two

"London?"

From where I was sitting, I could sense four pairs of eyes in total were glistening on me. Regret immediate poured through me for following Emma's instruction and set my feet into this room.

"London?" A hoarse voice repeated and this time I snapped my gaze up from my lap to answer his call.

"Yes, Mr. Luciano."

Intimidated, I was. Who would not if they found themselves seating across the table from Mr. Yusuf Luciano.

Was I in trouble? Was the first thought which entered my mind the moment I stepped into the room. And with the answer being 'No', few other thoughts then arose.

Hoping that maybe, just maybe someone would finally given me the answer I had been dreading for and put an end to this restless state of mind.

But right before any explanations had been done, the sound of a door crackling open caught my breath including everyone else's as they instantly turned.

I, however hardly swallow.

"You're late, Liam." Mr. Luciano sighed.

My heart thudded in consequence of his presence, the man whom Giovanna's father was speaking to.

Liam Alvaro Luciano. His name automatically crossed my mind. Giovanna's older brother. I had known him for nearly as long as I lived. He was like a brother to me. Although, I doubted he count me as his sister, but brother-sisterly bond was probably the only good way to describe our awkward relationship.

Liam was everything that resembled his father. Unlike his stepbrothers, Jack, Luke and Pedro, he was awfully quiet and strangely secretive. He lived this James Bond-like life with not that many people he was close in contact with. Few friends, perhaps but only the ones he could trust and according to his book, adult females seemed to be more trustworthy rather than men— as it explained why he enjoyed their companies so very much that he would always be spotted with one lady or two in his arms at anywhere he went. He was a womanizer.

Which then again, explained why out of the four brothers Giovanna had, Liam was the one I was the least familiar with.

Being in the same room with him already made me feel uncomfortable and unwelcome so you could already imagine the feeling I must be experiencing.

There was an inevitable tension growing inside the room suddenly when Liam stepped forward. He then took a seat on the spot across from me, beside his mother. He glanced down at his wristwatch and leaned back comfortably as if the state of affairs we were in was downright expectant.

"London, I hope you still remember my son, Liam." Mrs. Luciano spoke up out of nowhere.

Her assertion left me frowning as I shifted awkwardly in my spot.

"O-of course, Mrs. Luciano." I stammered, "I remember."

Confusion mixed with doubts. For being the wife of such a successful well-respected businessman like Mr. Luciano, Mrs. Luciano sure had very questionable social skills.

Like what kind of a conversation opener was that?

"So..." Mrs. Luciano prompted. Her cheeky smile automatically sent a weird sensation to the pit of my stomach, "What do you think?"

"Excuse me?" Not sure if I heard her correctly, I asked to double-check.

"What do you think of my son, London?"

"Mrs. Luciano, I-I am confused." I stuttered, "I do not-"

"Dearest, you need not be shy now." My mama said, turning to me with a look of encouragement spreading across her face, "It's okay. Go on. Tell them."

I then shot her a revolting gaze and she opened her mouth, probably to snap at me but luckily, Mr. Luciano stopped her.

"Let's just get straight to the point." He suggested, "Prolonging the conversation will only make things more complicated. Also, there are a lot of people waiting for us downstairs."

"Can someone explain to me what's going on?" I blurted, finally running out of patience.

My eyes darted from my mother and then to Mr. Luciano who to my surprise was already staring straight at me. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he continued.

"You and Liam are getting married." He trailed off.

I blinked twice along with pinching myself underneath the table. It hurt. So, that meant I was not dreaming. The image of everyone was still crystal clear in my vision after I reopened my eyes, ergo this was really happening.

"No, we're not." I stated confidently but sounded more like I was questioning both Mr. Luciano and myself.

"Yes, you are, London."

This time, it was papa who spoke up. Our eye contacted momentarily and he communicated with me for a moment through his threatening gaze. It was warning me to be more mindful and to keep any thoughts or resentments from now on to myself.

Unfortunately, I had other ideas in mind.

"I do not understand..."

