Page 24 of Shattered Diamonds

“Domenico, your meal was perfection as always,” he compliments the chef, but his eyes are locked on mine, the knife now settled at his side. “You can continue your preparations and overlook the next few minutes.”

“Yes, sir.” The chef I now know as Domenico turns back to his carrots like some crazy man is not stalking through his kitchen towards a woman half his size with a sharp knife and scissors.

Lifting my chin, I stand my ground. I meet his glare head-on but there is nothing I can do to stop my bottom lip from trembling. Inside, my ribs are being battered and bruised by the vicious thudding of my racing heart.

He steps up to me, standing directly in front of me, and looks down his perfectly once-broken nose. His chest is a solid stature of immobile strength whereas mine is rising and falling at a reckless speed.

“You are even more beautiful aroused.”

I jerk at his words, becoming a statue. The only thing I can do is swallow the saliva that has pooled at the base of my throat. Does he not understand? I am not aroused. I am scared.

“I am not turned on,” I challenge his assumption then clear my throat as if the words hurt me to say.

He leans in, the tip of his nose touching mine. He tilts his head slightly to the right like he is going to kiss me then holds steady, inspecting me. There is a moment. Just one moment where I wonder what it would be like to be devoured by a man so powerful. That moment passes almost instantly when the door to the kitchen bursts open and the man Demetri spoke to before pulling me inside the kitchen is being dragged through. His thrashing body is forcefully urged through the swinging door by Luca and another guy.

I jump at the flurry of movement. Before I can move away, Demetri’s hand jerks me back to his side. The commotion behind him doesn’t waver his locked gaze on me. His earthy blue-green eyes swirl with dangerous intent. It’s almost as if the rich saturated green color of the earth after days of rain is churning in his left eye and the royal blue of his right eye is calling me with such a force, it’s almost as if the world is compressing and consuming me between land and sky.

“You are. And it turns me the fuck on.” He frees my arm from his grip and orders, “Don’t. Move.” Then he turns his back to me and strolls over to where the guy is forcefully being held face down against the stainless steel counter.

I glance over at the chef. He’s cutting the carrots as if nothing illegal is about to transpire in his kitchen, but I know different.

“Let him up,” Demetri orders, flicking the knife up twice in gesture.

The guy pops up like he’s ready to fight. Then he stills when he sees Demetri standing there with the butcher knife.

“Man, you’re taking this too far,” the guy shouts.

“Am I?” Demetri asks with such a calmness that it scares me.

“Yeah, man. You are.” He wipes his brow, the fear streaming through his body making him sweat profusely.

“Do you have a woman?” Demetri, again, calmly asks, cupping his hands in front of him, the knife in plain sight for the guy to see.

“Yeah.”

“So, not only did you disrespect me and mine, but you also disrespected yours.”

“I was just checking her out. She’s…”

“Go on.” Demetri twists his head when the guy trails off. “Finish your sentence,” he urges with a head nod.

“She’s beautiful, man.” He stupidly looks around Demetri’s shoulder when Luca releases his hold.

Demetri half turns towards me, meeting my gaze from over his shoulder, then gives my body a once over. “That she is,” he agrees, holding my gaze a moment longer.

“Look, man, I meant no disrespect.”

Demetri slowly turns back to him only after lingering on me a moment longer, making the man wait, but before he turns fully around, I see the shift in his eyes. The blue becomes so dark it’s almost black and the green speckles swirl with violent intent.

“Demetri, he didn’t do anything wrong,” I barely whisper, grabbing his elbow, trying to save the guy from any kind of brutality. I take a step into him but stop when he instructs Luca to hold the man’s hand down on the counter.

The guy yells, thrashing his body, fighting for his freedom. Before I know what is happening, the tip of the man’s finger is lying lifelessly next to what is left of his now bloody stub.

“He didn’t, giovane cucciolo?” Demetri turns back to me. His warning brow lifts when he’s fully facing me. His careless disregard for the man’s muffled screaming about his lost fingertip is appalling and nauseating. “You see,” he continues, “what you saw from me earlier was a planned show of disrespect. My survey of Lilly was brought on by your lack of appreciation, but more so, your gloating at the fact that you wore another dress than the offered dress I purchased for you. I do not play games, young pup.” He turns to look over his shoulder at Luca who is holding his hand over the guy’s mouth. “Release him.” The other guy who came in with Luca stands there watching as if he can’t believe what just happened. “Oh, and…” He nods at Luca and waits for whatever information he is asking for.

“Jeffrey.” Luca throws the guy’s wallet on the counter next to the lifeless tip of his finger.

“Jeffrey,” Demetri repeats with disgust. “Jeffery, if your friend has something to say, he can lose a full digit.” He glances at the speechless guy. “I suggest you have a talk with him and explain how that would not be in his best interest or yours, seeing I now know the residence where you make love to your wife.”

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