I arrived at the g intact. Not a hair out of ce nor lipstick smudged.


    To do that, I ordered Dom to sit at the opposite side of the limo because the heat between us when we were within inches of each other was a vtile spark heightened by the confines of the vehicle. Thecy underwear sliding against my pussy only intensified the pulsing ache between my thighs.


    We exchanged innocuous conversation, and I didn’t even mention the lingerie he bought me.


    The event was held in the Metropolitan Hotel ballroom. The theme was Gilded Splendor.


    We put our masks on in the vehicle, and the moment Dom helped me out of the limo, I forgot about him and was in awe of thevish disy before me.


    From what I researched about masquerade ball etiquette, it was poor form to identify someone you recognized because the whole purpose was to yfully interact with strangers without the pressure of social status. In a way, it was the perfect entry into Dom’s world. Now the remaining anxiety was whether I could exist in it.


    The reception hall was another marvel to behold, with the strings of lights evenly spaced around the wall, ring up into a domed ceiling where the biggest crystal chandelier I’d ever seen was hanging. And I’d seen a few in my cleaning jobs. From what Lucy had told me, because her mom couldn’t stop talking about it, the chandelier used to hang in the Zahkarov’s castle in Vienna.


    Hmm…my snarky side wondered if this was another of their moneyundering schemes. After my initial awe, I finally felt Dom’s gaze on me again and renewed awareness tingled over me.


    “Enjoying yourself?” he asked by my ear.


    “Yes.”


    His mask was a simple ck one, but it cast him in a sinister aura. In this setting, and in his elegant threads, he reminded me of the notorious rakes of old who debauched innocent virgins or carried on scandalous affairs with married women of the ton.


    My mask covered half my face. It had satin backing material, but an intricate silver detailing was stitched over the fabric, giving it structure. Tastefully affixed white feathers softened the sharp edges.


    White-gloved attendants spun around the room, serving cocktails and canapés. Dom handed me a fruity martini while he sipped a Negroni from a short, round ss. The drink stimted my appetite, and I pinched a canapé from the roving server.


    We circted among strangers, but I spotted Dom’s parents and Lucy talking to another group. I bit into a round pie pastry and an instantly addictive briny, earthy vor exploded in my mouth. I devoured it, took a sip of my martini, then left Dom who was exchanging small talk with yet another stranger. Unmindful that I was wearing a gown, I chased the server who handed me that particr appetizer. You can take the girl out of Jersey, but you can’t take Jersey out of the girl.


    “Can I have another one? What is this?”


    The server was also in a mask, so I couldn’t discern his true expression, but the twitch of his mouth almost made meugh.


    “I’m sorry if I’m being uncouth, but this is delicious.” I picked another round pie from the tter. This time, after I took a bite, I studied the filling.


    “ck-tie scallops,” the man said. “It’s scallopsyered with ck truffle.”


    You couldn’t live in New York and not know what a ck truffle was, and I knew the scallop was its perfectplement at least, but I’d never had abination this scrumptious. I could feast on this all night long.


    “Would you like another one, ma’am?”


    Dom came up behind me and whispered, “We still have dinner to get through, baby. Don’t fill up.”


    “But these are so good.”


    “I’m familiar with the restaurant that makes this. I can have the chef of the event make you enough toe out of your ears.”


    I smiled at the server. “Well, carry on. I don’t want to hog you, but give mypliments to the chef.”


    The man’s neck turned red, and he cleared his throat. “I will, ma’am.”


    Dom turned me around in his arms. “Have I discovered your favorite dish?”


    I pondered his question. “It could be. Maybe I have expensive taste after all.”


    Dom barked augh, calling the attention of the crowd around us. And why not? It was an attractiveugh, rough and masculine and sexy. But when I saw a few women’s gazes linger covetously on Dom, possessiveness wed my skin. I leaned into him and I was pleased he drew me closer. Despite my voluminous gown, I fit snugly into his embrace.


