Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 105679 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 528(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105679 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 528(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
For one suspended moment, there was only silence and cold and darkness.
Then my survival instinct kicked in.
My lungs burned. I kicked desperately against the weight of my sodden dress, fighting my way to the surface. I broke through with a violent gasp, water streaming from my face. I knew my makeup was ruined. Everything was ruined.
The night air, which had felt so pleasantly cool before, now bit into my wet skin like tiny needles. “You—” The word came out as a choked sound.
But whatever I was going to say died in my throat as I looked up. Adrian towered over me, standing at the fountain’s edge, tall and imposing against the night sky. The moonlight cast a shadow on his villainous face, but I could still see the sharp angle of his cheekbone and the cruel curve of his mouth.
His eyes glittered with malicious delight as he looked down at me, that infuriating, blasphemous smirk playing on his lips.
“You asked me to let go,” he said, his voice a low purr.
He crouched down at the fountain’s edge, his movements predatory and deliberate. I tried to scramble backward, but the water slowed my movements, my dress weighing me down like an anchor.
Without warning, his hand reached out and he did the most outrageous thing I could ever imagine.
Adrian cupped my breast through the soaked satin. The fabric, now wet and clinging to every curve, offered no protection from his brazen gaze and touch. His thumb brushed deliberately over my nipple, which had hardened painfully in the cold. A jolt shot through my body… shock, outrage, and something else I couldn’t quite understand.
“Such a responsive little thing. Look at you,” he murmured, his eyes darkening with something primal. Hunger. Need. Lust. His eyes never left mine, even as his thumb continued its torturous circles. “All that fire, doused but not extinguished. I wonder what my brother would think if he saw you now. His fiancée, drenched and touched by a man she didn’t belong to.”
Humiliation burned hotter than any physical sensation. With a strangled cry, I slapped his hand away and pushed myself to my feet. Water cascaded from my ruined dress, the once-pristine white now translucent and clinging obscenely to my body. It left nothing to the imagination. My hair, so carefully arranged by Lucia, hung in wet ropes down my back.
I was a mess and I loathed Adrian Salvatore with every fiber of my being.
“Don’t you ever touch me again,” I snapped, though my chattering teeth diminished the effect.
The silver mask hung askew on my face, now a mockery of the perfect facade I’d maintained all evening. I ripped it off my face and threw it into the fountain.
“Look at what you’ve done,” I whispered brokenly, my voice trembling with both fury and humiliation. “Are you happy now?”
Adrian rose to his full height, towering over me once more. His eyes, a stormy shade of blue, swept over me, trailing over my drenched form with unabashed interest. “Immensely,” he replied.
I wrapped my arms around myself, suddenly feeling more naked than if I’d worn nothing at all. The engagement ring glinted on my finger, a cold reminder of where and to whom my loyalties should lie, and everything I had just jeopardized. If anyone saw me like this, with him…
“I hate you,” I hissed, stumbling out of the fountain. The hem of my dress dragged behind me like a sodden train. “You’re vile. Despicable. A cold, cruel bastard.”
I’d been taught that ladies didn’t curse; we didn’t use foul language.
But Adrian had obliterated everything I had learned, every moment of decent morality I had practiced in my life.
“Such harsh words from such pretty lips.” Adrian’s voice followed me as I stalked away, my arms wrapping around myself. “Lips that were so soft against mine just moments ago.”
“For the love of God, just shut up!”
He laughed. He… just… freaking… laughed.
He truly was enjoying this, my humiliation. What have I ever done to him to deserve such treatment?
Angry, mortifying tears welled up in my eyes. I quickened my pace, desperate to get away from his taunting, to find somewhere I could recover my dignity before anyone from the ballroom saw me like this.
Water pooled at my feet as I moved, each step making an uncomfortable sound.
Adrian followed, matching my retreat with a slow, deliberate stride.
My heels slipped on the wet stone as I tried to walk, nearly sending me sprawling again. I kicked them off in frustration.
“Serafina!”
Matteo’s voice cut through the night air like a knife, distant but drawing closer. My heart lurched into my throat as panic seized every muscle in my body. I froze, barefoot and dripping, my ruined dress clinging to me like a second skin.
No, no, no. Please, no.
“Serafina!” he called again, his voice edged with impatience.
Terror made my teeth chatter more violently than the cold. “He can’t see me like this,” I whispered frantically. “He can’t—"