Chapter 2: Wreath of Threats

Serafina turns her expression into something bright as Damien makes his way to the stage, his blue eye glinting even brighter the closer he gets and he doesn't once take his eyes off her. His father, Luca Vulcan Kyng follows behind him, the sight of the main suspect of her father's murder making bile rise in her throat. She stands up when her mother rises beside her, forcing a smile that must look like a grimace to stretch across her lips. 

She considers the words she will say when Damien meets her mother. But he takes her off guard when he wraps his arms around her, engulfing her in a hug that has his large frame swallowing the entirety of her small one. The smile slips off her face as she feels her heart thump to a stop before it starts an erratic rhythm. She brings her arms to wrap around his midriff, unsure where she is supposed to put them as she pats him for the cameras. 

"Missed me, angel?" he husks in her eyes, the rough baritone causing the hairs on the back of her neck to stand. 

"Most ardently," she sasses, her voice saccharine sweet. 

He chuckles against her temple, patting her back. "Ah, I know I have," his voice is laden with amusement as he pulls back and she has to force a loving smile up at him. The hint of women's perfume on him not slipping her observation. 

The press conference flies by quickly, most uncomfortable questions being answered by their parents as they sit in the middle just to show their undeniable chemistry. Thankfully, it's over before any of them can blow their cover and lunge for each other's throats. 

By the time, they leave the main hall and retire to the back, Serafina is ready to flee. She's angry, upset, and humiliated at the same time. Humiliated because the Kyng heir won't stop calling her "Angel" and if she didn't know the demeaning reason why he calls her that, she would have agreed with the female reporters who awed every time he called her that.

There was another reason too, one she hated herself for noticing but once, she did, she hadn't been able to think. His secretary who stood at the far back of the hall, was visibly shaken when she first entered the hall, her lipstick messy and her shirt crinkled. She had fixed herself up in the thirty minutes that Serafina didn't look at her but nothing could hide the bruises sneaking over her pristine collar or the obvious creases on her skirt. 

So, that was the reason why he was late.

"What's your problem?" She hisses after making sure that her mother and Luca are out of earreach, her midnight blue eyes blazing as she glares up at him.

There's slow bemusement in his body language like he is having the time of his life just knowing he has managed to get under her skin. "Mmm, not sure what you mean, angel?" he hums, leaning his hips against the wall as his right hand rises to rub his mouth, canines glinting as he tries to hold back his amusement. 

"Don't call me that!" she sneers at him, the negative expression not suiting her angelic features one bit. "And I know you tend towards being a slut, but really? You couldn't contain yourself even today?" 

He chuckles as if she's just said the funniest joke in the world, his eyes glinting. "Ah, you are so funny," he cocks his head as he leans down so he is at eye level with her. "Are you jealous, butterfly? You know, you are the only one for me. I was just messing with her," he mocks, feigning an innocent puppy look and Serafina wants to rip her hair out.

"Don't call me weird names," she frowns, sees a reporter with his camera pointed at them from the corner of her eye and she mentally rolls her eyes, wrapping her arms around the monster that is Damien's shoulders. Damien's eyes widen a tiny bit before he, too notices the camera, his own large hand gripping the small of her waist, inching her closer.

If the proximity makes her feel light-headed, she ignores it. "I'm not jealous, just save me the humiliation of having my fiance cheat on me- in the public's eye, of course," she angles her head in such a way that the camera isn't able to track the movement of her lips, delicate fingers playing with the collar of his shirt. 

Damien smirks at her, face inching closer until his lips are brushing the side of her face. Her hands fist the silk of his shirt, body heating up without her permission as he breathes against her ear. Hot puffs of air made a shiver run down her spine. "You speak like you won't run to your darling boy toy the moment you step out of this building. I would be careful if I were you, angel." his actions are hot but the words he speaks cause a chill to engulf her. 

The way he talks about Ryan, the causal threat that those words hold has her reeling, stepping back a little to gather her nerves. She looks at him with those devastatingly dark midnight blue eyes clouded in suspicion. "Whatever you mean by that," she knows he has links with the mafia, hell, he might be the mafia itself and she won't let his evilness reach Ryan on her watch. What he has done to Ryan's career is bad enough. 

A new wave of disgust and hate engulfs her. "And if I am fucking him, I am careful unlike you. We are not the same," she narrows her gaze at him, pressing closer so people don't suspect. 

It is ironic the way their actions as so opposite to how they feel about each other. So closer, wrapped around each other like lovers when they can't even breathe the same air as the other. 

His hand now traces up her back, under her jacket so the heat of his palm can be felt under the thin material of the white shirt she wears. His thumb caresses between her shoulder blades once, twice, and she feels small, small, and vulnerable as his hand almost spans the totality of her back. His eyes flash as his lips part in a lopsided grin, white canines glinting dangerously as he sways her.

"Just bad words for such a pretty mouth," he purrs, the words far too sweet for the danger he carries in his eyes. "Of course, we aren't the same, birdie. I would never let anyone I hired leak private information about my company; risky move there."

Serafina schools her expression before it can give away the bewilderment she feels, acid-hot fear engulfing her gut and she almost chokes. She hopes the color isn't draining from her face the way she feels her blood rushing downwards, flight and fight activated. Where will she go? She's right in the devil's arms, long sinewy muscle trapping her like a snake coiled around its prey. 

"Mmm, judging from your silence, there is some truth to it, huh?" Gone is the amusement, his mood has shifted to something dark, something Serafina doesn't want to dip her fingers in just yet.

"I don't know what you are talking about. Hired who?" She replies, her tone very confident though she feels anything but. She hopes her pure eyes are manipulative enough though, pretty stars staring up at his differently colored ones in confusion. 

His mouth curls upwards in a smirk, hand tracing down her back to grip her side, squeezing once and her heart beats in her throat, anxious and definitely turned on. "That we will find out, butterfly. But if I find that you have any hand in the fuckedupness that we are trapped in, just know..." he nods, trailing off. And he doesn't have to finish, Serafina knows what he is capable of.

She gulps, arms lowering from his shoulders to fall beside her as she steps away. "I still don't know what you are talking about," she holds ground, feigning ignorance. 

"Serafina," her mother's call cuts off whatever Damien was going to reply and for once she is grateful for her mother's watchful eye. 

As they walk towards their parents and managers, she feels uncertainty engulf her. Sure, she doesn't want Damien to find out that the spy she hired leaked that information. Knowing Damien, he will surely cause a scene. But more than anything, she can't have her mother find out.

If Angelina Falcone finds her own daughter risked their company's reputation, the company she gave her blood, sweat, and life-sustaining, Serafina doesn't know what her mother will do.

And the thought scares her more than anything.

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