    The host, the former pakhan Ivan Zahkarov, announced dinner. Another gilded room with warm lighting greeted us. A string quartet provided music, although I heard there would be an borate orchestra for dancingter. But as we were escorted to our table, an anvil settled in my gut.


    Dom’s parents were already seated at a table that sat nine. Lucy didn’t have a date, so I guessed they made adjustments to the seating chart and it would have normally amodated ten. I was thankfully seated beside her, so I felt a measure of relief that I didn’t have to make small talk with their mother. I could concentrate on dinner.


    We removed our masks. The other couples around the table reeked of old money. It was funny how despite not belonging to their ss, I could sniff their kind a mile away.


    Introductions were made around the table, but their names barely registered. Dom’s mother shot me a tight smile, while his father awarded me a warm one. He actually asked me how I was enjoying myself so far, and I answered courteously and sinctly.


    The first course was served, but I barely tasted it. I didn’t even know what it was other than it had some kind of obscure greens. I watched Dom and Lucy on which fork or spoon to use because, all of a sudden, the formal dinner lessons Bianca had instilled in me went out the window.


    The person beside Dom upied his attention. I had a feeling the man had business he was anxious to discuss with him. I barely heard their conversation, but I detected a hint of annoyance in Dom’s voice. His hand found my thigh under the table and gave it a reassuring squeeze.


    “So, it’s Miss Scott, is it?” one of thedies asked. Her mask was the red one. “What is it you do?”


    Dom stilled. I could feel frost ice him over.


    “I’m a nurse or will be as soon as I pass the exams.”


    The woman appeared baffled, like she couldn’t understand my choice of profession, and when she nced at Dom, it was like she couldn’t believe that he would bring me to this event. Would it make me more ptable in her eyes if I informed her I attended a Swiss finishing school and jetted to Monte Carlo every weekend?


    I didn’t feel the need to defend myself.


    “Oh, but you might move on to medicine, right?” Carlotta quickly interjected. “Be a surgeon?” Dom’s mother attempted to mold me into a more ptable light, but it only made me feel worse.


    “That’s not happening,” Dom cut in. “Sloane wants to be a nurse. What’s wrong with that?”


    “Nothing,” his mother said. “But it’s a logical next step.”


    No, it wasn’t. At least, not to me.


    My throat tightened, trying to keep my emotions from reaching my eyes, but my entire face was on fire.


    “A nurse is a noble profession,” the woman’s husband said and shot me an apologetic look.


    She shrugged her elegant shoulders and took a sip of her wine. “Well, Miss Scott, Harvard has a health management program. It’s one of the highest-paid professions in the healthcare industry.”


    Lucy gave an udylike snort, prompting a re from her mother.


    “Highest paid? Riiiight,” Lucy scoffed. “It’s because their bottom line is not patient care but how to make money for their stockholders.”


    “Lucy!” Carlotta hissed.


    But my girl had my back, so I had to put in my two cents. “Yes, I prefer to remain a nurse, thank you very much. Nurses put the care in healthcare, not the administrators who decide how to make money for the hospital. Remember that when your children put you in a nursing home, who’s going to make sure you…you get the right meds…” This is the wrong ce to mention changing their diapers and bedpans. “Or who will train the staff in patient mobility?” I was getting fired up. Because fuck them.


    “You tell them, baby.” I could feel Dom’s gaze on me.


    “Yes, Mamma,” Lucyughed. “Be careful. We’ll decide which nursing home to stick you in.”


    “Lucy, cara mia.” Paulie De Li’s admonishment to his daughter wasced in humor.


    An older couple at the table, who looked to be in their seventies, were nodding their heads. The woman said, “I love my nurse more than my doctor.”


    “Hey,” her husband said. “I’m your doctor.”


    I put my hand over my mouth to stifle augh.


    The man regarded me with what was akin to reverence. “I can attest nurses are the true heroes. I would be lost without my nursing staff.”


    Our server arrived with the second course and effectively changed the ufortable topic.


