Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 30098 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 150(@200wpm)___ 120(@250wpm)___ 100(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 30098 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 150(@200wpm)___ 120(@250wpm)___ 100(@300wpm)
He saw her chest rising and falling and he knew he scared her. Her face had gone pale.
“What does my dad have on you?” she asked.
Dante liked her voice. It was sweet, not childlike, but it was soft, feminine. There had been one time during the start of this fuckup, when he heard her laugh. One of the women had gotten a puppy as a present, and Aria had fallen instantly in love with the tiny dog. Of course, she couldn’t have it, because he wouldn’t buy her a dog, nor did he want one himself. Pets were pests as far as he was concerned. Her laughter had struck him hard as he listened to it. The sound called to his very soul, and in realizing how much he liked it, he had gone out of his way to crush it.
“What?”
He saw her hands clench into fists and her back was flush against the door.
“I’ve been thinking about it for some time, and I know you and I were never to marry. My father told me you needed something, and we were helping you out, but I know now that is a lie. You’re Dante Gallo. You don’t need help from anyone, and you certainly wouldn’t ever ask my father for help, and it wouldn’t be to marry his plain, ugly daughter.”
Dante wouldn’t call her ugly. Plain, yes, but not ugly.
“I know what people whisper about my father, and you don’t like me. You don’t want to be married to me. Everything you have to do for me is a chore. So, I was wondering what my father had on you, that meant he was able to blackmail you into marrying me.”
This surprised him. He didn’t expect Aria to have a single thought in her head. Their time together, though brief, had been quiet.
Putting the glass of whiskey down, he turned toward her. “You don’t know?”
“All my father told me was that you needed a wife and I was doing you a favor. I didn’t have a choice.”
Dante laughed. “And here I was thinking you would love being married to me.”
“I hate it.”
Now, this did wipe the smile off his face. She glanced away and then seemed to square her shoulders and finally look up at him.
“And I know you hate it too,” Aria said. “You don’t love me.”
He snorted. “Love … are you still so much of a child that you would believe in some fucked-up notion of love?”
“You don’t even like me,” she said.
This made him laugh again. “Who in our world is actually in love with their spouse?”
“Fine,” Aria said. “I thought I might be able to help, but if you don’t want it, then I guess we’re both stuck in this miserable existence. I’ll wait for you in the normal position.”
She spun around, grabbing hold of the doorknob, and was about to leave.
“He has proof that I killed some men down at the docks.”
Aria turned toward him with a frown. “Is that all? Isn’t that easy for you to … cover up?”
Dante picked up his whiskey. “He has another issue.” For some reason, he didn’t want to tell his wife that she was covering up his biggest fuckup. Screwing the boss’s daughter, prior to her getting married. It would be considered a huge insult, touching that woman.
For Dante, it had been a mistake. One he couldn’t fully recollect making, but there was no doubt in the proof Phillip had. All he knew for sure was that he hadn’t been sober when he had done it. This was his mess and he intended to clean it up.
“And because of this, you had no choice but to marry me?” Aria asked.
“Yes.”
“What if I … could locate the stuff you need?”
Dante didn’t hold back his laughter this time. “With all due respect, I’ve got people trained to locate something of value, and they have failed.”
“You don’t think I can do it?” Aria asked.
“No, I don’t.”
He watched as she licked her lips, and there was something about that action that drew his attention. Maybe the whiskey he’d drank had gone all the way to his head.
“If I find a way to get the information you need, could we get a divorce?” Aria asked.
Now he was thoroughly entertained.
“If you are able to get me everything your father has on me, not only will I grant you a divorce, but I will make sure you never have to marry again, and that you want for nothing.”
He may as well grant her something extreme as she was never going to accomplish her goal. If trained soldiers couldn’t do it, there was no way Aria would.
Chapter Two
Even though they made that deal last night, it still didn’t stop Dante from doing his duty. Aria woke up the next morning and took a long shower before making her way downstairs toward the kitchen.