Page 50 of Stolen Vows
Genevieve appears beside Frankie, her dark eyes wide. “What are youdoing? You’re letting someone else buy her virginity when you didn’t even want me kissing her last night?”
Ignoring her, I lay my placard down on the table, fold my hands over my lap, and take several deep breaths.
When Reaper announces that she’s been sold, panic seizes my lungs. I force myself to remain in place.
Even as he guides the brunette offstage, somewhere farther away from me where I can no longer see, I stay still. The attendees begin dispersing as the end of the auction isannounced, and we’re directed to the various areas where we can collect our prizes.
I stare at a warped circle on the table as the overhead lights flicker on one by one. Genevieve says something, but it’s light-years away, traveling through muddy space and time.
I fucked up.That’s all there is to it.
There were probably a million ways I could’ve gone about retrieving Stella, but giving her this much freedom was a mistake.
One I need to rectify immediately.
Turning to Frankie, I slide my placard beneath his fingers. “Fetch me that orchid, would you? Bring it to the suite, and donotleave it unattended. If you take your eyes off it for one second, I’ll remove both from your skull.”
He nods once. “Where will you be?”
“I’ll be staying in the Glass Tower.”
“The Glass Tower?” he asks. “No one ever gets that room. It’s almost impossible to get out of.”
“Because the elevator barely works,” Genevieve adds. “You’re liable to be crushed in it before you even reach the top.”
“I’m not concerned with that. I happen to know there’s a locked stairwell inside, and the concierge can grant me access.”
Genevieve shakes her head. “Are you not attending the play party tomorrow?”
I cut her a scathing glance. “Try not to sound so disappointed, Mrs. Deveraux. You’re lucky you’re still alive after everything you pulled.”
She holds up her hands. “I wasn’timplyinganything. God. I was just saying…whoever just bid on your wife might drag her to that. I hear it’s hunter-and-prey themed, so maybe?—”
“Stella will not be in attendance. You don’t need to worry.” Tension spins a deadly web in my gut at the thought of my wifetraipsing through these unfamiliar grounds, trying to escape someone other than me.
“What are you going to do, kidnap her?” Genevieve quips.
Frankie and I share a look.
She drops her head back with a groan. “Men. Why don’t you just trytalkingto her?”
“Stella’s past the point of listening to reason.”
Plus, what would I even say? How do you explain complex feelings for a woman you barely know when you aren’t even sure what exactly those emotions are in the first place?
Maybe I didn’t think this through enough. I should just give her an annulment and cut my losses while I can. Lead Gino and whoever he brings along away from her and end them, once and for all.
The Commission would definitely have my ass for their deaths, but meeting my own demise would be preferable to existing any longer without my wife at my side.
Yet the idea of leaving the auction without her is completely unappealing.
An hour and a half later,I’ve managed to successfully convince the concierge to switch my room and give me the second key card for the stairs. They didn’t seem particularly averse to the idea since no one else wanted to stay in the old thing anyway.
Frankie transfers my luggage to the tower, begrudgingly using the elevator when I don’t accompany him. He’s not happy about it, but since I’ve yet to find Stella on the premises, I don’tgive a fuck. If I want him to be my bag boy for the rest of our lives, then so be it.
He’ll do whatever I say, or I’ll put a bullet in his head. I’m past the point of caring about anything beyond my wife.
Inside my pants pocket, my phone buzzes, and I immediately take it out, pressing it to my ear. “Speak.”