    When dessert was served, Lucy grabbed my arm. “Let’s powder our noses.”


    Dom’s brows furrowed, and he oddly checked his phone, but nodded.


    I followed Lucy, apprehensive of what was going down. I knew this was about Tomlin, and I’d overheard the siblings arguing the other night that Dom didn’t want me anywhere near him. That detestable couple was part of my past, and if Tomlin was a pedophile, I was a hundred percent behind what Lucy had nned for him. She dragged me into thedies’ room and checked the stalls.


    “What’s going on?”


    “Vivienne wants a deal,” she said. “Someone from the media informed them that there was going to be a headline tonight that would prove scandalous for the Tomlins.”


    “You can’t give them a deal. Her husband is a sicko, and she’s protecting him.” Which made her a sicko too.


    “We’re not.”


    Her phone pinged again. “Shit. The headline is out. You need to brace,” she told me.


    My whole body locked up when thedies’ room door swung open and the woman I hadn’t seen in years walked through.


    “This is cozy.” The woman of my nightmares sneered at me. She hadn’t aged well. Botox and fillers had taken their toll. I used to admire her delicate features, but in her attempt to stop time, she’d almost be unrecognizable. I thought I’d recognized her earlier, but since her lips were plumped up way past how I remembered her, she didn’t even register. Apparently, she couldn’t say the same. “I thought it was you, Sloane. And, girl, I am impressed. Dominic De Li? Does he know you used to scrub my toilet and dumpster-dive behind my building? I still have the picture, you know.”


    I thought about those pictures briefly over the past few weeks, but it was a blessing they burned down with the rest of my things the day Al was supposed to deliver them. “You sent me one every year for four years, but then you stopped. Why?”<fnf> Get full chapters from find{n}ovel</fnf>


    “Because you’re not worth my time anymore,” she snapped.


    “No, that’s the time Tomlin got elected to office,” Lucy said.


    “You’re afraid to leave a trail of your husband’s past harassment.”


    She stepped forward. “You seduced him.”


    “If that’s your take on your husband grooming a minor, then you’re as despicable as he is.”


    “You had notions in your head that you could be the next Mrs. Tomlin. He’s a respected United States congressman and you? You’re simply a nurse. Poor Imogen couldn’t even ask the right questions.”


    “You set her up at dinner, didn’t you?” Lucy asked. So I guessed Imogen was wearing the red mask.


    “Fred forbade me to go near either of you.”


    “And why are you here?”


    “Because despite what happens tonight, this isn’t over.” She directed her contemptuous gaze up and down my dress. “Enjoy, Cindere. This won’t have a happily ever after. If Dominic De Li doesn’t see you for the trash you are, he will soon.”


    Vivienne Tomlin swept out of the room in a cloying smell of heavy vani and rose.


    We gave her a few seconds head start before Lucy tugged my arm to leave thedies’ room. “Come on.”


    I was suddenly over this g anyway, and if Vivienne and Imogen-the-red-mask were the type of people in Dom’s circle, then I’d rather stay at home watching my serial killer TV.


    I wasn’t the only one who had to make adjustments in this rtionship.


    I was busy spiraling in my thoughts, so I didn’t notice Lucy stop. I bumped into her. But then I saw what caused her to halt so abruptly.


    Frederick Tomlin. I knew him as Mr. Tomlin then, not Congressman Tomlin.


    He wasn’t wearing his mask. Though the years had been kinder to his tanned all-American face, his blond head was almost white. Once upon a time, he exuded the golden-boy allure of the Great Gatsby era.


    I berated my sixteen-year-old self for not seeing the man he was. A predator. He’d been grooming me. My mother recognized him for who he was and it frightened her.


    “Sloanie, sweetheart,” he breathed. The lust in his eyes made my skin crawl. “I always knew you’d be this beautiful woman.” His gaze hardened when they fell on Lucy, then flew back to me. “What’s this? Did you two conspire to take me down?”


    “You did that to yourself, Congressman Tomlin,” Lucy shot back.


