Page 88 of Depraved

The three of us stop and look at each other as the costumed guys greet us.

“What the fuck are we going to have to do to get beads from them?” Dom chimes in, making me and Luca laugh loudly.

We’re handed our anonymity for the night in the form of masks from the devils—animal masks for the men and beautiful lace eye masks for the women. Sarah takes her slender piece of black lace and holds it out for me to tie around her head.

I bring the fabric to a close behind her head and tie it in a bow. “All good?”

Bending down, I press a kiss against her neck over her collar.

All fucking mine.

“Yes, thank you,” she says, turning around smiling, her blue eyes even bluer now that they’re highlighted by the black on her face.

“Who are you? I don’t even recognize you,” I tease.

I take my own mask, holding it up to look at it. A half-faced silver wolf looks back at me. Placing it over my face, I pull the tie over my head and adjust it to my face. Angling to Sarah, I growl down toward her.

She laughs and pats my chest. “I picked that one out specifically for you.”

I’m gonna hunt you down later, Billy.

I smirk as she turns around and answers something Drew asks her as we make our way to the table that’s been reserved for us.

As we walk forward, I grab Dominic’s arm and hold him back, taking a moment before I relax. “What was that earlier? Something I need to worry about?”

He shakes me off, smiling. “No. I’m sure it was nothing. Let’s have a good time. It’s a party.”

It’s a party…so I throw away my questions and worries as he throws an arm around my shoulder and waves the waiter over.

“Let’s drink,” he bellows, and the room cheers back.

Champagne is delivered to our table, and we all take glasses, lifting our arms in a toast. I wrap my other one around Sarah’s waist and tug her in close as glasses clink, and we sip the Dom Perignon. Her face lifts to mine as our eyes lock, and I can’t let another moment pass before I say what I wanted to before.

But first I want to kiss her.

My hand splays across her back, sealing her against me as my lips melt into hers. I break our kiss, watching as her eyelashes flutter before she focuses on me.

“Earlier…when you asked me what I wanted to be called….” I say, locking our eyes as my chest rises quicker. “Husband. That’s what I want.”

A shot rings out, screams erupting from every corner, as people scatter from the room. I blink seeing the glass Sarah was holding falling to the ground, her face ashen and blanched by fear. Everything is in slow motion as I reach for my gun, swinging it to where the sound came from as I shove myself in front of Sarah and rip the mask off my face.

A man in a full-faced venetian mask stands in front of my gun with guards at his side. He places his Glock behind his back and takes a step closer toward me. Beady eyes dart behind the holes in his mask to where Sarah is protected behind me and back to my face.

Lifting the mask from his mouth, his words land like a bomb.

“Get your dirty wop hands off my fucking wife.”

WIFE?WHAT THE HELL DIDhe just say?

My head swivels to see Dom and Luca standing with Drew and Gretchen, but the room is otherwise empty, filled only with tension that’s heightened by silence. The man across from Dante slowly removes the all-white venetian mask from his face, and my will for survival snaps in two.

“Declan,” I breathe out.

I don’t feel myself moving or fighting, but I’m doing both. I’m screaming and digging into the ground as I lunge for him again and again, over and around Dante, heaving in gulps of breath each time I empty my lungs with my ferocity.

Dante’s arm hooks around my waist and drags me backward, lifting me off the ground as I scream and swing my arms out, hoping to get a piece of Declan.

“I killed you. I killed you.”