Chapter 10

Kate's POV

I suppressed the urge to squirm beneath his body, but it was extremely hard. Right then, all I wanted was to sink into his skin. I wanted to wrap myself around him and let him fill me.

And every second that passed brought me closer to doing just that.

I teetered on the edge of insanity, the taste of his lips driving me crazy. Luckily, just the instant before I completely gave in to my irrational desires, the sound of glasses breaking brought me back to my senses.

I leaped back from Dante with my heart in my throat, my body nearly going into paralysis with fright.

When I saw the maid frozen at the door, her eyes wide with embarrassment, I felt like the ground should open up and swallow me.

“That's it. I'm gonna remain red forever in an eternal blush,” I muttered under my breath as I locked eyes with the still stunned maid.

The next moment however, Dante's words brought us both to life.

“You're fired!” he said.

The maid's eyes widened even more, if that were possible. Her face reflected the same shock and confusion I felt.

Why the hell would he fire the poor maid? For walking in at the wrong time?

The thought that I had nearly given in to a man with such a cruel mind disgusted me. I wondered if there was any way to send a slap to my past self.

“I like her. I want to keep her,” I blurted out suddenly.

“I said she's —” Dante started to say, then he caught my eyes. I noticed his jaws tighten and felt a kind of perverse pleasure. Next time, I didn't need to use my body to crack his mask. He seems quite intolerant of someone going against his orders.

“I want to keep her,” I repeated, emphasizing the “I”, a slight smile on my lips.

I had been banking on the assumption he wouldn't want to contradict his wife publicly when I blurted out the first time, and I was pleased to see I was right.

“Why? She's very unprofessional. Just the sight of two people kissing —”

I stood on tiptoes to leave a peck on his lips, effectively shutting him up. Placing a finger over his lips, I looked straight into his blazing eyes and smirked.

“I like her. It isn't too much to ask for as a wedding gift, is it?”

Dante glared at me for a moment. Then suddenly, the mask was back on, his face a picture of indifference like one set in stone. Leaning down, he brushed his lips on mine.

“Alright dearie. She's promoted to your personal maid then,” he said in a calm voice very much in contrast to the anger I had seen in his eyes.

“Stay here and wait for me, alright? I will go get a change of dress for you. This one is stained,” Dante said.

I watched him walk out of the room calmly, very much unlike one who had been frightfully angry just moments earlier.

The mask had only been off for a few moments, but it gave me immense satisfaction. Now, I had another way to resist being his wife.

If he doesn't like disobedience, then I will disobey him till he has no choice than to send me on my way.

Just before walking out of the door, he gestured to the maid, who followed him out. My eyes narrowed. Was he going to punish her despite my pleadings?

I quickly walked after them, intending to make sure the maid stayed safe. I opened the door and …

…A flash of silver.

My mind screamed, my reflexes kicked in and I ducked. I heard a loud metallic clang behind me, signifying that whatever it was had clashed against the wall.

Arya's face, twisted with vicious cruelty, loomed above me. My heart leaped into my throat. Just a split second delay in my reaction and I might have been wounded.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I screeched, shaken from the near miss.

“Were you fucking before she entered?” Arya asked in a low voice, her eyes narrowed into slits.

It took me an instant to realize what she was talking about. My eyes narrowed too as anger welled up in me, suppressing the adrenaline. I stood up so that Arya and I stared eyeball to eyeball.

“You're the one who sent the maid, weren't you?”

Arya didn't answer as her eyes roamed my body, settling on my lips. The flushing of her face and thinning of her lips told me her anger had just gone up a notch.

“You were kissing!” Arya said, her tone low, without inflections, but the disbelief was clearly audible.

“You nearly got her fired!” I snapped at her, annoyed at her antics.

But Arya didn't seem to hear me. She stared at me in a daze, disbelief clearly written on every line of her face.

“It took some effort to get Maxwell to fuck me, and I didn't even like him! If I had only known…” Arya muttered, extreme bitterness in her voice.

I frowned. “What the hell are you talking about?” I asked, annoyed that she wasn't even listening to me.

“I thought mum was lying when I heard her telling her friend that Maxwell was just a proxy for Mr Benedetto, that you only ran away because you didn't know and thought Mr Benedetto had betrayed you.”

I stared mouth agape as the words sank in. I had only one thought: what the hell?

Was that the story my aunt was spinning? I had to admit it was pretty clever. If Mr Benedetto had been my fiance all along, then it made sense I was getting married to him so soon after the failed wedding.

Besides that, there would also be an explanation for the failed wedding in case the paparazzi dug it up, and it also wouldn't be as shameful as it would have been otherwise.

All the blame would be on me. Most of it anyway, because it was understandable for a bride to leave the altar if the man there wasn't her fiance.

But I was sure my aunt already had a backup story to explain that too.

“Fuck your mother!” I said through gritted teeth, anger surging through me once more.

She was making me take all the blame. But more than that, she just made it impossible for me to reject Dante's offer.

If I was his fiance right from the beginning, there was no reason for me to back off now. I had no choice but to continue acting as his wife.

Mr Dante might admit to the press that it was all a mistake if I was really, really eloquent. But how the hell would he explain it if the press already knew I had been his fiance all along and even ran away from the altar because the bridegroom wasn't him?

“Fuck your mother!” I said once again, and banged the door on Arya's face.