Elara's POV,
"She doesn't look like she belongs here…"
"I heard she lives in his house."
"Not married… but not just a mistress either."
"The young wolf doesn't do public appearances like this."
"Give it time. He'll get bored."
"Yeah, she's temporary."
"If Kòrvac brought her… she's obviously important."
They aren't even bothering to hide their whispers. I frown deeper and take another sip of my champagne.
Lucien had left me to attend to "business" when he was the one who told me to keep to his side. Now, I am fodder for the public eye.
They look at me like I don't belong here, and I keep my chin up. They don't get to judge me.
Bitches and asses.
"You look like you want to murder someone."
My jaw tightens, and I turn with a smirk to the gentleman standing beside me. Except he wasn't really.
Dante Abbruzzo.
A rival mafia family of the Kórvacs. But if I remember correctly, they'd been going head-to-head trying to have a partnership. The original deal had failed because of Lucien's control and Dante's arrogance. They'd almost caused a war.
Almost.
The two leaders are just prideful idiots, in my own opinion.
"Hello." I tilt my head and adjust the white fur hanging over my shoulder to cover my back.
He stretches forth his hand, "Dante Abbruzzo, at your service."
I glance down at his outstretched hand, look up to see Lucien still occupied and slip my hand into his.
"Elara."
He plants a gentle kiss on the back of my palm, "Just Elara? I swear I heard the gossip right."
"Maybe you did." I slip my hand from his, my eyes gleaming wickedly. He'd seen us. Good. "Maybe not."
"You're interesting." His eyes drop down to my bare finger, then my neck, donning the family heirloom. "Very interesting."
"Dante Abbruzzo." My husband's voice booms from behind me as his hand snakes around my waist. "A pleasure."
"As always." Dante grins, "I was just discussing with the pretty damsel, do you mind?"
He raises a brow, and Lucien's arm on my waist tenses up, "Call her pretty damsel one more time, and…"
"You're both arguing over the wrong thing, isn't that right, Lucien?" I slur, taking a bottle of champagne from the ice bucket beside us. If I didn't act fast, this whole thing could blow.
According to my research, the Abbruzzos were getting tired of Dante's delay with his partnership with the Kórvacs, and they were going to take the business somewhere else.
My information source says Virellis, just so they would be faster with paying back their debt to the Kórvacs.
Over my dead body before that happens. The deal starts now.
"No, I wasn't." Lucien hisses under his breath, and I give him a "sweet" look, then pour some wine into his glass.
"Yes, you were." Then I turn to Dante, who has his arm folded across his chest.
"He doesn't waste time on deals that don't last," I pour him a drink in his glass, keeping my eye on him. "That's why people keep coming back."
Lucien places a hand on the small of my back as a warning. If I fucked this up, the whole family would go up in flames.
I couldn't threaten a powerful mafia don if I wanted to keep my head, and I couldn't try to assert dominance because of the clash of their pride. I have no official power yet, since I'm not yet Lucien's wife.
But…I could do something.
I am Elara. Bending to no one, except to aim.
Dante raises his brow, "This isn't a negotiation, sweetheart. We've made up our mind."
Lucien takes a small step forward, and I subtly block him from going further, "The deal wasn't bad. You and I know it."
He scoffs, then takes a sip of his wine, "No, it wasn't. I just didn't…"
"You didn't accept because it made you look smaller."
He pauses in taking another sip mid-air and looks at Lucien, amused. "I suppose you have one to make me look bigger."
"Lucien and I discussed," Even if we didn't, I figured it's best to lay this out with his name backing me. One of them has to drop their pride. "You strike me as someone who prefers stability over risk."
He shifts his feet, "And?"
"And we can arrange something to suit your taste."
"I think your husband disagrees."
I sneak a glance at Lucien to see him glaring holes into my skull. I ignore him, "That's his resting face."
"You're running out of time, sweetheart."
"Careful."
Lucien steps beside me with a tilt of his head. I have no conflict with Dante, but he has with Lucien, so he's using me to rile him up.
Except Lucien doesn't give two shits.
I clear my throat, "My husband didn't compromise because he doesn't know how to share power."
Lucien looks at me now, clearly surprised. His eyes screamed at me to step back, but I'm not done.
"You don't need to work under him." I pause, then say lowly, as if I were saying a secret. "And he doesn't need to bend to you."
I step slightly closer. "You operate independently… but share access to one thing."
Dante narrows his eyes. "And what the hell would that be?"
"His network."
Silence. From the corner of my eye, I see Lucien's hands fold into fists. I've just revealed in front of him that I know what he is and who he is.
"You'd have access to his distribution, reach, and infrastructure."
Danet raises the glass to his lips, and I can tell he's considering.
"You keep your power." I gesture to him, then jerk my head to Lucien. "He keeps his control. And both of you double your profit."
He takes a long sip of his wine, and I know he can't back out of the deal. Because I've given him what he wanted from the beginning, his ego preserved, his territory still maintained, and access to the Kórvac network.
Even Lucien couldn't reject the offer. This way, he had control over the Abbruzzos, whether he knew it or not.
And from his silence, he knew it.
"Opportunities like this rarely stay available for long," I say, hurrying up his decision.
He chuckles, dropping his glass on a passing busboy's tray, "And who draws up the contract? Him? Sorry, sweetheart, but I don't exactly trust your husband."
Lucien steps forward, his eyes glowering. "I'll advise you to stop calling my wife sweetheart if you don't want another war."
"Like you have the balls, pretty face."
Before Lucien can interject again, I step forward, "You don't need to trust him, but it isn't trust that has brought you this far, is it?"
"You should be a diplomat." He rubs the ring on his hand.
"…You see yourselves in each other."
"The fuck?"
"I can never…"
"You do, whether you both like it or not. This will work."
There's a bit of silence before Dante turns around with a smirk.
"I'll have my assistant draw up a draft to be delivered to your house, Kórvac."
"I want you to swear that you agree."
I say, stopping him before he can leave. He slowly turns back with a smirk, "You…trust my word right now?"
"No," I say immediately, "but I've been playing this game long enough to know a fool when I see one."
In other words, if he doesn't accept and take the deal to the Virellis, he's a big idiot.
"You have my word, then." He smirks, "I agree."
I don't breathe any sigh of relief. "How wise."
He laughs loudly, attracting the attention of people around.
"I like you, Elara." Then he looks at Lucien and winks. "You won the lottery with this one, eh?"
With that, he leaves.
I chug the wine in my hand, down my throat, refusing to look at Lucien. I had just negotiated using his empire without his permission, and he was silent throughout.
Good thing I'm leaving tomorrow morning then.
"You…"
"No need to thank me," I smirk, playfully. "I didn't do it for you."
True. I did because I didn't want the Virellis to have anything. It was my sweet form of revenge. Matteo would be screaming at the top of his lungs when he finds out.
Lucien scoffs, then licks his bottom lip, "You're funny."
"You mean, efficient."
"My bad, I mean, crazy."
"Still works for me." I shrug, and our eyes remain locked onto each other. His eyes were always so soft and pained whenever I looked at him, but today…
His eyes mimic Asher's when he just finished watching an amusing movie. He looks relaxed.
Suddenly, a shout and a crash are coming from the other side of the room. Lucien and I turn at the same time to see that a glass sculpture had fallen and shattered on a girl's bulky dress.
Another woman hurries to get the girl up, and when they raise their heads, my whole world turns upside down.
Anya and Dorine Virelli…what were they doing here?