I clear my throat and step closer to her. “What is it you want to talk about?” I ask.
“You’re the one who was in such a rush before. You start,” she insists. She turns to face me more, and I step closer to stand in front of her, but I don’t sit down. I need to maintain the upper hand, and towering over her is one way to do that.
“You said you wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t by choice?” I ask her, more so remind her. “You agreed to marry me for your family?”
She tilts her head to the side and some of her hair falls down over her shoulder. I follow it with my eyes. It’s particularly distracting for some reason. As though my mind is trying to focus on literally anything but the present moment and what we need to talk about. What we need to do.
“I didn’t like the idea at first, I have to admit,” Rosalie tells me. “But…I don’t want this to turn into a war. Eivor wants us to be married and he’ll calm down if we do.”
My lips turn up at the edges. “So, it’s not about marrying me then. It’s about sating your uncle’s fantasy.”
She blinks at me. “Fantasy?”
“Oh, please. I see the way he looks at you. It’s clear he’ll do whatever he needs to do to control you in some manner. He wants control of all of us.”
“Eivor is a bad man,” she agrees. “But he’s not just my uncle, he’s the Don of the Fiorellis. As long as he’s around, my life is in danger.”
“So, why not just kill him?” I ask her with a raise of my brow. I step closer to her, looking down at her with narrowed eyes. “It’s what I wanted to do in the first place. “
“What you still want to do, clearly,” she says quietly. “I don’t want him dead, Alessio. I want him taken out of power, sure, but that’s not an option. The best option right now is to marry into your family where I’ll be safe.”
“It’s about your own safety; I suppose I can understand that. But you must understand thatmysafety is at risk marrying into your family,” I say as I wave a hand to the side.
“You’re a man,” she reminds me. “My safety is at risk ten times more no matter what I choose. You always have the option of overpowering those who try to control you. I don’t.”
I smirk at her. “Are you saying you’re weak and helpless? Darling, that’s not the woman I saw a few weeks ago.”
She glares at me. “Never. If I really didn’t want to be here, I’d find a way out. I know how to work a gun,believeme, I have.”
“You’re underestimating yourself then?” I crouch down to look at her. “Or do you really want to marry me that badly? Do you think I’ll fuck you good on our wedding night?” My voice lowers.
Rosalie’s face goes pink and her hands ball into fists. “Fuck you. I would marry whichever brother Eivor wanted.” She scoots further back on the seat to get away from me. “It’s not about you. It’s about what my best option is, and right now that’s marrying into your family so my uncle will chill the fuck out.” Her voice becomes jaded and dark in a way I’ve never heard it before. She glares at me with daggers for eyes and I can’t help but feel a tingle of excitement throughout my body.
“I guess we better start planning our wedding then, Wife,” I sneer back at her.
Her jawline tightens, and mine does too. We simply look at each other, refusing to break eye contact like we’re trying to see who can hold it the longest. Who will waver. Who will pull away.
She does. Her eyes shifting to the side, but I realize that it’s because someone else has walked into the room when I see their lanky form in the reflective pools of her eyes.
“Are you two busy?” Cassian asks us.
I sigh and turn around to face him. “Why?” I ask in return.
“Eivor wants you to go to the courtyard to work on planning your wedding,” he tells us. “Since, apparently that’s where it will be.”
My hands tighten in fists. “What courtyard?”
“At our estate,” Rosalie cuts in. “He asked me where I’d prefer to have the wedding, and I said our courtyard. It’s got beautiful details, even in the winter. I figured it’s better than a church.”
I swallow hard. “I wasn’t included in this decision,” I say.
“Take it up with him,” Rosalie insists and stands up from the window seat. I watch her as she walks around Cassian, who doesn’t look incredibly pleased either, and disappears out of the door.
“She’s going to be a handful, isn’t she?” he says as he looks behind his shoulder.
I exhale with a slight huff, already wishing I had another cigarette.
“You could say that.”
