Page 19 of Blackmailed Marriage

“As it happens, I was thinking of taking you with me,” Dante said.

“Where?” Aria asked.

“Don’t look so terrified. I’m not going to kill you.” He tutted. “You’ve stayed here for so long. I was thinking we go out. I take you to the city. We go shopping.”

“Shopping? Dante Gallo likes to shop?”

“No, I fucking hate it, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t do it for my wife.”

“Ah, so this is all about appearances?” Aria asked. “We know gossip and rumor travels fast.”

“True,” he said, but that hadn’t been the reason he wanted to take her shopping. She didn’t have anything.

He wanted to treat her. Aria had surprised him and he wanted to reward her for it.

They also had an agreement and the best way to get themselves accustomed to each other, was to spend time together.

“I like your thinking. I’m not much of a shopper,” she said.

“Still, I’m sure there are a few things you need.”

In the meantime, while they were in the city, he’d already instructed the maids to move her stuff into his bedroom.

Dante intended to take this new plan very seriously.

Chapter Six

Aria had never been one for city life. The hustle and bustle of the crowds, the constant challenge of not getting pushed and shoved, didn’t appeal to her. It was rare for her father to offer a shopping trip. Usually, her mother brought her back clothes or whatever she needed. If not on those shopping trips, she got gifts at Christmas and birthdays.

Dante drove them out to the city, where he’d first taken her to his penthouse suite apartment.

It was exactly how she imagined Dante’s penthouse to be. Lots of white and black furniture. Everything seeming to be crisp and clean. Nothing out of place, and yet, almost sterile as well.

He didn’t have a spare bedroom, so he’d already dropped the bombshell they would be sharing a room. This was news to her. Aria hadn’t shared a room with anyone, not even her sister, growing up. She always had her own room.

Not long after he told her of their new sleeping arrangements, he led them out onto the street. Multiple guards surrounded them, and she liked it. No one was able to get close to push them around. Dante grabbed her arm and placed it through his. At first, she couldn’t help but tense up at this new contact, but then she began to calm down.

They were a married couple, and had been for eight months. The only difference was they were going to act like it, which was cool. She hoped it worked for them, and they were invited to a party or something—one where her father would be present.

She couldn’t help but glance around and wonder if people were watching them. She expected someone to be staring, whispering, knowing exactly what they were trying to do, but when she did look up, no one was paying them any attention.

There were one or two people who’d look at them andtheir entourage, but no one even paid more than a brief glance their way. It was nice, refreshing, and so much better than all the experiences she’d had in the past eight months. Even their brief engagement had been filled with speculation. No one could imagine why Dante Gallo would marry her. She was nothing.

Again, she couldn’t help but wonder why her father had insisted on finding someone to marry her. Now, she knew he’d blackmailed him to do this.

Aria would never admit it to him, but it hurt that in order to get anyone to be with her, her father had to result to trickery and blackmail.

“Ah, here we are.”

She couldn’t help but frown as they stepped into a well-known boutique. Her mother was always raving about the place, as were a few other women.

“Why are we here?”

“I think it’s only fair I take my wife shopping, don’t you?”

They’d never gone shopping. The clothes she wore were the ones she was able to afford before her parents took away her allowance.

She didn’t intend for them to stay married long. As nice as it would be to have some new clothes, she didn’t think this was the right way to go about it.

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