Chapter 3
we’re the only lucky ones
Brooklyn
“This is your office?” I asked, taking in the space.
Four empty walls.
An empty bookshelf.
A lonely laptop sitting on an otherwise empty desk.
It was drab…boring…lifeless. It didn’t fit the man. In fact, it seemed in direct contrast to Marco.
At six foot two, he looked like the epitome of a blessed male model I wouldn’t have just lusted after in a magazine but pulled out the page and hung in my closet when I had been a teenager. Far from drab, boring, or even lifeless.
With broad shoulders, defined biceps, and a chiseled face complete with dark, bushy eyebrows, dark-brown eyes that were almost obsidian, and suave hair of the same color, he always stood out among his brothers.
Yet, none of that negated the fact that the prospect of us pretending to be together twisted me up inside.
A smirk tugged at the corners of his lips as he sat down behind his desk, the corded muscles in his chest visible through the white shirt that clung to him.
“All one hundred and fifty square feet are mine, making me the luckiest bastard around. Wouldn’t you say?
” His thumb reached for his pinky finger, rolling the gold and onyx initial ring on it absentmindedly.
I’d seen it before on his brothers’ fingers.
“It’s—” I searched for the right words. Unfortunately, I came up short. “Whatever.”
“Articulate.”
I narrowed my gaze, choosing to ignore his comment in favor of getting on with far more important topics that would guarantee this little meeting would soon be coming to an end. “I think we should address a few topics.”
“Related to our imminent union?” he asked, standing and starting to undo the buttons running down the front of his crisp white shirt.
“Yes, I—” My eyes followed him as he moved with purpose.
His bicep flexed with the motion of him reaching for a hanger behind his door to take the shirt that hung from it off, my eyes getting caught on the ink on his forearm.
He was tatted with black birds, beautiful black birds that I wanted to see come to life and take flight right off his sculpted arm, etched with precision.
“What are you doing?” Did he have any others? Involuntarily, my gaze fell.
I wasn’t sure when it had happened, but he had eaten up the distance between us. Snatching my chin with his index finger, he lifted my gaze. “Up here, bella.”
My stomach bottomed out, my ears burning.
Fixing my purse for no good reason but to try to focus on something else, I diverted my attention.
For him being the boss’s son and an heir to the fortune, I would have thought he’d have more than this sad state of affairs as an office.
It appeared Santo had favorites, and Marco didn’t make the cut.
Well, maybe doing this so Santo could land himself my father’s company would change that.
Although, if Santo was like my father, not one thing in particular would be good enough.
The final grades only came after a lifetime of sacrifice.
At least, that was what I was left to assume.
“I have someplace to be after this meeting. This spontaneous meeting, might I add,” he said, sounding nonplussed.
“Yes, well, I—” Didn’t know I had to get on his calendar.
Now that I knew who I was meeting, maybe next time I could call his assistant ahead of time.
Except there wouldn’t be a next time because this was the end of the line.
I didn’t see how I could give much more for my family, how I could continue to fix my father’s screwups.
And I had no doubt he would make more. This had to be it, though.
After this, he’d have the money, the reputation.
So, I’d be done. It’d be on him to save himself.
He rolled his eyes. “I always thought my wife would be well-spoken,” he said earnestly and unapologetically.
All the while, he pulled the structured knit shirt on over his head, each arm only slipping through the holes once it was slung around his neck.
“Well, what are these topics you have on your mind?”
Indignation coursed through my veins. “If you weren’t so rude, then you might know,” I said, shifting my weight and crossing my arms. “If you want to marry me, you’re going to have to propose first.”
“Too bad the want is what’s vital, and it’s not there for me.”
“Well, I still deserve a proper proposal.”
He cocked his head, smirking. “You’re not wrong, but it isn’t going to be from me.
” Clearly, being a gentleman was off the table.
It was a small thing to ask since I was sacrificing something that had always been held to a high standard—a proposal, leading into an engagement, and then a magical wedding day and romantic life.
“Plus, what we deserve is often at odds with what’s forced upon us. Wouldn’t you say?”
I stared back, blinking as I uncrossed my arms. “I’d say a lot of things.
” Like how whether he liked it or not, this was going to happen, and I would’ve liked to be able to make some nice memories in the meantime.
Even if they started with me demanding a proposal from a man who I’d only ever known as Capri’s older brother.
“If your voice mattered, which it doesn’t.
” He half sat on the edge of the top of his desk, one foot touching the floor.
His eyes scanned me, like I was a puzzle he was trying to solve.
He was the inscrutable one. Out of all of his brothers, I couldn’t get a good read on him.
Surmising was always an option, but it would only get me so far.
From the stories and the things I’d noticed, I felt I knew a few things about him.
He wanted more, that was for sure.
He used his sarcastic wit as a weapon.
He wasn’t much for divulging information, tending to keep his cards close to his vest.
His loyalty was a sharp knife that often turned on him, cutting the deepest and drawing the most blood. Clearly spilled at the hands of his family, or rather, Santo.
“What?” I finally answered the only way I knew how.
Glancing down, he devoted his attention to the most irrelevant things, studying his hands clasped on his raised knee. “I didn’t stutter.” He didn’t flinch, his piercing negativity nearly stabbing me at such a fast rate I thought I’d stumble back with unpreparedness.
