Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 68628 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68628 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Is he going to expect me to be… faithful? Not that I would cheat on him… but if he has a mistress and this marriage is only a facade…
No. No, I can't do that.
Eden’s face looks pinched. “Um. I think you’ll have to talk about this with your new husband."
I throw my hands up in the air. "Oh my God, Eden! You can’t call him that!"
She flinches. "Then what should I call him?"
"My captor? My jailer?”
Eden steps in front of me and clasps my hands in hers. The earnest look she gives me sobers me a little bit.
"I don't know what's going to happen with Adriano. But I do know this. He left his home in Italy to come here to help my husband and his family. Sergio doesn't hire anyone unless he's trustworthy and dependable. And there's no way Sergio would agree for you to be married to someone who's going to hurt you."
And that's where my friend’s naïveté shows.
Anyone can hurt somebody. Even the most innocent-looking people are capable of hurting others and hurting them deeply.
I ought to know.
“Do you know who he killed and why?”
“I don’t.”
Eden may not ask questions, but I’m not the silent type.
Why did he beat someone until they dripped blood onto the floor then shoot them? Why?
I look away, but she reaches for me and holds my hands to prompt me to look in her eyes. "Quinn, I don't know what's going to happen next. But I know you are one of the strongest, fiercest people I’ve met. No matter what you face, I know you’ll soar.” Tears spring to my eyes when she hugs me. “Nobody can help but love you, and you’ll see. Even… him."
I pull away from her. “Oh boy. No, no, NO! I cannot turn on my lovable nature for him. I don't want the man to love me!”
"And why not?" she asks with the patience of someone addressing a small child. "Being loved is a very nice thing, Quinn.”
"If you’re you! I mean, I know that you love me, like, as a friend? But I don't want a man to love me. And I’m not doing this for love.”
I shudder. The very thought makes me sick to my stomach.
To her credit she only smiles and says, “Don't borrow trouble for tomorrow."
"Don't start pulling your Bible stuff on me."
"I will pull out my Bible stuff when the time and place warrant it,” she says with a twinkle in her eye.
I barely slept last night, tossing and turning while Sergio and Adriano probably plotted world domination while smoking cigars in a room with antlers on the wall. Ugh.
What if my friends at the club find out? What if no one wants to be my friend anymore? What if my time there has come to an end?
What am I going to be forced to give up?
Will this farce of a marriage really save me?
CHAPTER FOUR
“I… DO?”
Quinn
“Are you two almost done?" Adriano’s voice booms from downstairs. Hmph.
“We’ll come down when we’re good and ready!” I yell back.
Eden winces. “Quinn…”
"Listen, honey. I know that you're into this whole obedient wife thing with your husband. That kind of suits you. I mean, you're not exactly a pushover or wallflower, you're a very strong woman, but I know that Sergio wears the pants in the family and all that. But that is not me."
"I know," she says with a grimace.
"Are you worried about me?"
"Of course I am," she says. She shakes her head. "Quinn, I know you'll be safe. I just want you to…"
She trails off, focusing on fussing with my dress.
"Hey, you are totally going to finish that sentence."
"Well, there's a big, big difference between safe and happy."
I laugh. "Oh, honey. Happiness is so overrated. I'm not trying to be happy."
I avoid her eyes, because I don't know how to respond to the look she’s giving me.
“Now!”
“Oh for the love of God.” I yank open the door. “Get fucked!”
Eden stares. “Oh boy.”
“What?"
"While I don’t think he’ll hurt you, I also don’t think he’s going to take too kindly to a display like that."
“Well maybe I don’t take too kindly to macho men telling me what to do. Listen, babe, I'm not going to have a personality change just to keep the peace. You know I won’t."
"I know, I know." Her face looks pinched.
Expensive dresses, it turns out, are pretty damn itchy. "Let's get this over with, honey, please."
I don’t expect the little crowd downstairs. Eden’s sister Starla, Sergio’s brother Timeo, and his cousin Mario and his wife are here.
"Couple more witnesses?" I ask.
"Well," Mario says sheepishly, "I heard that Nonna was making ravioli. Sorry."
Adriano looks, as always, perpetually pissed off. There's a crease between his brows I'm growing all too familiar with when he scowls, and his eyes are narrowed. He doesn't partake in any of the banter or discussion but stands in front of a makeshift altar with his hands in his pockets, casually looking like he couldn't give another fuck.