The Blackmail Bride

Chapter 28 Part 2

Drama alert. Drama. Drama. Drama.

Acceptable

"Just in time?" His icy tone sent a shiver down my spine.

I almost dropped his hand. There were storm clouds in those gray eyes and he looked nowhere near calm. A niggling in my head picked up that he might have already forgotten we were in front of the guests.

The smile I'd been maintaining fell. In automatic response, I asked, "I-Is something wrong?"

Jace glared at me as his free hand slipped around my waist. He was assessing my facial expressions and I kept still.

"Let's finish this dance first."

He tugged me closer and began the steps. My body automatically followed, a hand going to his tense shoulder.

I could narrate how we swayed to the song, but I'd lost senses of the present. My mind whirred continually at the turn of events. It replayed all the events in my head in fast forward. Memories flashed before me of the first time we met. Of his friends, and of my family.

Conversations after confusing conversations.

Jace said the secret to the waltz was trusting your partner. Liar. It wasn't needed at all.

The dance went without a hitch. When I curtsied at the end of the dance, we were given a louder applause than the dance I did with my father.

Before I could escape, I was being dragged away by an iron grip. Jace's strides were long and I had to run just to follow his pace. He was in the darkest mood I'd ever seen on him.

When I stepped on my cape and stumbled, I pulled my arm back. He still wouldn't let go.

"Jace!" I protested in a harsh whisper.

He twisted around without letting go of my arm. I opened my mouth only to choke on my words at the look he was giving me.

Why did Jace Black look so angry? Hold up. In which dimension did he suddenly have a right to be angry with me?

I hid those feelings and continued with a confused look. My blue eyes stared at the face of such anger and lied:

"I'm sorry we had to start with the program without you. I asked Tristan and Vince to get you," I breathed out a sigh and smiled, "It's a good thing they got you here on time."

Jace looked at me blankly, "What are you talking about?"

I returned the look, "I asked them to—"

"I didn't see them."

I blinked. Once. Twice.

"Oh, okay."

Jace was still unsmiling and I realized he wanted more explanation.

I cleared my throat, "I told them to call you from your suite since the organizers couldn't reach you. You were meeting with Sierra there for work..."

"Isla," A strange expression crossed his face, "I was misinformed. It wasn't Sierra who called me to the suite, it was Claire Smith."

It took everything just to not fidget at the name. My heartrate sped like crazy. I didn't expect him to discuss this so easily.

"You told me you were meeting Sierra—"

"I thought the same," he cut in sharply, visibly annoyed "The staff clearly didn't know who my secretary was and thought Claire was Sierra."

And what reply did he expect me to say to that?