Page 105 of Shattered Diamonds

“You didn’t!”

“Firefly, I suggest you calm the fuck down or I may get jealous over a dead guy. And seeing that I can’t slit his throat again, I will have to resort to taking it out on your ass.

“You murdered my bodyguard!”

“Finn was no longer your bodyguard. And he knew the consequences when he tried to murder me.”

“Demetri!”

“Young pup, I suggest you calm down. Your concern for a dead man is pissing me off. You wanted transparency, you got it. That is, unless you need more and would like to open the bag and see for yourself.”

“Enough with the ‘young pup’ for Christ sakes.” I throw my hands in the air.

His grip becomes controlling. He walks me down the aisle past Luca and Joseph and through a door at the back of the plane. Just as the door slams shut, he crosses his arms over his chest and spreads his legs. Waiting on my fit of rage to land.

“You don’t want me to reference you as a naive girl, then I suggest you stop fucking acting like one. You may have not thought about it in the moments since you shot me, but deep down, you knew I was going to execute Finn.”

Silently I stand there, staring at him. Because I knew Finn was in danger. He had to have known he would be marked for giving me his gun. “Demetri…” I breathe in sorrow.

“An eye for an eye, firefly. It’s the vicious circle I live in. And you now live in as well.”

I don’t know what to say. It’s as if I’m frozen and can’t move.

“Demetri, he was my friend,” I mutter the sentence.

“A friend would have never put you in that position, firefly.” He steps up to me. The heat of his hand at the base of my neck registers just as his lips press against mine. “A friend, the one who tried to save you, hide you from me, from the man who devoted his life to you is the annoying gnat that’s sucking your brother’s cock. She’s your friend.”

I gasp. “What? Paisley would never!”

He raises a brow at my denial. “He’s been bedding her for a while.” He leans in and kisses me again. I think it’s to calm me down from all the truths coming to light. “Now tell me, Haven, do you really want transparency or not? Because it seems to me everyone has kept a lot from you. You need to tell me which one you want, transparency or not.”

Now I know why Paisley was staring at him. She was dancing for him while we were on the dance floor the night we were married. “My best friend has been lying to me.”

“No, baby. She just kept your brother’s secret.”

“Fuck.” I swallow. “I need a minute. Alone.”

“No.” He pulls me into him. “Needing a minute would mean you are grieving for the son of bitch that handed you the gun to kill me. Which I will not accept. Needing a minute means, you are upset that your girl is fucking your brother when it’s none of your business.”

“The hell it isn’t.” I gasp at the memory that hits me. Paisley and I on the phone. Her telling me she gave away her virginity to a guy that lasted seconds. Ew. I said he had a small pickle because she didn’t enjoy it. That’s why she asked if he had any women here. He must have used her and discarded her like he did all the others.

My head is spinning. But while I am out of sorts, Demetri leans in and kisses me. When he pulls back, he pulls me into his body. “Welcome to the world of transparency, wife. Where the lies feel better than the truths that are divulged.”

ChapterThirty-Six

HAVEN

Demetri holdsme in his arms. I know it’s not to console me for the feeling of loss I’m experiencing, but to make sure I’m aware that he is the one front and center. I didn’t have a minute to mourn the death of my friend before Demetri removed my top and handled my breasts with possession. I know I’m his. As he is mine. But he wants to make sureIknow it.

I reach for his erection and moan a half-hearted release of gratitude for how hard he gets for me. In the back of my head, Finn is there. How could he not be? The man who was by my side three quarters of my life is now gone. Obliterated by the new man in my life. I can’t help but wonder if Demetri tortured him. Did he make him suffer? I don’t need to ask. I already know the answer.

His hand cups my pussy. The heat from his palm makes my insides contract. A shallow feeling of arousal simmering in my belly brings my full attention back to Demetri. My husband knows exactly what he is doing. He’s making sure my thoughts of another man vanish quickly.

His fingers weave through my hair, knotting the strands at the base of my skull. He pulls my head back and stares down at me. “Mrs. Carbone, I am going to fuck you here on this bed. I want to hear my name cross those lips when I make you come. If you are a good girl, I’ll allow you a present.” He leans down and devours my neck, bruising the sensitive skin. I welcome his harshness. Need it to keep my thoughts of Finn at bay.

He works his way down my body, stripping me of my clothing as he goes. I stand before him completely nude, my inner thighs slick with arousal. My insides tighten with excitement when he groans his appreciation for what he sees.

He lifts my leg and rests my thigh on his shoulder. His tongue surfs over my folds lightly before nipping at the plump skin. “Demetri,” I whisper his name, my fingers running through his hair. I pull at the strands with a force I know will get his attention. I want him to get mad so I can rage on him through our sex for killing Finn. I already know my voice will go unheard if I try to express the loss I’m feeling. The sad part is, I understand why. Demetri did what he had to do. Not killing Finn, in his world, would have been seen as soft. Retaliation was inevitable, and Finn knew that.

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