“So I’ve got my game face on as this is going to be a lame party. I get it.” Raven smiled and looked at him. “I’m ready to play.”
Carlos opened the door and talked to one of his soldiers. He reached into the car and held his hand out toward her, and she slid her hand within his, taking it, and then moved across the seat to help herself out. There was no point in stressing him out, not about these little things.
It had been a long time since she wore heels, and clinging on to Carlos helped to steady her as well as playing the role of adoring fiancée.
“Your phone is blowing up in my pocket,” Carlos said.
“When the club throws a party, they throw a party.” She wished she was there. It would be loud. Music combined with yelling and screaming kids was a treat she wanted to be in on. As it was, all she could do was hold on to Carlos as they walked into the very quiet restaurant.
The sound of people talking could be heard, but they weren’t loud.
The lights had been turned down to give it almost a romantic setting. Raven hated it.
She clocked all the men turning toward them as they entered. She had remembered all of their names from the pictures Carlos had shown her.
Holding on to Carlos’s arm, she kept a smile on her lips, and Sebastian pushed back his seat to greet them. “Mr. Santiago, I’m so pleased you have arrived.”
“Carlos, please, Sebastian. We’re friends. After all, this is a gathering for us all.”
Sebastian turned toward her. “It is a pleasure to meet you again, Raven.”
She smiled. “As always a pleasure, Mr. Drago. Thank you so much for having me and my Carlos.” She rested her head against Carlos’s shoulder. She was good at this. No one would suspect for even a moment that she hated Drago’s guts.
“Gentlemen, I know this may come as a surprise to all of you, but I would like to introduce you to this amazing woman.”
Raven flicked her hair off her shoulder and smiled excitedly.
“This is Raven, my fiancée and future wife.”
****
As to be expected, some of his men were a little shocked. Carlos noted several were drooling over Raven. A couple of others were not … pleased. A few wives were in residence, but they had stayed silent as was always the case when the men were together.
Raven sat beside him and Sebastian, and she was fucking amazing. Charming the men at the table. The lies she told of how she and Carlos met were kind of accurate in a way. She mentioned that he’d needed some help, and she’d been a receptionist at one of the companies, and she quickly changed the subject, turning the light on to the person who questioned her.
When Paolo Fiore asked her what her name was, she told him straight.
“Raven, Mr. Fiore.”
“Yes, your full name.”
Raven had smiled, almost lovingly at him. “I like to think that I am Raven Santiago already. My life didn’t begin until I met this amazing man.” When she touched his cheek, he took full advantage, leaning in and kissing her.
She didn’t tense. She kissed him back.
And he wanted them to be back in their apartment, kissing without an audience.
“Well, Carlos, I can see why you didn’t even consider one of our daughters,” Leonardo Marchetti said. “You already had this gem waiting in the wings.”
“I don’t think it is very polite that he is marrying out of his … station,” Paolo said, speaking up.
Carlos glared at him.
“Holding your position, Mr. Santiago, requires you to marry someone of importance. Someone who holds a position of power. Forgive me, Raven is very sweet, but she is in no place to become your wife, and I for one, oppose this marriage.”
“She is my niece,” Sebastian said, speaking and then standing up.
“We have never met her before,” Paolo said.
“That is because Raven has been protected at all costs. It’s why she wouldn’t give her name. My sister, rest her soul, as you all know, she died giving birth, and I wanted to protect her daughter. It was her dying request, as it was my father’s wish, that her child be given the option to live in peace.”
Carlos didn’t have a clue where all these lies were coming from.
“Raven Drago is her name. She is my niece, and I am the one who introduced Carlos to her. I know he was being difficult, and we need our Boss to settle down and provide an heir. Well, Raven is more than fit to handle whatever Carlos does. She is aware of who he is, and what he does.”
Carlos was surprised by his support.
Raven kept a smile on her face. “I’ve been taught a great deal. Uncle Sebastian has been sure to bring me up to speed on my training.”