Maria’s heart dropped to the floor the moment she caught Micha standing on the brink of the dressing area.
Oh god, what was he doing here?
‘You’re not supposed to see me in my wedding dress!’ she cried pulling her arms around her waist as if she could protect herself from his gaze.
Shehatedthat he was seeing her like this.Hatedthat he was seeing her look sohideous.
Especially when he looked… She scrunched her eyes together, but the image of him standing there in that damn near perfect suit made him look like a model, harsh cheekbones, broad shouldered, thin hipped and that waistcoat that she remembered far too well.
‘Don’t worry about bad luck,cara, because there is no way that you’ll be marrying me wearingthat,’ he assured her.
And she hated that she agreed with him too. At least, she thought, slowly prising her eyes open, he wasn’t planning to punish her by forcing her to wear something as hideous as this in two days’ time.
Two days.
We have very little time for alterations, Ms Gallo, so we will need to find something that fits as close to your size as possible.
Maria knew that. And she intensely disliked being difficult, she wouldnevernormally be so demanding. But this was important. It was her wedding dress. And while it might not be the day she’d ever imagined for herself, it wasvitalthat her dress be perfect.
Because of whattheywould say, whattheywould think.
Her parents. Her family. The Gallos.
Clothes were armour. And she needed armour. She needed to be as protected as possible when she stood before every single member of the Gallo family and married Micha. Because no matter how many times she had proved herself worthy, had worked harder than any other family member, longer than any other employee, gone above and far beyond whatever anyone else had ever done at Gallo Group, it had never been enough.
Not for her grandfather, who deemed her inferior because of her gender,unworthyof inheriting a company she could run better than anyone. Not for her parents, who had shown her nothing but irritation and disappointment for not being their much-neededmaleheir; the only way they thought they could have pleased Gio Gallo. And not Micha, who had left the first chance he could get.
Oh, she could hear the snide whispers and barely concealed critiques.
Pregnant. Desperate. Coerced.
Or worse.
That she’d got her hands on Gallo Group the only way she’d ever be capable of getting it, by trapping Micha with a pregnancy. Because she ‘wasn’t good enough’ to earn it. But shehadbeen. She’d been better than all of them. Even Micha. But in the end none of that would matter, because now they’d all think that she’d manipulated all this to get what she didn’t deserve.
‘Could you give us a moment?’ Micha asked both the assistant and Ivy.
Ivy shot her a glance in the mirror and Maria nodded, not wanting to argue the point—certain that she didn’t want Ivy to hear what Micha was about to say. Maria waited, breath locked in her lungs until they were alone.
She felt…vulnerable, exposed and she didn’t like it.
‘What did you tell her?’ he asked as he started pacing the dais in a slow circle.
‘Ivy? You mean, after you invited her to a wedding on the day that she knew you’d discovered that I was pregnant? I don’t think even the most gullible would have believed that it was true love, Micha.’
He sighed, impatient with her answer.
‘I told her that you were ridiculously happy. That it was the best news you’d ever heard,’ she said, her angry whisper the opposite of her words. ‘I told her that you confessed that you’d always loved me, ever since…’ And she couldn’t do it. Couldn’t bring herself to touch on the precious, tender, painful past they shared. ‘And that…you’d only ever imagined a future with me in it and…that you wanted to marry me and make me and our child happy.’ Her explanation stuttered out past hurts and long-forgotten dreams and heartache that felt fresh even to this day.God, how she wished the story she’d spun around their betrothal was true. Tears pressed against the backs of her eyes and she turned away, biting her lip until the sting of pain pushed back the emotional rollercoaster her pregnancy had pushed her into.
‘Va bene.’
She closed her eyes, hoping to compose herself, pressing a hand against the tight neckline that was making it hard for her to breathe.
‘Take that off. It’s making me uncomfortable,’ he ordered.
She scoffed. ‘Makingyouuncomfortable?Youdon’t have to wear it.’
‘Neither do you,’ he pointed out with infuriating rationality. ‘So, take it off.’
