Chapter 8
Miles
Sofia Bianchi was a liar.
She was the daughter of my enemy.
She claimed hearts and left them broken in her wake.
Those were the words I repeated to myself as I watched her glide down the aisle, doing my damn best not to acknowledge how fucking stunning she looked in her wedding dress.
Trying to ignore how my heart raced every time she peeked up at me from under her lashes. Trying to ignore how my cock twitched whenever the image of stripping her out of that goddamn dress and fucking her until she couldn’t walk sneaked into my head.
Trying to ignore feelings I had no right to have.
I repeated my mantra.
Sofia Bianchi was a liar.
She was the daughter of my enemy.
She claimed hearts and left them broken in her wake.
She brought feelings out of me that I didn’t fucking want.
I spent the entire day being tortured. From the minute Georgio lifted her veil and her gorgeous, fearful eyes met mine, to when we exchanged vows, to when the celebrant announced us as man and wife, and that I could kiss my bride.
The urge to claim her mouth and show the world that she belonged to me was all-consuming, but with the memory of her whispered, ‘always Theo,’ ringing constantly in my ears, I granted myself a chaste kiss on her cheek.
I could have sworn I saw a flash of disappointment in her vivid blue orbs, the delicate makeup she was wearing making them more vibrant than usual.
If that hadn’t been torture enough, what followed was almost enough to make me want to pull out the two guns I had holstered under my tux and fire them both into my head. Almost.
Wedding photos.
Speeches.
More fucking photos.
People I had never met before rushing up to congratulate us on our big day.
The whole fucking shebang.
If it hadn’t been for the calculating look I caught on Giorgio’s face every so often, I would have blown my brains out.
I had aired my concerns to Kai on numerous occasions that he was likely going to use Sofia to feed information back to him about how we ran our organization, and his constant shiftiness was only adding to my suspicions.
We weren’t stupid; it was exactly what we would have done, and if it wasn’t for already knowing that Sofia wasn’t included in the Bianchi business, I would have been trying to get any information I could from her, ready to use against her father when the time came.
And it would come. Something both Kai and I agreed on.
But something in my gut told me Georgio was up to more than just wanting to use his daughter to gain information, and despite the wedding in full swing, I was making mental notes of what I needed to do to find out what old man Bianchi was up to.
Like a dutiful wife, Sofia stayed by my side the entire time. Whenever I took a deep inhale, hoping it would calm the storm brewing inside me, I was hit with her delicious scent.
It did nothing to lift my mood.
Nor did it help my semi-hard cock I’d been trying to forget about all day.
Needing something to take the edge off before I lost my shit, I whispered to Sofia that I needed a bathroom break.
Typically, as I was about to head outside and find somewhere quiet in the enormous garden to smoke a joint, the fucking wedding co-ordinator, who was this close to being buried alive, announced it was time for our first dance as husband and wife.
Cursing internally, I met Sofia in the middle of the ballroom, where the string quartet began playing an acoustic version of, ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love.’ I had no idea which genius picked the song, but I was more than ready to gut them.
With all eyes on us, Sofia placed her hands on my shoulders, her eyes not quite able to meet mine. Knowing I had no choice, I gripped her waist, gritting my teeth as we swayed to the soft, twinkling music.
We’d hardly spoken all day, which suited me fine. The less she spoke, the less bullshit I had to listen to. Yet, she didn’t need to speak to have an effect on me.
With her warm breath brushing against my cheek, and the combination of her scent and perfume engulfing me, my semi-boner had turned into a raging one, something I hoped she wasn’t aware of, thanks to the thick layers of her dress.
The fucking song seemed to go on for eternity, my craving to smoke the joints stashed away in my pocket growing stronger with every passing beat.
When other couples decided it was time to join us on the dance floor for the remainder of the song, I relaxed fractionally, only to stiffen up when Sofia shifted, her blue eyes meeting mine.
“Miles,” she whispered, the soft smell of champagne on her breath filling my nose.
Unable to stop myself, my gaze briefly dropped to her luscious pink lips.
“I…I know you hate me, but whether we like it or not, we’re now married.
” My fingers dug into her hips. I didn’t need a fucking reminder that she was my wife; the weight of the ring on my finger was enough.
“Can we at least try to…I don’t know, maybe be friends? ”
Friends. As if it could be that simple.
I suppose life would have been better if we could have found a way to be friends, but truthfully, the only way I could have handled her being a constant presence in my life was if she were irrevocably mine.
Something she would never be.
And I knew—I just fucking knew—that if I gave her an inch, gave her the tiniest hint that she could be anything more than my enemy, she’d find a way under my skin, and demand more.
I repeated my mantra.
Liar.
Heart breaker.
Daughter of the enemy.
Makes me feel things I shouldn’t.
No, I needed to keep the walls up for my own fucking sanity.
I glared back at her, schooling my features.
“You and I will never be friends, Jailbait. You want to know why?” I moved in closer to her, our mouths a hair’s breadth apart, so only she could hear me.
“Because you’re nothing to me. Nothing. The only reason I agreed to this fucked up marriage was to save my city, and for Kai.
Don’t think for one minute that you’ll ever be more than just something I needed to get the result I wanted. ”
Hurt flashed across her face, and an invisible knife stabbed me in the chest at the cruel words I’d just fired at her. But I refused to take them back.
I couldn’t.
Otherwise, I’d fall to my knees, beg for her forgiveness for every spiteful word I’d thrown at her in the past, and declare that from the very first minute I saw her, four years ago, she’d carved her mark on my heart.
“I’ll tell you how we’ll get through this marriage,” I continued, each word tasting like acid as I forced them out. “You stay out of my business, and I’ll stay out of yours. Simple.”
Despite unshed tears forming, her eyes hardened. “What did I ever do to earn your hate?”
In the background, the music changed, indicating our first dance had come to an end, yet the two of us continued to hold on as the next song started. From the outside, we may have looked like a newly-married couple, unable to keep their hands off each other.
The reality couldn’t have been further from the truth.
“What did you do?” I growled, rage bubbling up and spilling over. “Aside from being part of the family I’ve spent my life despising? How about breaking the fucking heart of my best friend?”
Her perfectly shaped brows rose as a little gasp fell from her mouth. “What? I don’t…I don’t understand?”
I tightened my grip again, preventing her from running away.
Now that the dam had opened, I was unable to stop the word vomit from rushing out.
“Let me explain it to you. The night you snuck into the club, underage, I’d like to point out, you stole Theo’s heart.
He thought he’d met the woman he’d spend the rest of his life with, but you turned out to be a fucking fraud. ”
Her mouth opened and closed several times before she formed a reply. “He barely knew me. We spent a few hours together, that was all. He couldn’t possibly have felt that way about me.”
My fraying temper snapped. I gripped her chin and tugged her head in the direction of where Kai and Riley were dancing, the two of them lost in each other’s gaze.
“Clearly, obsession runs in my fucking family. You think Kai needed more than a few hours to know that he was going to spend the rest of his life with Riley?” I brought her chin back to face me.
“And don’t you dare belittle Theo’s feelings for you.
From the minute he met you, he was smitten with you.
Do you have any idea how much I fucking hated myself every time I had to lie to him to keep who you truly were a secret?
My best friend, the one person I never had to hide anything from until you came along.
You want to know what you did to make me hate you, Jailbait?
You made me hurt the only person I’ve ever loved. ”
I stopped myself from blurting the rest of what else I wanted to say; that a part of me would always hate him for getting to her first.
Not giving a fuck that my sudden dismissal of her had attracted an audience, I stormed out of the ballroom and into the garden to finally smoke my much-needed joint.