Good God, this guy is even richer than Lucio.
“Good day, ma’am,” one of the girls at the front of the door says. “I’m Leticia, nice to meet you.”
“And my name is Sarah,” another girl says as she takes my cloak.
“Let me show you around the house, ma’am,” Leticia offers.
She grabs my hand and shows me the kitchen, the dining room, the study, the living room, a guest room, and a game room, all on the ground floor. Each floor is lined with marble, expensive statues are everywhere, and the paintings hanging from the walls must be at least a million each. This man sure appreciates his art.
When we get back to the hallway, Matteo has already walked inside, and he straightens his jacket as he looks at me.
“I’ll take over from here,” he tells Leticia.
She nods and smiles. “Yes, sir, of course.”
He holds out his arm, and I stare at him for a second, wondering what he wants from me, if he really expects me to pretend that I’m his newly wed, happy wife.
How long do I have to fake my way through this? Months? Years?
I hesitantly hook my arm through his, letting him guide me upstairs.
“Let me show you to your room,” he says.
“My room?” I frown.
“You didn’t think I’d let you sleep on the floor now, did you?” he jokes. “Of course, you have your own room.”
“No, I just …” A blush breaks out on my cheeks as I interrupt my own train of thought. “I assumed too much.”
A devilish smirk appears on his face. “What? You assumed I would force you to sleep inmybed? That can be arranged, if you prefer.”
I laugh it off. “No, no, this is fine.”
But the moment we enter my bedroom, I’m in awe at all the opulence around me. A red velvety chair in the corner, an expensive boudoir made entirely of hardwood, silver-flaked windows with long drapes, and a double king-size bed close to the floor, bamboo around it, and behind it a long waterfall cascading from the ceiling to the floor into a small pond.
“Oh my God,” I mutter to myself as I look around.
“You like it?” he asks. “I had it styled myself. I wanted it to represent an escape to nature, a sort of tranquil meditation room.”
I can’t believe this is merely a guest room.
“But I have another room if you don’t like this one,” he says.
“This is perfect,” I murmur.
It’s everything I could ever want, everything I ever dreamed of as a little girl to live in a house like this. But my dreams never ended in a marriage to a certified Mafia don.
I gaze down at the ring around my finger, and my stomach twirls into knots. This ring doesn’t belong to me. I didn’t marry this man by choice. I married him to save myself and to get far away from Lucio. But at what cost?
“How long are we going to keep this up?” I glance at him over my shoulder, feeling the weight of my own words. But God, those gorgeous eyes make it so hard to focus.
He licks his bottom lip. “As long as required.”
“How long?” I press.
I don’t want to be stuck in this limbo forever.
He narrows his eyes at me and steps closer, too close for comfort, and I find it hard to focus on anything other than his prominent buff features in that tightly fitted suit of his. I’m sure he must be totally ripped underneath all that fabric, and he makes me gulp just by getting close.
