HELENA’S POV
“Let’s go inside” Dante had his hands on my waist, guiding towards the event from the paparazzi but all I could feel was the emptiness of my finger, and I wondered if he had noticed it yet. My mind began to spin, weaving together different possibilities of where I might have lost it was it at the salon? Or was it at the car dealership? My brain hurt from all the thinking, and my chest felt tight from the slow panic that was beginning to set in.
Apart from that, I was surprisingly too aware of Dante’s hand slightly brushing my bare skin. It felt hot against the iciness of my skin and suddenly my dilemma of the missing ring was beginning to shift away giving space for the clawing feeling in my stomach from hearing Dante’s conversation with Matteo the previous.
So I pulled away from him just as we stepped into the warmness of the event, the dancing chandeliers that swung high above in the ceilings, the overwhelming glamour suddenly consuming me.
“I think I should go on ahead by myself, maybe I might find something I’d want to buy during the auction”
Dante’s eyes darkened, I could feel the heat of his stare on my face, taking my whole body in like he was drinking me up with his eyes but I kept my eyes on his face because if I narrowed my eyes down, I would feel a sharp zing of electricity throughout my whole body.
“You seem to be avoiding me Helena ” he said, turning to face and taking one painfully invading steps towards and the air suddenly felt tight, he had his hands dipped in his pockets, his gaze fixed on me and smelling like sin and temptation in a bottle but I wasn’t going to let him invade my senses with his scent and dark charm I took a step back and shook my head immediately.
“I’m not avoiding, it’s just a marriage of convenience and we don’t need to stick to each other throughout the event. I’m sure you have plenty of important things to me than to bother about me who has nothing to offer” I gave him a sly smile about to turn but he grabbed my arm with an aggressiveness that I did not expect.
“Helena ” he growled but not angrily, more frustrated than he was annoyed “Stop being so stubborn you don’t want to get punished now do you?”
It was the way he said it, with an intensity that brought fat goosebumps to my flesh and I nearly shivered, but I pulled my arm away from him with a silenced wince and I shot him a look I deemed defiant but his eyes darkened in a manner that proved otherwise and I turned around and walked away from him, my heart pounding in my chest.
You don’t want to get punished now, do you?
His voice echoed in my head as I walked away, I could feel the heat of his stare burning my back and I had a few more meters to endure it until I turned the sharp corner and away from him and I could only think, how incredibly exciting and exhilarating it would be to get punished by him. But I had to push that thought away, to the darkest corner of my mind where all my darkest fantasies lay.
I took a deeper breath when I was finally in the midst of people that didn’t smell like sin or hovered over me ready to consume me with their darkness. The large spanned over with people trailing through it, looking at the items that were going to be auctioned for the charity event and I was peering over at a beautiful diamond necklace when I felt a presence behind me, calling my name softly and I lone hand gently pulling my elbow.
I turned around to find Christian, dressed impeccably in a suit that accentuated his broad shoulders perfectly, and his eyes looked extraordinarily blue in the blaring white light.
“I thought I’d find you here, but I didn’t think I’d find you alone” he said to me, a slight smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.
“Well, we decided to look at the items differently”
He had the look in his eyes that showed that he didn’t believe me but deciding to ignore it. He looked at the necklace I was looking and then looked back at me.
“Did you have a chance to think about what we discussed” he said
“Christian” I called silently, the conversation drifting back to my head. I still remember the deep bass of his voice as he walked me to the car after the whole lunch date with my mama and Vivianna, where Mama had spent the whole time talking him up to me. There wasn’t a second that didn’t go by without Mama gushing about how responsible Christian seeing that he worked the police and each time I fought the urge to roll my eyes.
“I’m engaged to Dante” I said even though the words burned my tongue and immediately I saw Christian’s eyes drift to my finger.
“I don’t see a ring” he said. Oh what a blessed time it was to lose the ring Dante bought for me
“You don’t know anything about me Christian and Dante would literally have your head on a spike” the image of the gas station blowing up in flames suddenly came to head and I could imagine Dante doing something worse.
“I’m ready to take my chances” he said and I was just about to say something when the voice of the auction host filled the room and everyone’s attention turned to him the same time another man clad in a black suit came to have a conversation and I used the opportunity to slip away from Christian, walking further to be swallowed by the crowd.
The auction started with a nice pair of gold earrings and a starting price at a thousand dollar, as the auction host, a tall looking man like looked like a younger version of Ben Affleck.
“Two thousand dollars” a polished woman who looked like a modern reincarnation of Marilyn Monroe raised her card with her high pitched voice ringing out in the room and honestly, I didn’t think anyone was going to contest them with her, she had the face of a woman who excessively loved expensive jewelry.
“Next item is 3 day vacation to Vernice starting off with 5, 000 thousand dollars”
“5, 000 thousand dollars” a man at the back raised his card.
“6, 000” the same woman who had snagged the gold earrings raised her card this time, with a smug look on her face but less determination than she had for the earrings.
“8, 000” someone at a different corner echoed out loud and the room fell nearly silent but immediately consumed by the loud voice of the host when no one said anything for the least five seconds.
“8, 000 dollars going going and gone to the handsome gentleman in the corner. Thank you very much”
The auction went on like that for the next twenty minutes and I was getting a tad bit bored and exhausted when suddenly my attention spurred to the voice of auction at the mention of a diamond ring and Matteo D’angelo’s name just immediately after.
“Next item is a lovely diamond ring donated by Mr. Matteo D’angelo” my head shot up immediately to the front and right there in front, in a show glass was the engagement ring Dante had given me. And as if by magic, I saw Matteo in the corner, staring at me, his smirk cruel and deep, and God he was a fucking bastard.