For Better, For Worse: The Serpent's Contract Wife

"King?" I asked, with wide eyes looking between her and Esme. "Are you by chance related to Athena King?"

"Of course, she’s my sister-in-law," Catherine mused. "You know her?"

"Oh, my god. I-I’m a huge fan of hers!" I squeaked in excitement, but I quickly dimmed my voice before I made a fool of myself.

Athena King was a fashion icon, and she was my role model when it came to wearing sophisticated attires.

"I love all her collections. She always know how to make a statement!" I said again, unable to contain my excitement.

"Yes, she does!" Catherine laughed, the sound so angelic it made my heart flutter.

There was something about her I couldn’t quite place. She possessed an effortless grace, but you could tell there was that blunt edge.

"Well, if this isn’t our lucky day, Esme. It’s a fan meetup."

"Truly, this is a huge honor," I said.

"Oh please... let’s not be so formal. It’s exhausting."

Yep! There’s that blunt edge.

Esme shifted her attention to me, releasing her grip from her mother’s hand and stepping forward.

She was so adorable with her red hair swept into a sleek bun. Her soft pink gown was beautiful, paired with cream tights and glittering ballet flats that caught the light with every step.

"Mrs. Salvero. Would you sign my ballet shoes, please?"

"I’d be delighted."

Catherine threw a look over her shoulder, and a bizarre thing happened. Most of the men, engaged in conversations throughout the room, turned their attention toward her.

With a closer look, I realized they wore the same brand of suits as though functioning under one network, and when they closed in on us, I grew anxious.

"Sorry about that..." Catherine said with an apologetic expression. "I told them to blend in so that they wouldn’t cause a stir, but I suppose that didn’t work."

"T-That’s quite a few men," I said nervously, doing my best to compose myself.

"Courtesy of my husband."

Was her husband a politician or something? Because it was far too overboard.

One of them walked toward her, dark hair and brown eyes. He held a pink box that stood in stark contrast to his whole outfit.

"Thank you!" Esme pitched, taking the box.

"That will be all, Scott."

With a firm nod, he retreated, followed by the rest of the men. They blended so well into the crowd that I would never have noticed they were there under one orders.

"Mrs. Salvero."

I descended my gaze to Esme, looking up to me.

Smiling, I crouched. "Please call me Anastasia or Ana for short."

"Really?" she grinned broadly.

"Yes."

She quickly opened the box, and I saw her cute ballet shoes.

"Daddy got it for my fifth birthday."

"It’s so beautiful!"

She nodded in agreement. "Yes, it is, and they are my favorite pair. I want you to sign them."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive!"

I grinned, checking my minaudière. "Unfortunately, I don’t have a marker on me."

"I got you!" She raised a glitter pen for me. "I came prepared."

"Oh, amazing. Perhaps if I wanna hold a sign up, you’d be my partner."

"I’ll make sure to do my job right." She tilted her chin in pride, and I chuckled softly.

I took her shoe, debating how I was gonna do this. This was something I had never done before, so I just opted for my signature.

Judging by the wonder in Esme’s gaze, it seemed like I did it right, and also just made a little girl’s dream come true.

"Thank you," Catherine mouthed to me.

Esme placed the shoes back in the box and gave it to Catherine, turning back to me and taking my hand.

"One day, I want to dance just like you!"

I smiled broadly, rising to my full height, but I leaned toward her, cupping her cheeks. "Keep working hard, and one day you’ll dance even better than I do."

"You think so?"

"I know so."

"Let’s seal that with a promise!"

I laughed. "Okay."

She held up her pinkie finger, and we crossed it.

"Can we make one more promise?"

"Sureee," I said sweetly.

"I wish I could dance with you one day on stage."

Catherine chuckled. "She’s been saying that for a while now. She played your performance so many times and followed every sequence."

"Oh, now I wish I could see it. I bet you were excellent."

She did a curtsy.

"Aww. Aren’t you the cutest fan ever?"

She giggled sweetly.

"There you are..." A hand slipped to the small of my back, and I found Zade behind me. "I’ve been looking everywhere for you."

"Zade."

He came out of nowhere.

Slowly, he darted his eyes to Catherine. "And you must be..."

"Catherine King," she replied.

