SWNOVELS The Devil’s Fire by Mariam El-Hafi Chapter 23
Althaia
I made my way back to the party after I had changed. I had to freaking hold onto my top as I made a run for it to my room, and was lucky I didn’t bump into anyone. I had no choice but to open the gown bag that was sent to me earlier and I was shocked, to say the least. It was a long beautiful off-shoulder emerald sequin dress with a sweetheart neckline. It was tight, hugging my figure and it flowed down at my feet. It was a beautiful dress and a more modest one than the one I had worn. It was still one hell of a se*y dress, and definitely got the reaction I wanted.
The party was in full swing when I got down from the last steps. People were dancing, drinking, and chatting with each other, forgetting about what had happened earlier. I really couldn’t afford to ruin another party, and it was like every time we were supposed to have a good time, something always seemed to happen.
With me present.
“Whoa, what a dress!” Cara checked out my new dress when I stopped in front of her and Arianna. Since there had been a slight misunderstanding, there was no reason for me not to get to know her. She was his sister after all.
“That is gorgeous! But why did you change?” Arianna tilted her head a little.
“It got ruined…” I sulked. I was still pis*ed about him ruining my dress. And very pis*ed that he left me hanging when I was so close.
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I was still throbbing.
“How did it get ruined?” Arianna’s eyes slightly narrowed.
“Your st*pid brother cut it.” I replied sourly and they laughed at me.
“Not that I say it’s okay, but I get him. If you weren’t too busy sulking, you would have noticed that every man was looking at you, hungrily, like you were their next prey.” Cara said with a grin.
“He almost shot up the whole place.” Arianna scoffed but had a smile on her face.
“Sorry… I don’t know what came over me.” Well, I did. I was jealous and angry, but they didn’t need to know that.
“You like him.” Cara teased with a smug smile
“No.” I me*tally beat myself up for letting it come out too quickly.
“Tsk, you’re not fooling anyone with your jealous a*s.” Cara raised a brow. I gave her a blank look before mirroring her teasing smile.
“Right. Then I would like to see your reaction to this.” I grabbed her shoulders and turned her around to face where Lorenzo was standing with Rafaelle and Damiano. The two women I had flipped off earlier had gone up to the group of men, one of them being bold and flirted with Lorenzo.
“Oh, hell no.” She marched right over to them, ready to fight.
“Now, that I want to see.” Arianna said excitedly and I chuckled, following her to the group of people. Lorenzo noticed Cara immediately as she made her way toward him, and he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her into him when she reached him. The woman finally got the message but looked annoyed as she took a step back.
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How does one get the courage to approach Tank Man? One look from him and I would be running for my life. And also, this was a party for Cara and Tank Man, how the f*ck didn’t she get that he was a taken man?
The other woman was happily chatting and flirting with both Rafaelle and Damiano. She kept touching Damiano’s arm, which triggered something in me. I glared at her hand, thinking about ripping it off and slapping her with it.
I blinked, shocked about my thoughts. S*it, I was really being tested today.
I stopped right next to Rafaelle while Arianna stood next to Damiano. The woman stopped talking and looked me up and down before meeting my eyes.
“I see you have finally decided to dress up and join the classy side. That dress was sl*tty, to say the least.” She laughed with her snobby attitude which made me want to sneer at her.
“Please, I could walk around naked and still be classier than you.” I rolled my eyes at her.
“Honey, don’t mistake this for the street corner you work at.” She had a smirk on her face and flipped her hair back.
Did she just call me a prostitute?
“How would you know where I work? Oh, wait! Don’t we work for the same pimp? I do recall seeing you on the streets last night! You must have made a lot of money since it was one car after the other.” I nodded, acting impressed. Her smirk got wiped out completely and Rafaelle choked a little on his drink, trying not to laugh. Damiano looked at me, raising a brow while he took a sip of his drink, and I just gave an innocent smile.
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“Do you have any idea who I am?” She glared at me.
“No, which means you’re irrelevant.” I shrugged, not caring about her.
“You little -” She hissed out and took a step closer to me. Arianna stepped in front of her, preventing her from coming closer to me.
“You better be careful with your next words, Zahra.” Arianna’s voice went low and her whole demeanor changed into a menacing one. I even shivered a little at her voice.
“She should be careful. She might accidentally get hurt.” Zahra continued, not backing down.
“If she does, I won’t hesitate to cut your throat open. You know better than to f*ck with me.” Arianna’s voice was filled with promise and gave her a warning look. Zahra was smart enough to keep her mouth shut and backed away.