"It is not for you to understand." He told, "We are here to inform you of the arrangement and that it had already been settled by us. There is no room for any discussions, at least not from your part."

"Papa!"

Taken by surprise at his words, the way he dismissed my opinion so fast made me wonder if that was him talking or someone else had written him a script to read out loud for the purpose of hurting my feeling.

Papa would never ever speak to me that way and most importantly, he would never ever give me away. He was protective. Very protective over me and almost everyone knew that. Hence, why the boys from my high school would not so much look my way twice. They would not even approach me even without his presence.

So in conclusion, I was seventeen years old with a lack of experience, living in an unrestrained community with my sexually independent friends. Compare to them, any man would find me offputting.

Especially, a man like Liam.

"The ceremony will be on the first Monday of next month—here in New York." Mr. Luciano announced, "But before that, I think it would be wise of you to move in with Liam. I have contacted the moving company and they happened to have a few days open next week-"

"Mr. Luciano, I don't think you heard me right the first time." I scowled.

"And I don't think you heard your father right either, young lady." He snapped, "This topic is not up for discussion."

"How so?! It is my life you are discussing about?!" I growled.

Oh, may the force be with me. Judging by the look on Mr. Luciano and my papa's face, I should hold onto my breath now that they still allowed me the liberty of breathing.

"You have ten seconds." Papa muttered, "Apologize. I will not have you disrespecting Mr. Luciano and Liam like that."

My jaw dropped slightly open at his remark and I could feel tears burning at the corners of my eyes. There were so many indescribable emotion I was feeling. What word did you use for the feeling of betrayal and unsafety all at once.

"Christoph, stop it. You're scaring her." Mana then hissed under her breath at him for me.

A quiet sigh escaped Papa's lips and his expression soften just only a little bit as he turned to Liam.

"Where's the ring?" Papa asked him.

Through my blurry vision, I watched as Liam nodded his head knowingly before his hand slid inside his pocket and took out a tiny red velvet box. He opened it up before glided it across the table toward my direction.

"If the style is not to your liking, we could always get another engagement ring, dear." Mrs. Luciano said kindly, "This is a family ring. It has been passed down generation after generation for almost a hundred year since Liam's great great grandmother. And to welcome you as the new bride to our family, I would like you to have it."

"It's beautiful, Kehlani." Mama exclaimed as she observed the ring carefully from her seat. Meanwhile, I could not be more careless.

My mind was somewhere else. Somewhere far, far away from where my physical body was. Tears where threatening to fall form my eyes and honestly, I did not even try to stop them.

Especially, right after the next order was being given.

"Put it on, London." Mr. Luciano told me.

"N-no." I blurted out, vigorously shaking my head.

He might think he could order anybody in this room to surrender themselves to him. Well, bad news, I was not going to be one of them.

Angry tears blocked my vision but I could still hear them sighing and clicking their tongues annoyingly at me.

"London..." I head Papa groaned dismissively.

"Dear, if you need a moment-" Mrs. Luciano said out of pity from seeing my condition but she was harshly interrupted by my dearest, beloved Papa. Of course.

"She doesn't need a moment, Kehlani." He grumbled and my heart skipped two beats when he rose from his seat and made his way toward me.

I was biting my bottom lips so hard that I began to taste the metallic taste of blood slightly mixing with my dry saliva. I blinked my eyes, once and twice and a hand grabbed mine before tucking on it forcefully.

I looked up to see my own father glaring me down. His glance was different. Unfamiliar. It was like a demon spirit took over him. He was demanding, angry, upset and probably embarrassed by my reaction.

"N-no, Papa!" I cried, trying to loose my hand off his strong grip as he attempted to force the ring down my ring finger.

"Mr. Saint."

Then a deep voice saved me and stopped Papa from continuing his cruelty action.

"If you don't mind, I would like to have a moment with your daughter." Liam cleared his throat and spoke softly, "In private. Just the two of us."

Nodding his head in approval along with letting go of my hands, Papa pursed his lips into thin line before he took a step back.

