Filed to story: Second Chance Mafia Bride Drama Novel
Serena was about ready to explode.
A minute ago, Ms. Salerno was calling her “Hubby” names, and now, faced with her handsome “Hubby,” she was trying to flirt? Really?
Serena let out a cold snort, ready to retort, but Nicholas spoke before she could.
“She doesn’t like you. That’s reason enough for punishment.”
His tone was powerful, cool, and utterly final.
Ms. Salerno’s sobbing stopped in an instant.
“M-Mr. Salerno?” She stared at him, wide-eyed, as if she couldn’t believe what she’d just heard.
But Nicholas ignored her and turned to Serena instead. “What do you want to do?”
His voice, compared to how he addressed Ms. Salerno, was several shades warmer.
Serena snapped back to herself. Her eyes sparkled with delight-his obvious indulgence made her feel absolutely giddy.
Suddenly, she didn’t care in the least that Ms. Salerno had tried to flirt. So what? Didn’t you hear what her “Hubby” just said?
Hmph!
“I was going to toss them in myself, but there are too many of them. Oh well, let Logan handle it!”
She cast a glance at the pale-faced ladies trembling nearby, a flicker of regret in her expression-almost as if she was sorry not to do it herself.
“Mr. Salerno…!” Ms. Salerno tried one last desperate plea.
Nicholas didn’t even spare her a glance. “Logan.”
“Yes, sir!” Logan replied promptly.
Logan and his men moved into action without delay.
The first to be tossed into the pool was Elder Mrs. Salerno.
She’d thought her status and age would spare her from Serena’s wrath, but Serena made a point of signaling Logan not to miss her.
“Mr. Salerno! I never said a word against you! I swear I didn’t!” Elder Mrs. Salerno shrieked as she was hauled toward the pool, her voice cracking with panic.
She was the Lady of the Salerno family, for heaven’s sake! To be thrown into the pool in front of all these people-how would she ever live it down?
“Weren’t you the one badmouthing me earlier?” Serena drawled, using her own words against her. “Mr. Salerno is my husband. If you look down on me, how is that any different from looking down on him?”
After her, it was the others’ turn.
“That one, and her, and her too!” Serena’s eyes were sharp and unerring as she picked out the guilty parties from the crowd, not missing a single one.
Hmph! Anyone who dared insult her husband-none of them would get away with it!
With a series of splashes, one after another, the lonely figure of Damien in the pool was soon joined by several others.
Serena stood gracefully by Nicholas’s side, her striking eyes calmly scanning the crowd to make sure no one had slipped away.
Suddenly, her gaze narrowed as she spotted Rubina, who was trying to hide behind someone else’s back.
Rubina might not have spoken ill of Nicholas directly, but Serena had not forgotten those little jabs she’d made in front of Elder Mrs. Salerno.
She shot a glance at Logan.
Logan paused mid-step.
The new mistress had been at Rosewood Manor for only a short while, and yet, somehow, there was a damned good understanding between them. Just a look from her, and he knew exactly what she wanted.
Without hesitation, Logan strode over and yanked Rubina out from her hiding spot.
“Hey! What are you doing?” Rubina shrieked. “Logan, you’ve got the wrong person! I’m Serena’s sister-ah!”
Before she could finish, there was another splash-Logan tossed her straight into the pool.
Logan’s expression didn’t even flicker. “Oops, sorry. My hand slipped.”
Serena grinned, giving him a silent thumbs up. She leaned over and whispered, “Sweetheart, don’t forget to give Logan a raise when we get back!”
Nicholas’s lashes lowered, a shadow flickering across his eyes. “You seem to like him a lot.”
Serena answered without missing a beat. “Who wouldn’t like a reliable employee like that?”
Then, realizing the dangerous note in his voice, she blinked rapidly and quickly added, “But of course, no one compares to you! You’re the best.”
Nicholas’s frown finally relaxed, just a little.
Serena let out a quiet sigh of relief.
Logan returned, bowing respectfully. “Mr. Salerno. Madam.”
“All done?” Serena asked, glancing toward the pool.
One look, and she nearly burst out laughing.
Logan had stationed a row of security guards around the pool, forbidding anyone from climbing out. Rubina kept shouting that she was Serena’s sister and Logan had made a mistake, but every time she tried to scramble out, she was promptly shoved back in.
The water was brutal-scalding hot, enough to make people yelp in pain. Two minutes in there and you’d swear you were being boiled alive. None of these pampered ladies had ever suffered through anything like this.
Some begged, some wept, their cries drowning out Rubina’s protests.
Serena felt positively buoyant as she turned her gaze away, feigning perfect innocence.
Did she hear anything? Not a thing!
“Mr. Salerno! Damien knows he was wrong, please, have mercy!”
Suddenly, Damien’s mother, Debby, came rushing forward, her eyes brimming with tears as she watched her poor, miserable son, barely conscious in the water.
“Mr. Salerno, Damien can’t take much more! Please, let him out!” she pleaded. Nicholas’s tone was cool, almost bored. “Sere, do you agree to let him out?”
Serena gave a little huff and answered without hesitation. “Nope. He can stay right where he is.”
Debby’s eyes flashed with anger. “Serena! You-“
“Yes?” Serena’s smile was sharp, her tone icy. “If you keep talking to me like that, are you volunteering to join your son?”
Debby’s expression changed instantly. Only then did she remember things weren’t as they used to be-Serena was no longer the timid girl she could bully at will. She was now Mrs. Salerno.
Who would have thought the woman she once dismissed as beneath her son would one day be the lady of Rosewood Manor, standing high above her?
“Enough! Damien spoke out of turn and deserved to be punished. Mr. Salerno was merciful just having him stay in the pool for a while!”
Barry, seeing his wife’s foolish outburst, hurried over and gave her arm a sharp tug, his face dark with anger.