Page 17 of The Marriage Contract

“Do you love my son?”

I don’t know him. I only met him two days ago. He’s tall, handsome, and so intense that he puts weird ideas and thoughts in my head that I never dreamed would exist when I agreed to this. Yet it doesn’t matter how Itruthfullyfeel. “I love your son more than life itself.”

“Marriage isn’t merely about love, however. I’m sure you’re aware of that.”

“I’m ready to dedicate myself to him. I’m ready to do whatever it takes.”

“Whatever it takes,” she repeats. “How lovely.”

Yet her tone says the exact opposite. I slipped there, making it sound like I was doing this out of duty, not love, as I just proclaimed. I wonder what would have happened if Dario and I had met under different circumstances. Would sassing him still feel so good?

“Oh, would you look at the time,” she says, gesturing at the grandfather clock. “Excuse me, but I must leave early.”

I wait for her to stand, and then we do the posh fake-kissing thing again. Once she’s gone, I sit at the table, grab a bread roll directly from the plate, and stuff it into my mouth. Then I drink some juice straight from the jug, not caring when some spills onto my shirt. It’s freeing not to have to care.

“Having fun?” Dario says from the doorway, making me jump.

I turn. “You’re way too sneaky for somebody so big.”

He smirks as he walks into the room. He’s wearing workout clothes. The sweat makes his shirt stick to his chest, showing theoutline of his pecs. His biceps bulge, veins pressing against his skin like a beast waiting to bust free.

He sits down, taking a bread roll from the plate and biting from it, then tossing it on his plate. “Did you and Mother have an enjoyable breakfast?”

“She tried to pay me off,” I tell him matter-of-factly. “She basically said, without saying it, that she would give Aunt Rosa all the care she needed, and I didn’t have to marry you.”

“What did you say?”

“I told her you’ve already been generous enough. I told her I love you.”

His lip twitches in that annoyingly captivating way. Strange sensations pulse through my body. I press my legs together under the table, tension making certain parts of my body ache. I need to remember what Giulia said, making the phrasethis is businessmy mantra.

“Good,” he says, nodding. “She came to say goodbye before she left. She seemed less suspicious of you.”

“That’s because I waited to start my feast until she’d gone.”

I see another lip twitch and feel a tremor in me. His cell phone rings before he can reply. “Excuse me. I have to take this.” When he answers the phone, it wouldn’t be accurate to say that his expression changes. It’s more like a dark shadow wraps around him. He looks ready to kill. Veins bulge all over his body. “I’ll be there soon.”

“Is something wrong?” I ask.

“You don’t want to know.”

“Then why did I ask?”

He stands up, and I do the same. He walks up to me, bringing his scent with him. Thatshouldgross me out. He’s sweaty and smelly, but it’s sohimthat it doesn’t somehow.

“Okay then,” he snaps. “Yesterday, I had a meeting with the leader of a rival mob. He said some nasty shit about you. I snapped. I got violent with him. I never do that. Now, as retaliation, he’s destroyed one of our charity centers.”

“Charity centers?” I mutter.

“That’s right. Not everything we do is evil, Elena. Paths of Promise has given a chance to countless kids who would’ve fallen into a life of crime otherwise. Go on; tell me that makes me a hypocrite.”

“That’s not my place.”

“You’re my fiancée. Everything is your place.”

He takes another step forward, staring right into my eyes, staringintome. It finally makes me realize what people mean when they use the phrasepenetrating gaze.

“I wasn’t thinking that, anyway,” I tell him. “What are you going do to?”

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