"King? That name sounds familiar," he murmured.

"I assure you the name doesn’t stick here."

"Maybe, but the name pulls my interest."

Catherine raised an eyebrow. "Huh. And you are...?"

"Seems like I haven’t introduced myself. Zade Salvero."

"Salvero... You must be Anastasia’s husband. Pleasure."

"The pleasure is all mine," Zade replied.

Suddenly, a light tap against a glass caught our attention, and we looked toward Mrs. Valmont.

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention, please? Thank you for joining us this evening. We kindly ask you to take your seats as we begin tonight’s program."

"It was nice meeting you, Anastasia and..." Catherine trailed as she kept her eyes on Zade. "Mr. Salvero."

"Mommy, can we sit with them, pleeeesse?"

"I see your daughter has taken an interest in my wife," Zade stated.

Catherine giggled. "She has, and I wouldn’t mind."

"That’s wonderful!" I pitched in. "Please, after you."

She took Esme’s hand and walked toward a table. Then my smile dropped as I pinned Zade with a look.

"What was that about?" I whisper-hissed.

"Careful there, darling. You can burn my eyes out with that look."

"Believe me, I’m thinking about it right now."

"Calm your pussy."

A passerby looked towards our direction right at the instant those crude words left Zade’s mouth, and I chuckled nervously as though he had made a joke.

"Sweetie, there are no cats here. Remember?" I said through clenched teeth as I maintained my smile.

He gripped my waist and yanked me closer, the sudden action prompting a grunt from me.

Fuck! I could feel it. The war happening in his pants right now.

Focus, Ana!

"Just play your part, kitten."

I frowned. "I’m not playing anything. Catherine’s a nice woman, and I enjoy her company as well as Esme’s."

For a minute there, I expected something. Perhaps a way to warn me that there would be consequences to my actions later, but I got none of that, just a smirk tugging his lips wider.

"Whatever you say, darling, this is your day after all."

Ugh! Why is he suddenly infuriating right now? Maybe because I knew there was some ulterior motive here.

"So tell me then."

"Tell you what, darling?" He asked, passing a glance around.

"What this is about..." I clarified. "You said watch out for a redhead, and then not too long after, I saw a sweet little girl and a beautiful woman."

"They are unique, aren’t they?" Zade began bracing a hand at the small of my back.

"Meaning...?"

"A quarter of every man here is under her authority," he whispered to my ear.

"She’s a politician’s wife?"

Zade barked a laugh, pausing as he took me in with a soft look in his eyes. "So naive."

"Excuse me?"

"You’ve been around me for a while, and you still guess?"

I shrugged. "You are unpredictable half the time. I barely know what you are gonna say or do. It frustrates me sometimes."

He paused in thought as though I had hit a nerve I shouldn’t have. Have I?

"I’ll tell you this..." he began. "Mrs. King is a wife to a very important man."

"You kind of mention that be—" I paused as realization gripped.

Ah... not the wife of a politician, it seemed. That explained why there were so many guards. Though I have never known a Don’s action to be so public. I mean half the people here can already tell they were her men.

"Who exactly is she married to?" I asked that more to myself than Zade, but he heard.

"Trust me, you don’t wanna know."

I sighed before turning to leave, but he stopped me by gripping my waist from behind.

"Going somewhere? The table is over there."

I eyed where Catherine and her daughter were.

"The restroom. Except you wanna stick around."

"If I do that, then we won’t be present for the rest of the night."

He squeezed my ass and a hot shiver raced up my spine. God, I hope no one saw that.

"Off you go."

Too embarrassed to look at him anymore, I walked ahead. I paused for a while asking directions from the waitress, and she pointed toward her left.

"Thanks."

On my way, Luca strided toward me, and kept close behind.

"Why are you following me?" I asked as we made our way down the hall.

He shrugged. "Given your experience with restrooms, sis, I think the company is needed."

I rolled my eyes. "Don’t remind me."

He laughed, but then the sound died out.

Thud!

I froze in my tracks, before I turned sharply and my blood ran cold.

A man was holding a gun, and Luca’s body was knocked out cold on the floor.

"Luca!"

"Hello, Ana."

I turned toward the voice, but it was too late. The back of a hand slammed across my face, sending me crashing into the wall, and everything went black.