Page 55 of Wicked Throne

It was the weirdest shit.

I couldn’t even make a move to touch her.

She would swat at my hands and glare a hole into my face.

Diamond?

No, her ass should’ve been named Elsa. She was an ice queen through and through if she wanted to be.

“Ugh,” she exclaimed.

“What?”

We were watching the decorators go over the interior design of our new joint venture, The Deuce. The nightlife in Atlanta was amazing and opening a new club was needed especially to clean all of the money that I’d been acquiring by taking over the southern ports.

Diamond ignored me and stormed off like lightning to explain what she wanted the decorator to do.

My phone began to ping and it was Rex. He was Diamond’s father’s, right-hand man.

“What is it?”

“Are you and Diamond together?”

“We are…”

“John passed away a few minutes ago.”

We were silent for a beat.

Rex had tasked me to tell Diamond that her father was now dead.

“We’ll be there shortly,” I replied and ended the call.

My wife came back over to my side of the room, still glaring at me. Quietly, I approached but she shied away from my touch.

“Diamond,” I said gently.

“Thierry, let's not talk. I like it when you’re quiet.”

“And that’s fine, Tessoro. You know I like when you’re doing all the talking but I have to tell you something.”

She arched an eyebrow.

She looked perfect, her hair was braided and thrown over a shoulder. Her lips were painted a candy red. I was about to ruin her life with my words.

“Rex called me…we should go.”

Her face morphed and I knew that I would remember the look for the rest of my life. The horror that scrolled over her face would be etched into my memory forever.

Her hands flew up to go through her hair. She became frazzled, stuttering over her words, and finally, she allowed me to pull her in close, something I’d been wanting to do for days.

“It’s going to be alright,” I whispered into her hair.

She had begun to sob and the decorators were looking. I finally decided to get her out of the club. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to take her to her father’s home but I didn’t want the argument. She’d let her guard down for just a moment and I fully intended to take advantage of that.

Jingle Bells was playing on the radio when we got into the car. My hand immediately turned it off. Who needed the reminder that Christmas was so close when your father had just died.

We drove in silence and I contemplated what this meant for my future at the head of John Knowles empire.