"Of course." He said easily before him and the rest of the people migrated outside.

On his way out, I overheard Mr. Luciano noted to his son, "You know what to do, Liam."

And after receiving a small nod in response, He then gladly made his way out of the room leaving me and his son with just the two of us as he had requested earlier.

Now that there were only the two of us in the quiet room, the only noise being my sniffing and sobbing, I heard Liam order to his guards.

"Leave." His harsh command simply sent a cold chill down my spine and it was not even directed to me.

A light footstep against the wooden floor deliberately approached me. I did not bother to look up as I was too scared, too hurt and most definitely, too ashamed to meet his eyes. He was probably already thinking so low of me and it was not even because of my misbehavior or anything but rather the thoughtless act of my parents. They trapped me. Betrayed me and set me up on this arrange marriage I had no say on.

No parents would ever do that to their children.

"Look at me." I heard him say.

In the past, we had talked before. Several times in different occasions but I was so sure that this talk we were about to have would be nothing like the times before.

"London."

By hearing his voice alone, I could already tell he was loosing his little patient with me and I was not at all wrong.

A warm palm gripped roughly on my shoulder but not too hard that it would hard me. Just enough to lean me back and my face became more visible to his eyes.

"Don't touch me!" I barked, flinching away from his hand and stood up.

As impatient as he looked, I was surprised to see he did not bother to yell at me or put me in my place for raising my voice at him.

Instead, he sighed. His hand reached up to my face before he brushed his thumb across my cheek, drying my tears.

It was sweet. At least for his standard. I rarely had the experience with this side of him. I mean not everyone would get away with raising their voice at a man like Liam Luciano. He looked like someone who would not tolerate any kind of disrespectful coning from anyone.

Not even with his own parents.

"Get yourself together." He said to me and with the red ruby ring in his hand, he easily slid it down my finger.

However this time around, I did let him.

"W-Why didn't you say anything?" I asked. My voice was cracking a little through the sobbing.

"I did." He answered as he let go of my hand and gently placed it back to my side, "Since ten years ago, when they told me about the arrangement."

"Wait, you knew about this?"

He nodded.

"And why didn't-"

"I did not want them to tell you then because you were far too young." He stated, "I, at least wanted you to graduate from high school first and live as freely as you want while you still can."

His reasons made my heart ache. But not at all in a good way.

"So you kept it away from me all this time." I snarled, "We met each other almost every month for this past ten years and you did not bother to warn me about this?!"

"Be careful with your tone, London." Liam warned, his eyes darkened and his jaw clenched, "You might be Giovanna's best friend and I see you no different than a sister but we are another thing now."

"Liam..." I gaped at his word.

When he stepped forward and closed the distance between us, my breath hitched. His hand reached down to grab my arm and pulled me close.

I could hear my heart thudding inside of my chest. Never had I ever been this close to him. Heck, never had I ever been this close with any man. He was the first. But how sad, it did not feel anywhere near romantic. It felt like a brother touching a sister.

And as oddly as that sounded, it did happen.

"People are waiting for us downstairs." He whispered to me under his breath, "You will go down and play the happy fiancée."

"N-no.." I sobbed, "Liam, please. I can't."

"You can and you will." He stated firmly, "I am not your father so do think twice before going against my order."

Another droplet of tear rolled down my right cheek, the one he had dried out for me earlier. His cold gaze held mine intensely as we battled in silence.

But in the battle field, he was fully armed with all sorts of weapon meanwhile me, only came with a shield.

"Any questions?" He taunted as he offered me an escort arm which I did not accept it. Only just staring at it like how one would stare at an alien, "Take my arm or tomorrow, I will send my people to move your stuffs out of your home."

"You cannot do that!" I cried, "Your father did say I have one more week-"

"My father did say a lot of things. None of which I had ever listened to. However, he does listen to me more than he listens to anyone else." Liam noted, "So it's entirely up to you. You can do as I told you or get ready to move in with me by tomorrow."