Dante's gaze settled on them slowly.

The instant it did, an unaccountable sense of dread climbed up his chest.

He pressed it down.

Then he said coolly, "Whatever gift you brought can wait until after the wedding."

But before the last word had left his mouth, Lorelei had already recognized the men in the audience.

Her eyes lit up.

These were all heavy hitters in their world,

Her pulse quickened, excitement flashing across her face

In a sweet voice, she said, "Really? Thank vou. What is it? Why don't you let me take a look right now?"

The eagerness in her voice was impossible to miss.

Dante's brows drew together at once as a deep, inexplicable irritation surged through him.

For years, he had shielded her.

He hadn't let her suffer.

He hadn't let her get anywhere near the filth of his world.

She didn't know how those men had once tried to crush him, scheme against him, set him up.

She didn't know how he had clawed his way out from under their attacks.

And now there she stood in front of him, smiling sweetly at the very people who had once been his enemies.That was no different from a slap to his face.

Dante's expression darkened.

And yet, before he could rein it in, one face flashed through his mind: Carmela.

If Carmela had been here, she never would have done this.

She would have sensed the danger right away and found a graceful way to ease those men out the door.

She might already have arranged everything before they'd even crossed the threshold.

She would never have allowed a scene like this to unfold.

The thought struck him- and Dante suddenly went still.

His chest tightened all at once.

Why was he thinking about Carmela?

Why was he comparing Lorelei to her?

His face changed.

Then, in the next breath, he forced the thought back down.

Lorelei was the woman he had chosen to spoil.

She didn't need to understand any of these ugly things.

He shouldn't have been measuring her against that world to begin with.

Once he reached that conclusion, the cold indifference returned to his face.

If she wanted to see the gift, she could see it.

He said calmly, "If Lorelei wants a look, then bring it out."

His tone was easy, as if he didn't take any of those people seriously at all.A few of the men below traded glances, every one of them smiling knowingly.

Then one of them raised a hand and clapped twice.

The lights in the hall went out.

The enormous LED screen behind the stage flared to life.

And in the next breath, a woman's breathless, intimate moans poured through the entire room without warning.

The audience erupted into chaos.

A cold smile curled at Dante's mouth. So what if it was on video?

At worst, it was footage of him and Lorelei.

He didn't care.

The woman he loved was Lorelei.

If anything, it would only show how close they were.

Still, he turned to look at the screen, and after a single glance, the color drained from his face.

On the screen, Lorelei was half-undressed and pinned beneath a man who was not Dante.

Dante's pupils contracted violently.

His entire body locked up.

He recognized the man --a younger guy Lorelei had known back in school.

Lorelei's face went white as a corpse.

She didn't even have time to scream for someone to cut the screen because the audio was already coming through, sharp and clear.

The young man on the screen grinned and asked, "What if you end up pregnant?"

Lorelei laughed with naked contempt. "That'd be perfect. I could finally use the pregnancy to push that bitch Carmela Russo out."

Her voice was thick with irritation.

"I've spent years failing to get pregnant. That's the only reason I haven't been able to force Don Salvatore to divorce her."

"But this works too. I'll borrow your sperm and use it to make my own child."

The young man's grin widened. "Then I guess I'm the impressive one."

"The most powerful mafia don in Manhattan is going to raise my kid for me."

The room exploded.

Dante's face turned ugly beyond words.

Lorelei was in full-blown panic.

She grabbed his hand, her whole voice trembling. "No, it's fake! It's all fake! It's Al! Someone's setting me up!"

But the men below burst into laughter.

"Don, what a coincidence. We actually brought another gift along too."

"It's the paternity test for the baby Miss Bishop is carrying."

"Oh, and one more thing, we were generous enough to bring the father along."

As the last word landed, they raised their hands

In the next moment, white sheets of paper went sailing through the hall like snow.

And a man was dragged inside.

His face was as pale as chalk.