Sometimes I forgot who these people really were.
“We should go.” The other woman, who had tried to flirt with Lorenzo, grabbed Zahra’s arm to get away from us. Zahra huffed, but before she turned around to leave, she made a comment that made my blood boil.
“Damiano, we should get together soon, like last time.” She winked. She gave me one last look with a smirk before she walked away.
“Who even invited her? I’ve always hated that bi*ch.” Arianna frowned at their retreating forms.
“Was she always like that? She is not aging well.” Rafaelle commented and shook his head a little. I stayed quiet the entire
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time and glared at the back of Zahra’s head. I really wanted to gorge her eyes out and force them down her throat.
“Let’s go get you a drink before you do something stu*id.” Caral whispered to me. I didn’t bother looking at Damiano and let her lead me to the bar.
“Shots of vodka, please. And keep them coming.” I told the bartender, and he happily complied.
“Why does this taste like water? Did you give me water?” I slammed down the shot glass and squinted my eyes at the bartender.
“No, but I’m cutting you off. You’ve had enough.”
“It’s a party! I’m having fun!” I tried to get make him pour me one more, but he refused. I scowled at him and spun on the bar stool to look around. Cara had gone to the bathroom and left me alone. I didn’t feel like making small talk with anyone and kept myself entertained as I continued to spin around.
I spotted Lorenzo making his way somewhere and I quickly jumped down from the bar stool, almost falling on my face.
“Lorenzooo.” I giggled as I sta*gered over to him. I slightly shook my head and blinked a few times.
The shots had definitely taken their effect.
Lorenzo stopped when I called for him and I couldn’t help but giggle.
“Why do you always look so serious? Are you not having fun?” I stumbled a little as I couldn’t hold my balance. Lorenzo quickly
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steadied me before I could. I pouted at him when he didn’t answer
me.
“Want to know a secret?” I gave him a big smile, leaned into him, and put a hand to the side of my mouth to whisper it to him.
“In my mind, I call you Tank Man.” I started to laugh hard as soon as I said that.
“Tank Man, you get it? ‘Cause, you’re all macho macho.” I put my arms out to imitate his broad physique.
“You should stop drinking.” He said, not impressed with me.
“So, he speaks!” I gasped dramatically.
“What do you want?” He said impatiently.
“You’re rude! Whatever… I’m here to tell you, If you ever hurt my Cara, I will hunt you down, mister.” I pushed my finger into him with every word.
“Really?” He crossed his arms while looking at me with a blank expression.
“Yes! Look at me, I am strong. I work out.” I flexed my biceps to show him. I looked at my arms and scowled when I saw my non- existent bicep muscles.
“Okay, so maybe I don’t work out. I mostly eat, but that should count as a workout, right? You know, reaching for the food to get it in my mouth. That’s like going back and forth, I should be shredded by now.”
“You talk a lot.”
“You’re mean.” I pouted at him for a little before a genius idea
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popped into my mind.
“You know what?! We should be best friends because you’re marrying my best friend. We should all be best friends together!” I said excitedly and wrapped my arms around him with a big smile.
“Althaia.” The familiar voice of The Devil spoke, making me turn around to look at him.
“Oh, look who came, Tanky Man. It’s the Diavolo.” I giggled.
“You’re drunk.” He pulled me away and Tank Man took the opportunity to leave.
“No… you made my best friend leave.” I felt sad as I watched Tank Man leave.
“Let’s get you to bed.” He started to guide me towards the stairs.
“Are you going to do naughty things to me like before? Or are you saving that for Zahra?” I dragged out her name. Damiano ignored me and ended up carrying me as I kept tripping over my own two feet. He walked into my room and sat me down in the armchair and crouched down to take my heels off.
“Oh, that feels so good. I think the blood has stopped flowing to my feet.” I sighed as I curled my toes a little. He helped me up. again and pulled down the zipper of the dress. My eyes started to droop as I couldn’t keep my eyes open for much longer, and Damiano had to hold me into him while I stepped out of the dress and led me to the bed. I plopped flat down and closed my eyes, ready to sleep as I felt the blanket over my body.
“Do you like her?” I mumbled, half-asleep already.
“She’s not my type.” He answered quietly.
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“That’s not an answer.”
“No.”
“Who’s your type then?” The room fell silent, and I thought he had left before he spoke again.
“Goodnight, Althaia.”
I mumbled something in return before sleep took over me.