Clacking my tongue on the roof of my mouth, I widened my eyes. “No, but you did make an ass out of yourself,” I said, darting my pointer finger his way and holding it there as I waited for him to redeem himself.
He exhaled. “I said the truth. You just don’t want to hear it.”
“My voice doesn’t matter to you?” I ran a hand over my lips before letting it fall to my side, slapping the side of my leg in the process. “Is that what you’re saying?”
“I didn’t say that.” He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter to your father.” Getting up, he angrily pointed at the door. “Just as my breath is wasted on mine.”
Silence consumed us, and I didn’t do anything more than watch his chest cave in and puff back out as his nostrils flared.
“I just—” In what I perceived as an attempt to try to let go of some of his frustration, he brushed a hand through his hair quickly.
I pursed my lips and nodded, my eyes narrowed. “Articulate,” I echoed his sentiment from before, which earned me a deep chuckle. “Do you always turn to optimism like this?” The amusement in my voice couldn’t be masked.
Our eyes connected, and my pulse spiked for the briefest of moments, because in those moments, he wasn’t Marco, the man I didn’t want to marry. He was Marco, an acquaintance.
Choosing to get back on track, he sidestepped my question and led with saying, “The engagement won’t last forever, but it will be drawn out for the planning process and to make sure it doesn’t appear like a shotgun wedding.”
Yes, well, my father certainly wouldn’t have wanted that. In his warped mind, it sat right above being in debt on the scale of things that would tarnish whatever shiny reputation he did have. “You seem to have been briefed better than I was.”
“Not necessarily. I just know the way my father thinks.” He leaned back against his desk, using it in every way except the one it was designed for. Apparently, it was pointless for him to have a chair.
“Scary.” I frowned, also referring to how he regained composure, the shrewd look on his face making a reappearance. “Well, in that case, engagement announcements will be top priority.”
“Soon, yes, but they’ll have to make sure people in their inner circle have us on their radar first,” he said lazily and shrugged.
“You know, that we were dating, that popping the question was the natural next step. There’s a way to do things, and no one will believe it unless the very meticulously designed path is followed. ”
My body tingled with the awareness that I was the living, breathing contract between our two fathers. “Is this how romantic it was for Vito and Lisa Marie?” If so, I understood why the rest of his brothers weren’t married.
“It would appear we’re the only lucky ones, bella.” To have agreed to the terms of an unfair life sentence? Luck was one way to look at it. Misfortune and a slew of mighty bad decisions was another. “You want my advice?”
With his outlook on things, no, I did not. In fact, I would have liked to steer clear of it at all times. “Something tells me I’m going to get it regardless.”
“Play along.”
He made it sound so easy. “What do you think I’m doing?” I flipped my hair.
“You mean to tell me you haven’t tried to fight this? Why do I find that hard to believe?” His carved muscles lured me in as his arm flexed to cross over the other.
He wasn’t wrong, but I wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of knowing that. “You don’t know me as well as you think you do.” There was truth in that statement.
“Good thing this wedding is nothing more than a sham, so I don’t have to.” He grinned, a seductive aura surrounding him, one that was mixed with a ruthlessness I had a feeling I didn’t want to get in the way of if I was so unfortunate as to witness it firsthand one day.
“Darn. There goes the binder full of facts about myself I was going to put together for you,” I replied, lifting one of my feet up before putting it back down, the sound of my heel hitting the wood penetrating the air.
He remained calm as I seriously debated walking out and bringing this meeting to an abrupt end. “I know enough.”
I snorted. “Why are you going along with this?” There was no judgment to be had on my part.
I was in no position for such a thing. Sadly, we were in the same boat, rowing down the same river, hoping somehow we’d end up off course before we both wound up at the dreaded destination.
“There can’t possibly be something you want that you can’t just ask for and get, so it doesn’t make much sense to me. ”
He stiffened. “Fortunately, it doesn’t have to.” His hand went to his watch as he adjusted the clasp.
“And, to think, I thought I’d be filled with dread if my future husband was Massimo. Now I’m beginning to think I should’ve hoped I would’ve been matched with Carmine.”
“Carmine?” he asked with a mocking tone. Pushing off the desk, he shook his head. “Please. He wouldn’t marry you.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked with an acerbic bite.
“There’s no hidden meaning. Just exactly as I said it. He’s not the type to settle down, and no amount of paperwork is going to change that.”
I couldn’t speak on him being a misogamist, but I could think of several situations that backed the belief he was a confirmed bachelor apart from the fact that Marco just clarified it.
“I suppose you’re not wrong,” I muttered.
Being with someone who preferred the unattached lifestyle would have been miserable with a forced arrangement like this.
“I’m glad we can agree on something.” His lips curled into a sardonic smirk. “Now, if you don’t mind, like I was saying earlier, I have someplace to be.”
“Where are you going?” I sputtered as he breezed past me, his shoulder grazing mine in the faintest of ways. Still, my cheeks blossomed with a deep pink I hoped he wouldn’t see as I turned to follow him.
“Keeping tabs on me already, and we’re not even married.”
I wondered if he could feel the heat from my gaze searing his back as he showed me the way out.