Chapter 5 #2
Ascending the stairs of a brownstone that was for sale, Marco played with the ring on his finger as his other hand fisted. He was thinking about the situation, this situation, Santo had put him in. It was my best guess, at least, and I genuinely believed I was correct.
He needed to stop giving Santo control over his headspace. I knew from experience, which was why I could speak on it. Capri and Siena didn’t have nearly as much pressure or as many expectations put on them. Then again, they weren’t their brothers. It seemed they had it the hardest.
Nonchalantly leaning against the structure of the brownstone, he took a deep breath like he was taking a drag of a cigarette.
“Unbelievable,” I said from the bottom of the stairs, shaking my head as he looked ahead, not acknowledging me.
“I agree. Engagement photos are nothing but a waste of time. They’re far too performative. But I suppose that makes them not much different from every other aspect of my life.”
I felt a ping in my chest. Frankie was gone, having left some of his equipment but not his bag.
He was probably going to call his wife or something.
His face had said it all when we had been talking about her.
“No,” I replied, insistence in my tone as I stalked up the stairs.
“That you couldn’t have enough foresight to get me a ring.
” Raising my hands, I isolated my ring finger from the rest and waved it in the air, tapping the part where a ring should have been. “I’m bare, Marco.”
He made zero effort in hiding the way he was cataloging me. “Now that would make for interesting engagement photos.” It was difficult not to pick up on the mirth in his voice.
My nose flared. “You’re not taking this seriously.
” Everyone knew that a ring was the first step in a proper engagement.
It wasn’t like he was struggling to make ends meet, so we couldn’t tell people he was waiting until he saved enough to get me one.
There was no viable reason as to why a rock wasn’t sitting on my ring finger.
“Oh, but you misunderstand.” Maneuvering his body, he pushed only a shoulder against the wall, turning to me head-on.
“I did get you a ring, and if you were a little more patient, I could have made a scene in front of the camera. Even if we couldn’t publicize those photos, at least you would have them forever.
” The ground seemed to shake as our eyes locked.
“You know, as a memory, since you clearly need reminders like that.”
I rolled my lips that felt dry with nothing more than a red lip stain on them. “Marco, why didn’t you say anything before?” Practically closing the gap between us, I gestured with my hands. “Well, come on, let’s see it.”
I couldn’t believe he was holding out on me this whole time, making me believe he was an imbecile not to have done the simplest of things.
Honestly, I would have even been happy to accompany him and select it alongside him.
It would have been just another time we would have been out in public together, doing something lots of couples did.
I was sure our fathers would have applauded the effort.
And, in the meantime, I would have walked out with a radiant diamond. There simply was no bad in it.
He rummaged in the pocket of his jacket, his hand inching out, but much too slowly for my liking. My palms were sweaty, my heart—
A bright blue ring box was produced, and he presented it to me.
Standing at his full height, but I would take it.
He may have been an ass about the entire thing when I had brought it up to him in his office, but it was clear now that I had gotten through to him.
I would look past the fact that he wasn’t being traditional in this, getting down on one knee.
It was okay.
Really, it was.
Because this was it.
This was the moment, and I already knew that once he opened it, it was going to be one of the most valuable pieces in my collection. It might not have been as small as a ring box should’ve been, but that only meant it held a respectable-sized rock.
Looking down as he slowly began to open it, I already had my reaction planned. I would slam into his chest, clutching his shirt as I gazed up at him and saw a man who was more than just a pain in my rear end.
“A blue candy ring?” The tips of my ears reddened as anger acted as a toxin filling my lungs, the feeling thick and hard, leaving me nearly paralyzed from speech.
A plastic setting.
A giant ring made of teeth-rotting hard candy.
That tasted like blue raspberry.
It was sticky.
It was valueless.
It was…a joke.
Images flashed through my mind of lunging for him, but I remained calm. Composed. Because, unlike him, I understood what we were trying to accomplish. It would do neither one of us any good to cause a scene in public. Plus, we didn’t know when Frankie would be back.
He jerked his chin toward the meaningless box. “This is the best you’re getting, so if I were you, I would take it.”
The words weren’t coming to me, so I gave him an icy look.
Astonishingly, he remained standing there, clueless to the fact that I was about to raise my hand and watch it collide forcefully with the side of his face. So, I did just that, slapping him, which was exactly what he deserved in my opinion.
“What do you want from me, bella?” he asked silkily, closing the lid on the box and tucking it back into his pocket where it came from.
A strange feeling gripped me as he didn’t make a move to coddle the sting I was sure he had. Even as it grew red, he only stood there, smugly staring at me.
From our initial meeting, discussing the lay of this ridiculous new reality, I knew he was going to make this far from easy.
But, my goodness, there had to be an understanding, a common ground we could both meet on.
This engagement was as impersonal and humiliating as it got.
An object, like a ring, that I was asking for, wasn’t going to change that, but it was a silver lining I was trying to find in a scenario that only made my chest feel tight.
“For you to stop fighting this. You know, like you told me to do. Seems like you can dole out the advice, but you can’t follow it yourself. ”
“There’s a difference between fighting it and not being happy about it. I choose the latter since I can’t have the former.” He was being brusque about it, once again that dismissive demeanor shining through above all else.
A deep groan threatened to come out, but instead, I swallowed past it, turning around and tossing my hands in the air.
“Well, you can’t have either.” When my hands came down rather abruptly, they slammed into my sides, and it was as though I almost needed that. “People will start to question things.”
I turned back around, but neither one of us said anything more, a strained pause filling the air.
I knew there had to be a reason why he was doing this, and something told me he didn’t have the finest relationship with his father.
In knowing Capri, and being around the family, I noticed Marco was the leading participant in most events.
They were never business networking events either.
More so social ones that he probably had no interest in attending, let alone having a hand in.
I didn’t have the whole story, though, and I doubted he was ready to elaborate.
And why should he? This was nothing more than a means to an end.
I was nothing more to him than a means to an end. Whatever end that was for him.
Just as he was for me.