Page 25 of Entangled
The voice in my head was such a chaotic, sarcastic bitch that I had grown to adore. It’s lonely when the only person to talk to is the voice in your head, and that’s the only person urging you to carry on.
So my alter ego in my mind and I had a love-hate relationship, but she’d never left me alone, figuratively and literally.
“You look beautiful,” a deep voice said from behind me, pulling my attention away from myself in the mirror.
I made eye contact with the dangerously beautiful man behind me, who was no stranger to wearing a suit but lookedgood every single time he put one on. His hair was tousled purposefully, and his eyes were the color of thunderclouds waiting to rain on my confidence parade.
“Thank you,” I mumbled, not used to getting a compliment from this man, let alone in general. “You clean up nice yourself.”
“I know,” he said with a smirk. The man was so sarcastic I could have throttled him. But alas, slapping a Mafia man could lead to me losing said hand.
“Ready to go?” he asked, crossing his arms and leaning against the door, causing a feral zing of attraction to zip straight to my core. There was nothing this man could do that wasn’t attractive at this point and it was downright annoying.
A man hadn’t made me feel this way in well…ever. It was a foreign feeling to me, and not one I was really tempted to explore.
My life was already so chaotic and full of baggage, and even if I thought it was a good idea, it wasn’t. Kade and I were wrong for each other on so many levels. Maybe one day I could find a normal man, with a normal life, if I ever got the courage to leave Jude.
“Soren?” he asked, the tiniest bit of worry lacing his features. Why did he look as if he actuallycared?
“Sorry, lost in a daydream. Yes, I’m ready,” I replied, breaking eye contact and smoothing my dress down one last time.
I walked past him, just barely grazing him when I stepped through the doorway. I could feel his eyes watching me and burning a hole into me the entire time until my entire body felt like a wildfire that had no hope of being contained.
The driveto Kade’s father’s mansion was quicker than I expected, and before I knew it we were pulling into the circle in front of his father’s house. That was if you wanted to call this extravagant mansion anything other than that.
I was in awe of my surroundings, and I hated to admit that I admired everything that I was taking in.
We pulled up and parked, and before my hand could even graze the door handle to let myself out, the door opened on its own accord.
“Good evening, Mrs. Peirano,” Isaac, Kade’s bodyguard, greeted me. He had ridden behind us and I hadn’t seen him before we left. I had very few interactions with this man, but already I could tell he oozed experience, and he was not to be fucked with.
One of my least favorite interactions would be the time he watched Kade carry my unconscious body through the garage door. Of course, I have no memory of it, but it wasn’t hard to put the pieces together since he seemed to be the only man whom Kade allowed within a five-foot radius of either of us, besides his own family. It also had to do with the way he looked at me whenever he saw me, with such pity that it made me feel ill.
Isaac walked ahead of me before opening the double door entrance to the mansion and leading me inside the main hallway. I tried to wait patiently for Kade to make his way inside and lead the way into the den of vipers.
My heels on the shiny, granite floors were the only sound echoing off the walls as Kade walked with his hands comfortably in his pockets and into the dining room, as if he owned the place.
Arrogant bastard.
As I made my way through the doorway, all eyes landed on me, the tension so thick I could almost smell it in the air.
This is going to be harder than I thought.
I took a deep breath, hoping that my nerves didn’t show, and held my head high as I made my way to the empty chair Kade had pulled out for me. He’d moved so suddenly to the table that I hadn’t even noticed he wasn’t at my side anymore.
He scooted the chair in gently, and I prepared myself for what I felt would be the interrogation of a lifetime.
After the initialmoment of anticipation and curious eyes when we entered the dining room, it felt like his family had paid me little attention.
Conversation had started up as the food was served, and I felt like I was seeing the true side of this family. I even saw Matthias crack a small smile, something I never thought I would ever witness from the Mafia King of Boston. But the love he had for his wife and his sons was evident. He cared about them a great deal, and they were his kryptonite. I was seeing the side that they didn’t want the world to see, the one that they could be behind closed doors and in the safety of their own home.
I was incredibly surprised Kade and his family acted this way in front of me, and that they allowed themselves to be so vulnerable. I didn’t know if I should take that as a blessing ora curse. Were they letting me be witness to their quality time because they knew I wouldn’t tell anyone? Or because they would make sure I told no one?
Being in this life was full of surprises. You never know what each day is going to bring. There were times it could be exciting and dangerous all in one—it just depended on which side of the coin you landed on.
“So, Soren, tell us about yourself,” Elizaveta asked, suddenly giving me all of her attention and causing all eyes to snap to me once again.
“What do you want to know?” I asked, nervously gripping my fork and causing my knuckles to turn white from holding it too hard.