    “You never changed, did you?” I said. “You still prey on children.”


    His lips curled, and coupled with the sickening gleam in his eyes, his handsome features transformed into the revolting face of a monster. The masquerade was over and he’d shed the mask he’d been hiding from the public.


    “Fred,” Vivienne gasped, running toward him as fast as her gown would allow. “They published it. We’re ruined.”


    “What are you doing here?” he snapped at his wife. “I told you to return to the table.”


    “And what? Face humiliation?”


    “Then leave. I need a word with Sloanie girl.”


    “Sloanie?” Vivienne screeched. “You’re not recing me with trash!”


    “The only trash is you,” a voice spoke from the shadows.


    “Dom?” I whispered.


    “You didn’t think I’d let you go off alone when this fucker is around?” His deadly gaze swept over Tomlin. “And you better not take another step toward her.”


    Vivienne sneered. “You seem to forget she used to clean my toilet.”


    “Is that the best you cane up with?” Dom drawled. “How about you worry about your reputation circling the sewer? It’s everything a bitch like you deserves.”


    “How dare you?” she whispered.


    “Go back to the table, Vivienne! So help me God,” Fred roared.


    When Vivienne skittered away, he turned on Dom. “What’s this? Extortion?” His eyes zipped back to me. “Is this why you’re spreading your legs for this criminal?”


    “Motherfucker!” Dom rushed Tomlin, but someone in a tux tackled him.


    “Dammit, De Li,” the neer croaked in pain. “You’re going to set me back in physical therapy.”


    Phil Harding?


    Men in tuxes and tactical gear surrounded us. Wait, this was a sting operation?


    I’d only noticed how the hallways were darkened more than normal, and men appeared to barricade the entrance leading back to the ballroom.


    Someone approached. I recognized him as the fed working with Phil. “Congressman Tomlin, you’re under arrest for aggravated assault of minors. You have the right to remain silent…”


    “You can’t do this!” he roared. “This is entrapment.”


    “There was no entrapment here, but we have received evidence?—”


    He red at Lucy. “I’ll fight this charge. You can’t use this in court.”


    They hauled him away from where the festivities were still going on. I caught sight of Kirill standing at the end of the hallway before he disappeared when the rest ofw enforcement flooded the hall.


    “Phil…” I whispered. “I didn’t know where to find you. Phil Harding…”


    “Doesn’t exist.” He grinned wryly. “But I’m still Phil.”


    He reached out to touch me, but Dom growled. “If you don’t want to be put back in a cast?—”


    “Christ,” Phil chuckled. “I guess I can’t hug you.”


    “Yes, you can.”


    I squinted at Dom, ignoring the st of disapprovaling from him, and stepped into Phil. “I’m so happy you’re alive.”


    He said by my ear, “Me too, but I won’t be if you don’t let me go soon.”


    “Mr. Harding,” Lucy interrupted. “Won’t you escort me back to the ball?”


    I nced at Dom’s sister, who was silentlyughing while her brother stood forbiddingly with clenched fists, ring at me and Phil.


    He red even harder when I rolled my eyes.


    When Phil and I broke our hug, he turned to Lucy, offering his arm. “dly, Miss De Li. I can’t thank you enough for giving us a break on the case.”


    They walked away. “It won’t hold up in court but…”


    “This was the n all along?” I asked Dom. “I could have helped better. Maybe nned a whole speech against Tomlin.”


    “We couldn’t risk an entrapment charge. The less you knew, the better.” Dom prowled toward me. “And you were ying with fire, baby.” My pussy spasmed at the promise of retribution behind his eyes.


    “What? Hugging Phil?”


    “I don’t want any other man touching you.” He dragged me into his arms. “Got me? I didn’t even get to punch Tomlin.”


    “No sense risking an assault charge, especially with witnesses,” I muttered.


    Dom chuckled darkly. “See, you’re so good for me.”


    “What? Reining in your crazy?”


    “I’m about to show you crazy.”