5.

ARIANA

I SAT QUIETLY ON THE SOFA, watching Matteo pace back and forth in the living room, his shoulders tense.

Mamà sat beside me, her shoulders shaking as she sobbed quietly.

The Made men and the Russian brothers had left over an hour ago, but Mamà and Matteo still hadn’t gotten over the new development of things.

I couldn’t blame them.

I was still reeling from everything that had happened.

“Matteo, sit down, and let’s talk about things,” Enzo finally said with a tired sigh.

Matteo paused briefly to address Enzo. “There’s nothing to discuss. We’re not giving Ari away to them.”

“Uncle Frederico is right. We will lose everything.”

“Uncle Frederico has no right to talk. Do you think he’d give up his daughters so easily if he were in our shoes?”

“We don’t know that. Let’s stop making up hypotheticals.”

Matteo scowled down at Enzo. “So, you’re willing to give Ari over to those Bratva bastards?”

“Until we can come up with a solution, there’s nothing we can do. This hit us smack dab in the face. We haven’t had time to strategize. Our hands are tied until we come up with a plan.”

I pulled out my phone, typing out a text to Matteo. “I agree with Enzo. I trust you, Teo. I know you will come up with a solution. You always do. Until then, marrying Aleksei is the right choice if we want to protect our family.”

Matteo reached for his phone, reading the text I sent to him. His eyes softened when he met mine and I smiled at him reassuringly. I’d done enough running in my lifetime. It was time to stand firm and protect the ones I loved.

“Ari, but…”

“But nothing. I trust you. For now, let me handle Aleksei. I can’t stand by and watch him take everything away from us.”

His jaws tightened, and he nodded after reading the text.

“You’re agreeing to this, Matteo?” Mamà asked, shooting to her feet, disbelief coloring every syllable.

“It’s the right thing to do, Ma,” Enzo said. “For now,” he added to pacify her. “As soon as Matteo and I come up with something, we’re going to take her away from Aleksei.”

“What if he hurts her before we can save her?” She sounded like she was on the verge of tears. “They can have all the money. Just don’t give my daughter away.” She burst into fresh tears, her shoulders shaking with every sound she made.

I rose to my feet, throwing my arms around Mamà, letting her sob against my chest. I rubbed small circles on her back, silently comforting her.

I understood her worry for me, but at the same time, it had to be done.

I couldn’t sit back and watch everything get taken away from my family.

I just had to stick it up to Aleksei, and let him know that I wasn’t going to be a doormat to him in our ‘marriage’.

***

Two days had passed since my father’s funeral, and Aleksei’s surprise visit to the house, and Matteo had finally agreed to the marriage proposal.

Today, I was meeting Aleksei for a little get-to-know-each-other I had requested. One he had surprisingly agreed to.

Didn’t he have people to torture and murder?

I grabbed my notepad and pen and made my way downstairs. I met Enzo and Aleksei mid-conversation at the bottom of the stairs, and the latter stopped to rake his heated gaze down my body.

I almost scoffed. I didn’t understand men. I was just in a simple sleeveless black cotton dress that fell past my knees, but he acted like I was in the sexiest lingerie he’d ever laid eyes on.

Enzo smiled when he noticed me. “Ari. Sorry I missed breakfast this morning.”

I shook my head at him as if to say never mind, and he smiled again.

He wasn’t the only one who missed breakfast. Matteo had also missed breakfast, and had I not forced Mamà out of her room, she’d have also missed breakfast.

I knew Enzo was strategizing with Matteo to find a way out of this, so I gave them a pass. The smile fell off his face when he turned to face my husband-to-be.

I cringed internally. That would take some time to get used to.

“I’ll leave you two to talk to each other.” Enzo pinned Aleksei with a glare. “Keep your word.”

“I will,” Aleksei replied absentmindedly without taking his eyes off me.

Enzo smiled at me one last time before carrying on down the hall to give us some privacy.

I climbed down the last of the stairs, standing in front of Aleksei. Now that we were both standing close to each other, I noticed that he towered over me. A lot.

Mamà swore I got my height from her mother since she was at least five inches taller than me. At five foot four, a lot of people I knew—namely the men in my family—towered over me, but with his broad, muscular shoulders, I felt minuscule compared to him, like I was looking up at a giant.

