broke his neck with a finality that made me drag down a lungful of air. I was sure I'd never breathed so deeply or so easily. Duke was dead. The last of my nightmares would shatter with him. I was free. And yet...I wasn't. I was still held by Ramon, but not for long. I have to get out of here.
I stood, lifting my dress and tucking the phone into the top of my suspenders to hide it then dropped my skirt and turned to look up at the wall above me. No window.
I growled under my breath, pushing out of the stall and thankfully finding the room empty as I checked every cubicle for a window, but there was none.
Shit.
The door flew open and Ramon strode in with his eyes like pitch. I acted fast, dropping my hands into the nearest sink as I washed them, my heart crashing into my ribcage.
"Where is Carlos?" he hissed, glancing at the stalls like his eight foot guard might appear out of a toilet.
I shrugged, not giving him my voice as I glared coolly at him. He strode forward, gripping my arm and staring down his nose at me.
"Drop the attitude, Sasha."
I bared my teeth at him, hissing like a wildcat and he shook me in fury. The door opened and a couple of women walked in, gasping as they spotted Ramon there.
Ramon looped his arm around my waist, planting his mouth on mine and I winced as I tried to draw away, but he gripped the back of my head so I couldn't.
"Forgive us," he told the women as he broke the kiss. "I can't keep my hands off of her since my wife was returned to me."
"Aww," one of the woman cooed and the other smiled at me with jealousy in her eyes. But if she wanted Ramon she could have him, his house, his army of assholes and she could have my ugly ass dress too.
He guided me out of the room and we strode along the corridor back to the party.
“You’d better not be up to anything, my darling,” Ramon spoke into my ear, pressing a kiss to my temple and my gut churned.
"Ramon! Come speak with Sergio Vladisk," the mayor called as he spotted us, beckoning him over.
Ramon nodded keenly then guided me over to another one of his guards who I was fairly sure was called Juan and placed me in his arms. "Dance with my girl, keep her occupied."
"Sure thing, boss," he said and Ramon kissed my cheek, leaving my flesh pulsing like I'd been stung there by a bee as he hurried away to join the mayor.
Juan couldn't dance, but apparently I could, the waltz now playing awakening some muscle memory in me as I guided him around the room instead of the other way around. Despite my dance skills, I purposefully stepped on Juan's feet time and again, batting my lashes at him as he cursed under his breath and tried to keep up with me.
A man suddenly cut into the dance in a black mask, with eyes that looked directly into my soul. My heart stopped beating, my breath caught and my whole world tipped on its axis. He shouldered Juan out the way who grunted before stepping off of the dance floor and watching me from there instead, seeming glad of the excuse to stop dancing with me.
Nicoli's hands wrapped around me, tugging me close as we spun around the room in perfect sync with one another.
"Hey baby doll," he breathed in my ear and I clutched him tighter, my hand sliding up the back of his neck as I just drank in his hazelnut scent and my face grazed against the stubble on his jaw.
"You came for me," I whispered.
"I'd face every force of nature on this earth to free you, Winter," he growled low and deep, sending a shiver through me that made me pant.
I looked into his dark eyes and drank in every golden fleck in them, my soul seeming to connect with his. But there was one thing I still needed to confirm. "That girl I saw you with-"
"I was set up," he cut me off instantly. "Drugged." He didn't elaborate, but his eyes moved to Ramon across the room and if hatred could sear flesh then my husband would have been barbecued by now. It didn’t surprise me that that bastard was responsible, but it awoke a fresh kind of rage in me that longed to