Page 21 of The One Night Match
CRUZ
What the fuck is she talking about?
She’s talking like it’s a foregone conclusion that I’m going to leave at the end of the trial period.
Trial period.
Can you believe they call it that? You’d think, considering how seriously the Mafia takes the sanctity of marriage when it comes to divorce, that they’d have something to say about that terminology.
But nope.
Regardless, I already know I’m not walking away at the end of the ninety days. Why the hell would I?
Riley is beautiful.
She’s funny.
From what I can tell, she’s smart as hell.
And more than any of that, she has her own mind.
You don’t know how wildly boring Mafia women normally are. They’re all cut from the same cloth, with the same values, the same training, and the same boring personalities.
But not Riley.
I just have to make her see that this could work. That we could have something real.
I reach over and take her hand, squeezing it in my much larger one until she’s forced to meet my eye. “I’m not going to be the one who walks away.”
“But we have to mutually agree,” she argues.
I raise a brow. “So you’re the one who’s going to try to leave at the end of the trial?”
She opens her mouth to argue, but she snaps it shut again.
So that’s it.
She thought she was going to be able to use the system to her advantage.
Smart cookie.
“I’m not getting a divorce,” I tell her.
“But that’s part of the contract we signed!” she argues.
“I don’t care.” I smirk as we come to a stop outside the reception venue. “Now, little wife, let’s go show off how happy we are with our match.”
I don’t give her a chance to argue, quickly climbing from the limo and taking her hand to help her out of the car.
“Do you have to stay in this tulle monstrosity all night?” I ask, my brows furrowed. “I can’t get anywhere near you.”
“Maybe I should keep it on in that case,” she mutters to herself. “But no, I have a reception dress to change into before they introduce us.”
I shake my head and lead her into the venue, navigating the back halls until I find the one Mom made me memorize the location of. She wanted to make sure I knew where I was going because “it’s not fair to expect my new wife to remember everything on such an emotionally charged day.” She was right, of course, and I’ll have to tell her as much when we see her in a little while.
I have a feeling she’s going to love Riley. Maybe not so much if she finds out she’s going to try to use the loophole in ourmarriage documents to get out of being married to me, but we’ll cross that bridge if we come to it.
We slip inside, and I close the door behind us once I’m sure none of her dress will get caught. She looks beautiful in it, but it needs to go.
