Page 89 of Mafia and Gold Digger

“I just mean that they’d have no mercy, no matter how much money you’d lost to them.”

“I told you, Saint,I can look after myself.”

“Yeah, right. How much did you lose?”

“Enough.” Her gaze shifts back to the TV screen. But there’s something in her expression which makes me know it was bad.

“How much, Emerald?”

She shrugs. “Only one hundred grand…”

“What the hell!” I bellow. “I’m gonna kill the fuckers! Whose idea was it to set the buy in so fucking high?”

“If you must know, it was my idea.”

“Have you lost your mind?” I say slowly.

“No,” she replies in an airy tone.

“Why on earth would you do that? And why did it take you so long to cut your losses and bow out of the game?”

“I wasn’t trying tocut my losses, Saint.”

I shake my head. “I don’t get it.” The silence beats between us as her words sink in. A red mist dances before my eyes. “How exactly did you pay them?”

“The black Amex of course,” she trills. “The bank let me use it to pay them. I called the number on the back of the card, and they immediately sent a man over. And as soon as I provided the fingerprint authorization, he produced a cashier’s check for me to give to the guys. It’s amazing the service you get from the bank when your fiancé is stinking rich and such a highly valued customer.”

I’m going to fucking kill Donato and Fiorino. But I might just have to kill Emerald first of all. “But why would you do that, Emerald?”

She shrugs. “I don’t get your problem. I thought you liked gambling andbetting.”

And there’s something off in her tone. “What do you mean?”

“Like when you accepted that one-hundred-grand bet from Alberto. You know, when he bet you that you wouldn’t lower your standards to be with someone as big or as slutty as me.I heard you and Christian talking on the phone.”

I briefly close my eyes. “You weren’t supposed to hear that.”

“Obviously,” she snaps, but I can hear the pain in her voice as well. “Was this engagement ever about protecting me and my family? Or was it all about winning some bet?”

It actually pains me that she had to hear any of that in the first place—and that she was hurt by it. “Look, I never even accepted that bet. It was just some dumb shit that came out of Alberto’s mouth. And if you must know, I wanted to kill him there and then for daring to insult you. And Iwillkill him when the time’s right, I promise you that. No one insults my girl like that.”

Emerald mulls over my explanation. “And you’re telling me the truth?”

“Yes. I swear it. And for the record, I don’t agree with a word he said. Your body is utter fucking perfection.”

She thinks over my words before answering. “Okay, I believe you, Saint. And I’ll cancel my dark web order for the cock-shrinking serum.”

My eyes nearly pop out of my sockets. “Christ, Emerald, you didn’t really buy that, did you?”

“Of course, I did. It’s amazing the shit you can find on the dark web.”

And despite myself, I find myself laughing out loud at this woman and the ways she continually manages to amaze me.

Although deep down inside, I find myself wondering if things can ever work between the two of us.

I think maybe we’re too different.

But are we really so dissimilar…?

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