Page 40 of What Happens This Christmas
Her smile was as devilish and dishonest as they came. She put mine to shame, but that was probably because she didn’t have a nice bone in her body. Deep down I knew the meaning of the word pleasant. She did not.
Everyone began dispersing like the flies they were now that the carcass had been found. That didn’t faze me, though. I wasn’t worried about them. I didn’t pay them any attention and homed in on the woman who was the real problem—Irina.
I had already seen her tonight, but I couldn’t help but think once again how she was clearly trying too hard. That gown… She’d chosen a red mermaid gown with a corset and long sleeves to cover hertrouble spots. It was designer, but it was nothing special. Just like her. If I’d seen one, I’d seen a million red mermaid gowns.
“Candy, darling. I trust you and Nick are enjoying yourselves.”
I nodded, raising a brow. Her words were benign, but I knew they were laced with so much more. Irina had a tendency to carry around a gavel and used it mercilessly. “Why, of course, Irina. I wouldn’t expect anything less than a marvelous affair from you. Nor should anyone else.”
She angled her head, but her hair had so much hairspray in it that it didn’t move more than a fraction of an inch. If I wasn’t paying close enough attention, I might have missed it. “Oh, well,don’t stress about making your event just as extravagant. We’ll all attend, nonetheless.”
I was sure they would, if for no other reason than to try to get something on me. Or Nick. Or both of us.
Looking over my shoulder, I made sure no one was in sight, and I doubted they would be as I heard Teddy making an effort to get everyone’s attention downstairs. “So, I hear you have been sitting on a little gossip about my husband.”
We both knew our place, had been trained accordingly, so she twisted her neck before looking back at me, that stupid smile still lackluster on her face. “I’m sure it’s not polite to eavesdrop, Candy.”
“My apologies. I must have missed that lesson.” I leaned in and was practically whispering in her ear now. “After all, I didn’t grow up in this world.”
She only chuckled, a light tremor evident.
“But I’m sure you already know that.”
“This is my party, dear. I’ve spent a lot of time planning it, and it would be rude not to tend to my guests.” Her smile faltered but for a second.
I brushed off her comment with a quick gesture of my hand. “Nonsense.” I leaned in a bit further, and the only way it would appear to an outsider was that we were two old friends having a lovely conversation. “We both know you don’t care about your guests, only how much they fear you, because that’s how you earn their respect, isn’t it?”
I didn’t give her enough time to respond, only lick her lips.
“See, I’ve been around long enough to have picked up on a few things. I’m not the same girl I was when I first got together with Nick. And don’t think for a second that I didn’t catch the disapproval and disdain in your voice when you were talking about my husband. The thing is that I find it ironic that you feel you could judge, considering you were working behind thebar of some run-down place in a small town when you met your husband. He was there on business, and I’m sure his wife at the time hadn’t thought he’d be tending to new business with you there as well.
“Unfortunately for her, and all of us, you seemed to mystify Teddy. Now, as far as I’m concerned, the two of you deserve each other. We don’t, however, deserve to be gossip fodder for your own self-amusement. And I’ll tell you what I told Maribel, which is that we are not in financial trouble. As far as him working behind a bar, Nick is a man of many talents and interests. If that means him serving drinks at a pub on Long Island a few hours a week, then I’m just counting my lucky stars that he isn’t picking up women there like Teddy has a fondness for doing. What’s that thing everyone always says? Once a cheater, always a cheater?”
Satisfied with the way I ended things, I backed away and maneuvered around her on the stairs, descending them as though nothing happened. After all, that was what the best of us did, wasn’t it? Pretend everything was finer than a man in a twenty-thousand-dollar suit?
Nick was at the bottom of the stairs when I got there, a hand extended for me to take, which I did. His hand engulfed mine, but I appreciated the way he held it. It made me feel secure and took me away from the drama I’d experienced with Irina. “There you are. I was about to come and get you. Thought you might have gotten lost or something.”
I slipped my hand away from his, my pulse racing. “Yes, well, no need. I managed to find my way back just fine. I ran into Irina, and we got to talking, that’s all.”
He cocked a brow, scrubbing a hand down his face. “About what?”
I shook my head. “It makes no difference. I’ve already been through the conversation once. I don’t have the energy to gothrough it again. All you need to know is that we have a newfound understanding.”
“What does that mean?”
I laughed, trying to get him to let this go. This wasn’t the time or place, and I hadn’t lied when I’d said I wasn’t in the mood to rehash the story. “How about we call it a night, hmm? Have you seen everyone you needed to?” I hooked my arm with his, needing to feel him close to me. I wasn’t typically this needy, but it was grounding me and preventing me from running back upstairs and strangling that poisonous woman.
His eyes met mine, and we stared at each other for a brief moment. The air grew thick around us. “I don’t see a reason to stay here any longer.”
“So, we’re in agreement,” I breathed, neither of us moving. It felt like the moment had been suspended in time, nothing going on around us.
“Nick. Candy. I didn’t think I’d see anyone worth sharing my breath with here at the late hour.”
I blinked, forcefully looking away from Nick, and my eyes landed on Vito Deluca. He was one of several Deluca sons, all of whom had the same fierce determination and ruthless streak as their father, Santo Deluca. Santo was a king, and everyone knew of him, even if they didn’t have the misfortune of knowing him personally. No one who was connected with the Delucas came out unscathed. It was better to steer clear where possible. And that was all because of the patriarch, who Vito had always reminded me of. Vito had a reputation for being cutthroat like Santo, but that wasn’t even the worst of it. I didn’t like how he always seemed to choose his words carefully. Nothing about him could be misinterpreted as gentle or kind. In the same way a serrated knife couldn’t be perceived as smooth.
He commanded attention as much as he did for everyone to fall in line around him. Nick had known Vito a while, and he’dalways said that you didn’t want to be on Vito’s bad side. While some of his brothers were as loyal to their family as the day was long, Vito tended to be greedy and selfish. He believed emotion to be a weakness and power to be the upper hand.
But I’d run into his beautiful wife, Lisa Marie, a handful of times, and I had nothing bad to say about her. She was Vito’s match in every way, though, and I didn’t see a more perfect pairing coming to fruition anytime in the near future. Besides, I doubted very much that many women would feel comfortable enough with themselves to be married to a man like Vito. He was clearly lucky he’d found Lisa Marie.
