“Relax,” Enrico murmured, his lips close enough that the word brushed my ear.“You’re safe with me.”
The lie was wrapped in silk.I was never safe around him.Everything about his family name screamed danger.Same with Moretti.No one with either of our last names were ever safe.
We turned.My gaze snagged my father’s across the room.His face was carved from composure, but unease flickered at the edges.There was something more going on between them.Something they didn’t want me to know.Neither were stupid.They knew about the contract and that it burned.So, was Enrico pushing for it to be upheld?Was that all the meetings have been about?
Enrico’s grip tightened, drawing me flush against him as the music swelled.So many nights, when my eyes closed, I thought about what it would be like… being wrapped up in his arms, or beneath him or on top of him… And then, as the last note trembled into silence, he stepped away, voice carrying effortlessly through the crowd.
“Friends.Tonight, I am proud to announce my engagement to the beautiful Mia Moretti.”
The room erupted.Gasps, clinking glass, a hundred whispers slicing through the air.My breath caught.My father’s fork slipped, clattering against his plate.Enrico’s smile was all control, charm, victory.I couldn’t breathe.Couldn’t speak.He made his move, and there was no undoing it.My world snapped into place like a cage locking.
The congratulations came next—polite, poisonous.Each handshake was another link in the chain.My gaze darted for an escape that didn’t exist.So I smiled.Grace, composure, poise—if I couldn’t win, I’d make my cage appear like a throne.
Then my father appeared at my side.His face was pale, eyes cold.Almost like he was actually worried for my sake.
“Darling.”His voice was quiet but strained, laced with disbelief.“This… I did not foresee.”
“Enrico is—” I started, but he cut me off.
“Enrico is a force we must now reckon with.”His voice hardened.He squeezed my hand, a silent vow and apology wrapped into one.Together, we’d face the storm he’d just unleashed.
Across the room, Enrico lifted a glass.“To our future,” he said, voice smooth and unshakable.The crowd echoed him.
To the world, he was the triumphant suitor.To me, he was the man who’d stolen my choice and branded it love.
I left the crowd and scurried toward the edge of the room.Leaving my future husband to deal with all the well wishes and questions.My father prepared me for a lot while growing up, but lying had never been in the forefront.And the last thing I needed to do was say the wrong thing.
Enrico staked his claim in front of all the city's most powerful families, and to deny him my hand in marriage now would be a complete embarrassment.It would get myself and my entire family line killed.
One hand closed around mine as he guided me through the crowd.The corridor swallowed the noise behind us.He opened the door and ushered me inside a room.
“Why didn’t you say anything?That’s not like you at all.”
“I—” I swallowed.“I was surprised.You didn’t discuss this with me.”
His laugh was short, humorless.“You knew where this was heading.”
“Humiliating me in front of everyone?Not even talking to me about the announcement first?”
“Marriage in our world isn’t about love poems,” he said flatly.“It’s about alliances.Survival.”
“So, that’s what this has been about all along?You never actually cared for me.It was all about pleasing our families?I’m just leverage you can use.”
His gaze cut sharp as glass.“Never leverage.You’re the queen.But even queens don’t get to walk off the board.There are many things to discuss, but right now we should celebrate.”
He stepped closer, shadows folding around us.
“Enrico, please—” I whispered.
“Shh.”His hand braced the wall above my head, trapping me.“Look at me.”
His eyes were dark, fathomless, his breath warm against my cheek.
“You’re mine,” he murmured.“From the moment I saw you.No matter what contract our families had… there will never be another woman for me.The sooner you come to accept that… the happier you will be in this marriage.”
My body betrayed me—heart racing, breath short.Instinct screamed to flee, but something deeper reached for the fire, anyway.He kissed me.Not gentle.Fierce and claiming, heat and control bleeding into one.My mind splintered.Resistance warred with desire, and for one reckless heartbeat, desire won.Then he pulled back.
“I can’t wait for our wedding night,” he said, and it wasn’t a promise—it was a sentence.
