Page 73 of The Mafia Marriage Contract

I look up, my eyes scouring the room for the necklace. I open and slam shut drawers, sweeping my eyes over every surface.

No necklace.

I stalk into the bathroom and put my good hand on the side of the marble sink when a glint of gold and diamonds catches my eye. I turn my head, my jaw tensing as I grab the necklace from the shelf.

She took it off. Left it here. Fucking rejected. Cast aside.

A ragingknot twists my gut.

Besides the fact that it was always a device used to keep her under my thumb, her complete disregard of my gift burns my blood. Carelessly cast aside, left in the goddamn bathroom.

Hairs on the back of my neck spring up.

She left it here, leftmehere, to run off with that motherfucker.

She made her choice.

And when the world finds out about it, I’ll be seen as weak. Discarded. Betrayed.

I grip the edge of the sink, digging my fingertips into the stone, imagining they’re digging into Roman’s fucking eye sockets instead.

She’s a liar. A two-faced fucking liar. And none of what happened between us was real. It was all bullshit.

And I shouldn’t care. At all. This was always just for show, nothing more.

But again, my body resists the words my brain keeps screaming.

I grab my phone and dial Cormac’s number.

He answers on the first ring. “Kingston, this certainly is a surprise. I expected you’d still be recuperating from your rather, ah, suspenseful evening.”

“Don’t fucking play me, O’Callaghan,” I seethe. “Your daughter took off with that asshole Roman this morning. You know anything about that?”

“No, of course not.” His voice morphs from his normal dickheaded tone to one of genuine shock. “Roman didn’t say anything to me about it.”

“You’re full of shit. You really think I’m that blind? Your daughter told you where to find us theother night, didn’t she? And you put out that hit, you slimy fucking bastard.” I grip my phone tight.

“I didn’t do anything,” he insists. “Why would I put a hit on you when we just merged our families?”

Because you’re a lying, two-faced snake like your daughter and the apple doesn’t fall far from the fucking tree?

“Who else could want me dead, Cormac? Your head of security has a shit ton to gain if I’m out of the picture.”

“He would never go against my orders,” Cormac says gruffly. “He knows how important it is for you and Livvie to present a united front.”

“Well, maybe he just doesn’t give a fuck,” I say. “Maybe he’s got his own agenda and taking the mafia princess gives him a fuck ton more leverage than you think.”

Losing control of his own people would make Cormac look just as fucking weak as my wife slipping out on me and bedding the goddamn enemy. We both have a lot to lose here if Roman is acting on his own.

“I’ll find him,” Cormac says. “I will fix this immediately.”

I end the call without responding, then toss the phone onto the bed. I pace the length of the room, fisting the side of my hair.

Just when the pent-up rage boiling my insides is about to spew all over the fucking place, my ringtone blares out. I grab it from the bed and stab the Accept button.

“Kingston,” Cormac says. “Roman…” He pauses and my throat tightens. “Roman has gone rogue. He’s off the grid. I can’t reach him and nobody has had contact with him today. He’s… gone.”

I don’t speak. I just hurl my phone at the wall, an infernoof ire blasting into every cell. I hate her, hate that she turned me into this person.