11 ~ Mira

The drive was filled with tense silence. When I tried to pick up my phone to pass the time, Jace stopped me. He said it was not the time and if I needed to look at anything I should stare at the window as the car drove past different things. I was a little bit upset by that so I frowned. 

"Keep that up and you'll have a reason to shed tears by the end of the night." He warned me. 

I immediately fixed my face into something plain. He seemed pissed and I knew better than to be stubborn after what happened in the morning.

We arrived at the venue about half an hour later.

My heart raced as we walked into the fancy ballroom of the the hotel that I found out belonged to Jace.

He took my hand in his own and when we walked in with his guards surrounding us, all eyes were on us. I could hear mumbling and whispering as we walked in. I looked up at my husband and saw that his jaw was set. He looked even scarier than what I assumed him to be. 

His gray eyes stayed focused ahead and he did not even spare me a glance as we moved in. 

As we moved further into the fancy place, my eyes trailed over the decorations. Unable to stop myself, I gasped at the sight. It was gorgeous and screamed luxury.

Unexpectedly, he leaned in, his hand was on the small of my back and it felt like a burning sensation when he pressed into me.

"You're THE Jace Romano's wife. Act like it." He said through gritted teeth in my ears.

Anger flashed in my eyes briefly as I looked at him. Once again, I had to fix my face.

"Do not leave my side and do not take any drinks from an untrusted individual." He instructed me.

If only he knew how much I hated being told what to do. 

"Don," 

"Tomas, you're late." Jace said.

I looked up and my eyes met with the handsome stranger who had approached us. He was handsome with brown hair and and had softness in his brown eyes compared to Jace whose steely gray eyes suited his personality perfectly.

"Hello to the beautiful wife of Don Romano,"

I smiled softly and reached out for a handshake but he took my hand and kissed my knuckles instead. 

I was glad my makeup covered my blush. 

"This is Tomas. He handles the things I don't have patience for." Jace said to me. 

"You're safe with him if I'm not here." He added and I nodded. 

"Nice to meet you Tomas." I finally spoke.

"Pleasure's all mine Mrs Romano."

My heart skipped at the mention of the title. I had never heard so formally. In fact it was then I realized I was out of the house for the first time since Jace Romano took me. He really did take away my freedom. I was in jail without realizing it.

One after the other guests started coming to us. 

The event had started proper and everyone wanted to speak to the host. I was led to a table by Tomas while Jace dealt with business.

"What would you like to drink?"

I looked around the uniformed servers in the room.

"Um, nothing." I responded.

"He told you not to take anything right?" 

"Yeah," I chuckled, feeling awkward with all the stares and whispers.

"What would you like? I'll get it for you."

"Anything soft is fine." I said. 

Tomas nodded and walked off. 

The whispers felt louder after he left.

"Is that Jace Romano's wife?"

"I heard they had a lowkey wedding."

"I heard their marriage was rushed."

"I didn't even think he was in a relationship. He has so many women!"

"Wasn't he betrothed to someone else?"

I immediately felt uncomfortable hearing all of that. Why were they gossiping so loud? I thought rich people knew how to handle things like this better.

Tomas returned with my drink soon and thankfully sat next to me. His eyes seemed to be roaming around like a hawk in search of something or someone. I had noticed that was how all the guards placed at different entrances behaved too. They were very serious about their jobs. 

My eyes trailed over to Jace as he shook hands with different people. Some of them were well known business men. Others seemed to belong to the underworld, I could tell from his body language when they approached and how they carried themselves.

There was something about people in the mafia and how they are always so guarded. Their expressions are always rigid and threatening. It was almost as if smiling was abominable. 

Unexpectedly, a girl in a quite revealing dress approached him. She had her guards in suits behind her and she had a seductive smile on her face as she approached.

I saw Jace stiffen.

Coincidentally, our eyes met.

"The Don wants you over there." Tomas said to me, getting in his feet.

"Now?" I asked in surprise.

"Now." 

Tomas gently pulled me up, signaling to one of my two personal guards that they needed to follow me with his fingers. 

My feet had started to hurt in these heels so he helped me walk over to where my husband was.

Surprisingly, Jace immediately pulled me to his side, possessively placing his hand over my hips as soon as we got to where he was.

"Caterina, this is my wife Mrs Mirabel Romano."

The gorgeous woman in front of me gave me a detailed once over. She was sizing me up. I immediately felt self conscious. She probably thought I was not a good fit for someone like him. I agreed with her. I did not belong his world and I was sticking out like a sore thumb in the midst of these prestigious individuals.

"So the rumors are true. You broke off our engagement and got married to this?" She gestured at me.

I was unable to hide my surprise. I had no idea he was engaged before now. If he was, why on earth did he choose to marry a random stranger like me?!

This night just got more interesting.