Four

I followed behind him, hoping to calm him down before the whole thing escalated.

“Salvatore!” he called the moment he got to where Sal was seated with that blonde woman leaning against him.

“Father?” Sal responded, sitting up in his chair.

“What is the meaning of this nonsense?” Carlo shifted his glare between Sal and the blonde.

His glare caused the blonde to shrivel away from Sal.

“Father, I—”

“I don’t want to hear it. Get this woman out of here and I only want you to be seen with your wife for the rest of this event.”

“I can’t . . .” Sal started speaking but his father walked away, signaling an end to their conversation.

I stood awkwardly by the side, aware of Sal’s glare on me.

“I’ll leave,” the blonde said, causing Sal to break his glare.

He turned to her, his eyes softening significantly as he stared at her. “No, you’re not going anywhere.”

“But your dad—”

“I said you’re not going and that’s final.”

She nodded and he smiled at her. He fucking smiled at her. The dull ache in my chest returned and I turned to leave.

“Hey! Where are you going?” Sal stood up, reaching where I was in a single stride. “You are the cause of everything. I don’t know why you must always ruin things.”

I scoffed. “I’m ruining things? I’m not the one parading my mistress in front of the whole world.”

His eyes narrowed dangerously at my words. I knew I had struck a nerve with my statement but it didn’t stop me from matching his glare.

He grabbed my arms and pulled me towards him. “I have had enough of you. Sit down and remain silent.”

Before I could protest or pull away from him, he pushed me down into a chair on their table. The suddenness of the action caused me to gasp but he didn’t care and just returned to his seat.

He wrapped his hand around the blonde’s waist as soon as he got to her and she rested her head on his shoulder. I stood up to leave but he trapped my seat between his legs making it impossible for me to move.

“Salvatore!”

“Ariana, be quiet. We have guests around. I’m sure you wouldn’t want to cause a scene and ruin father’s reputation, would you?” He raised a brow, a small smile forming on his lips.

I took a deep breath. I hated that he was right but I cared about his father and I didn’t want to cause him any discomfort. For his sake I decided to stay through the rest of the event to ensure everything went well.

The event dragged on for a while and I wished for nothing more than it to end. It didn’t help that I got to witness my husband doting on another woman first hand.

I tried my best to look everywhere but their direction. As my eyes were roaming, I caught sight of a gun in the distance, pointed towards my direction. Before I could react, a bullet was fired and it shattered a glass vase just beside me.

Everyone immediately became alarmed. People scrambled into hiding spots. I tried to duck under the table but Sal pulled it away and over his head so it was shielding him and the blonde. Before I could make it to where they were, a bullet pierced my chest.