Confined Love

Zahra

"Smile," my husband said, and I was familiar enough with him now to know that the word wasn't a suggestion but an order.

So I allowed my mouth to curve into a happy smile, took his hand and stepped down from the vehicle. I'd been struggling to keep my eyes off Dimitri since I saw him standing at the base of the stairs wearing a dark tux that molded against him like a second skin.

To my surprise, he bent over my hand and brushed a kiss that made electricity curl down to my toes over my knuckles.

I stared down at him in surprise, which immediately turned to panic, when he looked up and his dark eyes met mine. Instead of his usual cold gaze, the fire in his eyes could have burnt me alive.

I had thought I'd have to be the one doing all the heavy lifting, but Dimitri was a little too good at this. Which come to think of it shouldn't have surprised me all that much. A man like him was probably used to manipulating people, and in order to do that, you needed to be something that you were not.

"Are you ready?" He asked.

"No."

"Good." He nodded, "Let's do this anyway."

Together, we both made our way into the building where the gala was being held. The first sign that we were going to be on scrutiny the entire night was when we walked past a man puffing on cigars, a phone held to his ear.

As soon as he caught sight of us, his jaw slacked and the cigar fell from his mouth to the floor.

And then we walked into the room and one person did a double take and turned to whisper furiously into his partner's ear. It only took a few minutes for the news of our arrival to spread through the hall and then everybody was gaping at us like we had showed up naked.

"What's going on?" I asked Dimitri, "Don't tell me I'm the first ex convict they've seen around here."

"Hardly," he replied easily, "But you're the first woman I've ever showed up to an event with."

"I don't believe you." I blurted out in surprise. There was no way a man like him hadn't had women throwing themselves at him for years. He must have had his pick of them. Like the lady at the gate the other day.

"I'm not trying to convince you."

I opened my mouth to respond but a familiar voice suddenly cut in. It was a voice I had thought I would never get to hear again, and honestly, I'd have preferred it that way.

"Zahra? Is that you? I almost didn't believe it." My ex husband said, looking surprised.

On his arm was Karina, wearing a dress that was a better fit for a strip club than a black tie event. And she was staring at me with a deep hatred. I didn't understand what reason she had to hate me since she had already sent me to jail and now had Ali all to her self.

"Hello, Ali," I said coldly.

Once upon a time, my ex husband had looked like the most perfect man on earth, but now he paled beside Dimitri. I don't know whether that thought terrified me or made me feel relieved.

"I'm surprised to see you around here," Karina sneered, "I thought you'd be rotting in jail where you belonged by now."

Then she glanced over at Dimitri with a smug smile, "I can't believe you're with this thing. I don't know how she managed to crawl out of jail, but I think I have a duty to inform you that she's an ex convict."

"You_"

But my husband spoke over me, "This is the first and last warning I'll give you. But don't you ever talk to my wife in such a way like that."

Identical looks of shock were plastered on their face. Ali was the first to recover and he did so with a derisive smirk, "Come on, you don't really expect us to believe that you married her? She's a nobody and_"

Dimitri tensed beside me and he took a menacing step toward Ali that had the other man scrambling away, "What did I say about talking to or about my wife like that?" He asked in a low voice, "I know she was in jail. As a matter of fact, I'm the one who brought her out of jail." He pressed a kiss to the top of my head, "I've always wanted her and I saw my opportunity when you discarded her. You had a diamond and you tossed it away because of a pebble."

Karina's face twisted into a look of anger that amused me, "I'm no pebble! Do you know who I am?"

"Of course I do," my husband agreed immediately, "You're a nobody.

A drawn out gasp left Katrina's mouth. And it left me feeling smug with satisfaction. She was probably not used to anyone talking to her in such a way, and for years she had watched my ex husband demean me like that. Well, now the tables were turned.

I couldn't hide the small smile that bloomed across my face and as soon as she noticed it, her face went as red as a tomato.

At that moment, my husband's phone began to ring and he pulled it out of his pocket. His jaw ticked when he saw the caller ID, "Excuse me."

Panic immediately filled me that he was leaving me all alone with the two people that had tormented me and almost ended my life. I watched him disappear out of sight, and no sooner had he gone than Katrina whirled on me.

"You must be having so much fun playing whore to a man like that!" She snarled, "Well, it won't last forever, so don't count yourself lucky yet."

"You'd know best," I said boldly, "After all, you have a lot of experience playing that role."

Ali's dark eyes turned into stone and I could see the tell tale signs that he was about to explode. I mumbled an excuse and walked off, eager to find my husband. I couldn't believe he had abandoned me after all the noise he had made of us pretending to be the perfect couple at this gala.

My gaze flew around, searching for him and finally, I saw his familiar broad shoulders walking down a darkened hallway.

I followed after him, dodging the crowd of perfectly dressed guests. I kept my steps light as I trailed him down the hallway and into a tastefully decorated sitting room. I pushed the door open slightly and cocked my ear to listen to what he was saying.

"What do you mean by we won't be able to access it?" Dimitri growled, "Why am I just hearing that only Dominic Vazklov's daughter's blood can_" he trailed off, listening to the caller, "You assured me that it would be mine in no time, so I don't care what you have to do. Hunt the girl down to the ends of the earth if you have to."

He listened to whatever the other person was saying and then bit out something in Russian, "If that moron Ali gets it before me, I'll make you wish you had never been born. This isn't a threat, it's a promise."

The lethal darkness in his voice made me shiver, and I immediately turned to scurry off, realizing that snooping on my husband was a bad idea.

"Until I have it in my grasp, there'll be no rest for anybody," he paused, "The secret venom will be mine."

Holy shit!