looking at the stunned faces of everyone in the audience.

I tried to move off to the side, to leave the stage, when he suddenly turned his sharp gaze on me. “Not you.”

I stood frozen.

Then I jumped when Johnny yelled in his booming voice, “Get the fuck out!”

Everyone seemed to move at the same time.

They stood and walked out of the room.

The servers and dancers moved, too.

I caught Kaia’s eyes, and she tried to stay, but Raphael was suddenly there, pushing her and Piama out of there.

Corey walked on stage then, his face pale.

“Mr. Cadorna—”

He shut up when Gabriel turned to him. And I didn’t think it was possible, but Corey’s face seemed even paler.

Gabriel took off the black suit jacket he was wearing, and he walked up to me.

I didn’t say anything, even when he was close enough that I could make out the golden flecks in his brown eyes.

Honey-brown eyes, I realized.

They were so beautiful.

I blinked when he wrapped the jacket around me, his hands soft as he pulled the flaps tighter together.

Our eyes met, and everything and everyone seemed to blur in the background.

His thumb found my collarbone, brushing it from side to side.

I didn’t even think he was aware of doing it, but I was.

I was so aware of everything, from his huge frame in the pressed white dress shirt he wore to the striped black-and-gray tie to how his jacket smelled so much like him, I wanted to swim in it.

His eyes roamed over my face, and suddenly the softness in his eyes was gone, replaced with anger, though I got the feeling he wasn’t really angry with me but at…

Gabriel turned to Corey.

“What the hell is this?” Gabriel asked.

Raphael looked at Corey with an expression like he thought Corey was stupid.

Might be so.