Corrupted Queen - Nicole Fox Page 0,64

complexion, so we spend most of our time inside, of course, but the ocean view is worth its salt alone.” She smiles, more for Gabriel than for me. She has been more or less ignoring me. “Where is it that you summer, Gabriel?”

Gabriel clears his throat. “We didn’t have much time to get away this summer.”

“But surely you have some delectable property that poor Alexis could escape to when you’re all work and no play?”

It’s the first time she has addressed me. I jump on the opportunity.

“He does have the cabin in the Poconos,” I say. “But I daresay I don’t think I would go there alone.”

“Oh, why ever not?” Beatrice simpers.

I hold her gaze with a grave expression. “Because that’s where they discovered Fabrizio’s body.”

Beatrice pales a little, and Gabriel’s hand tightens on my hip. It’s totally worth it. She makes a shaky excuse and swans away not a second later, and I let out a bark of laughter the second she is out of earshot.

“That was cruel,” Gabriel remarks.

I look up, expecting to see disapproval creased in his brow, but instead I find his lips ticked at the edges, amusement playing in his dark eyes.

“Oh come on,” I say. “She deserved it.”

Gabriel swoops down and presses a kiss to my lips. He pulls away long before I am ready but hovers close to my face.

“All terrified elites aside,” he murmurs. “You’re doing a great job. I’m proud of you.”

He kisses my forehead and straightens, and I try to contain the smile that goes skyrocketing up my cheeks. Warmth blossoms in the pit of my belly and I let it wash over me, feeling for a second like I could conquer the world with only a hope and a prayer.

The flash of a camera draws me back to the present, and I remember why we’re here, the façade we are painting of the happy billionaire couple. I glance up at Gabriel and he is smiling for the camera. I wonder, is his tenderness as contrived as the rest of this billionaire persona?

“I need to go to the bathroom,” I blurt.

Gabriel glances down at me with concern. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, fine.” I force a smile. “Back in a jiff.”

I unlatch from his side and stride across the room toward the bathroom, heat glazing my cheeks. I just need a breathing room, and maybe a pep talk in the mirror. This is all starting to feel too real, and I find myself wanting to slip into the fantasy and not come out. I don’t know if I can bear Gabriel turning cold on me again. I think it might kill me.

I stomp into the bathroom and go to the sink at the far end, running cool water over my hands as I gaze at my reflection.

Don’t be stupid, I tell myself, conviction making the words echo in my head. You are strong. This will not kill you.

Then why does my heart already feel like it’s breaking? All this reading between the lines, the unspoken feelings, the subterfuge … It’s getting to be too much.

Before I can continue this suddenly very serious and ill-timed identity crisis, I hear a commotion outside the bathroom. There is a woman screaming, something about being used as someone’s fuck toy. This event just got a whole lot more interesting, and I welcome the distraction.

I hustle out of the bathroom, only to find that the object of the woman’s quarrel is not, as I figured it would be, some well-deserving douchebag. There’s no doubt about it.

She’s yelling at Gabriel.

21

Gabriel

Until one minute ago, everything was going so well. Alexis and I were facilitating a successful image overhaul, and in the process reestablishing a tender familiarity between us that I’d missed in the face of all my recent stresses. We only had a couple hours left at this fundraiser and then I’d be free to take Alexis home and show her my appreciation. The way her green dress draped over her curves had been tempting me all night.

And then ... this bitch.

“No wonder you never called!” the angry brunette slurs, eyes narrowed into slits. She tilts a little from left to right in front of me, her cheeks flushed with drink. “You’ve got a little family, and there’s no room in it for the girls you fuck and discard like garbage.”

She’s pretty, or would be if she wasn’t shouting and staggering with indignity. But I have never seen her before in my life.

“You have me mistaken with someone else,”