The Dangerous King and His Queen

Chapter 17- The Dinner Party

*Author's Note:

I wasn't going to publish so many chapters today, but I'm stuck waiting for a delivery at my house and can't leave until it comes, so I'm going to keep writing while my ideas are fresh in my mind. Enjoy!

Luna POV

As the appetizers are served, I've downed my wine, and asked for a refill. This is literally the most awkward dinner party ever. And that is coming from someone who rarely feels awkward in any situation. "Maria, keep em' coming please," I whisper to her, as she refills my glass. She gives me a small smile and a wink. 

I clear my throat before I speak up, "so Aiden, where are you from?"

He looks relieved that someone is actually speaking to him, "Well I was born and raised in Brooklyn, damn proud of it." He adds a smile at the end.

"Oh, yes, I love Brooklyn, there's so much character...even though, I'm more of a SoHo girl myself," I tease. 

"What do you do," Dante's question sounds more like a demand.

"Well I'm in sales...it's quite boring to explain. How about yourself?" He asks.

I'm about to speak up, but am interrupted by Dante's harsh tone, "oh you know, a little things here, a little things there."

I roll my eyes, 'way to look not sketchy at all, Dante,' I sarcastically think. 

"We actually own a few bars, clubs, restaurants, hotels. Stuff like that...acutally, Sienna is our manager at one of our clubs." I'm trying to keep the conversation going, to prevent the cold silence from before. 

Right on que, Maria is refilling my glass. I've gotta give that woman a raise, she's the best. 

Aiden grabs Sienna's hand, giving it a squeeze, "ah yes, my associates and I have visited there a couple times. It's very impressive, we love going. I've never asked before, but there's a random vault door in the hallway, what is that? Some kind of secret room?" 

He tries to hide it with humor, but I've been trained better, and I pick up on the hint of his over- curiosity, laced with a slight edge to it.

Silence. The only noise you can hear is the gulping of my wine, to finish my third glass. I can't stand the vibe of the room right now. 

"So Isabella, you look amazing after the baby! How's everything going?" Sienna chirps up, trying to fill the silent atmosphere.

"Thanks Sienna, I've been busting my ass, eating extremely well, and I've been doing pilates, which is literally a lifesaver. Stefan is just," she pauses trying to find the right words, "unbelievable. I never knew I could love something so deeply." 

"HEY!" Roman whines, with his hand over his heart as if she had ripped it out from his chest. 

"Oh shut it, you know what I mean," she shoots back, giving him a little shove. 

Vito hasn't said a word, and I can tell he's fuming about Aiden. 

"Hey Vito, can you help me pick out another bottle of wine?" I elbow him discreetly.

Not picking up on it, he scoffs, "why, it's a bottle of wine, you can carry it." 

"No it's too heavy, and I'd have to carry it up the cellar stairs." I elbow him harder, shooting him a look with wide eyes. 

"Excuse us, we will be right back." I grab him and lead him to the kitchen. 

He looks around, "hey, there's already like 10 bottles up here."

"Way to notice, detective obvious," I scoff, rolling my eyes at his cluelessness, "why are you so pissed at that guy...I mean I know I tried to set you up with Sienna, but you said yourself you weren't that into her..."

He shakes his head before I can continue, "it's not that. I wasn't into her...I've got my eyes on someone else. I just don't like this guy, at all. I mean, AT ALL. He's a little ratto, I can tell."

"1) When were you going to tell me that you have your eyes on someone else? 2) Who is it? and 3) What do you mean?"

Vito mocks me, putting his hand on his hip with fake attitude, "Well 1) why would I tell you? 2) Why would I tell you? and 3) I'll explain to everyone once they leave, so I don't have to tell everyone my suspicions separately."

"Okay first of all," I give him fake attitude back, "Whether or not you've realized it, I'm your best friend. I'm the only person you're actually open with and nice to. And secondly, you're my best friend, so I would hook it up with this chick for you."

He laughs hard, "man, now that I think about it, I guess you are my best friend. Fuck, where did I go wrong in life?"

I punch him in the arm, hard, "don't forget I was trained by you, Vito, you know how badly I can hurt you." With that, we enter back into the dinner party from hell.

What I hadn't realized, due to our soundproof walls and huge house, was I wasn't walking back into the dinner party from hell, I was walking into a fucking lion's den.