Add that to my ever-growing list of why I hated him. Not only was I stuck with him, but I also had to permanently stare up at him during our marriage. I sensed pain in my neck in the future.

I wrinkled my nose at him when I noticed he was clad in a suit just like every Made man I’d met in my life. Didn’t the heat ever affect them? Granted it was fairly cool today, but that wasn’t an excuse.

“I got you a present,” he said, bringing my attention to the boxes in his hands.

I tucked my notepad under my arm, taking the bigger box out of his hands, slightly confused. Why would he get me a present?

I read the label on the box. He got me a tablet?

I looked up at him again, a confused frown marring my features.

“Enzo said you had selective mutism. I got you the tablet so we could communicate,” he explained.

My frown deepened. That was the purpose of the notepad I had under my arm right now?

“You’ll eventually run out of space on your notepad,” he said like he’d read my mind. “With the tablet, you won’t have to worry about that. At least for a long while.” He gestured at the other box in his hand. “A keyboard just in case you get tired of writing with the pen.”

I was still reeling from the surprise presents. He got me a tablet and a keyboard so we could communicate, and I wouldn’t run out of space. What in the world was going on here?

A line appeared between his forehead as he frowned. “You don’t look too happy about the present.”

I shook my head, holding the box out to him. I reached for my notepad after he took the box out of my hands.

“Thank you. Really,” I scribbled. “I’m… surprised?”

Really, I was. Why did he feel the need to get me a present? It wasn’t like we’d met under normal circumstances. I turned the note over to him, so he could read its contents.

The tablet I used at work had broken the last time I went to work. While his present came as a surprise, it would serve useful for other purposes. Like saving for a trip to Bali I’d planned a month ago. What could I say? I believed in spoiling one’s self occasionally.

“You’re welcome. Do you need help setting it up?” He offered.

“Just the tablet. I’ll figure out the keyboard later. Let’s head to the garden for our get-know-each-other.”

His lips ticked up in a smirk. “Sure.”

I led him out of the house to the garden. It was my favorite spot in the house when I was younger. This was my first time visiting the garden after I moved out years ago much to my family's chagrin, and I noticed not a lot had changed except the gazebo.

I stopped in front of the gazebo, gesturing for him to go in.

“Ladies first.”

A gentlemanly criminal. Color me impressed.

I shrugged, walking into the gazebo and plopping down on a chair. He took the seat opposite me, dropping both boxes on the table.

We spent the next five minutes setting up my tablet, and when he was done, he handed it to me along with the pen.

“All done. You can start writing down notes now.”

“Thank you for the tablet. Tell me about yourself. Your likes, dislikes, hobbies, your type in a woman, and the likes,” I wrote before turning the tablet to face him.

He leaned forward to read the text before reclining in his seat again. “I can’t think of anything for my likes and dislikes right now. Hobbies? I have none. It’s just work and work. My type in a woman.” A rueful smile graced his lips. “I like curvy brunettes with brown eyes.”

So, what? I wasn’t the only brunette with brown eyes to ever exist. But with the way his heated gaze danced over my body, I knew he was talking about me.

He licked his lips, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. “Extra point if she has fuckable lips.”

I swallowed past the hard lump in my throat. Why did my breath pick up at that insinuation? Me on my knees while he stared down at me with that emerald green eyes of his as his cock parted my lips.

I shook my head. Hell no! I banished the thought from my head. That was never happening. Not with him, or any other man for that matter.

He threw his head back in laughter, and I knew immediately that he'd said that to fuck with me and get a reaction from me. Asshole.

“Interesting.”

He finally leaned back in the chair, a small smirk toying with his lips. “What about you? What are your likes and dislikes? Your hobbies? Your type in a man.”

“I like solitude. I hate marriage and men who try to force me into marriage. My hobby? I don't have a particular one, but if I had to pick, it has to be shopping for funeral outfits for my future husband when he dies. I haven't tried it yet, but I hear it's therapeutic. I don’t have a type. I hate all men.”

I plastered a huge smile on as Aleksei read my text. Instead of anger or annoyance, he looked… amused when he looked up from the screen. “This is awfully specific.”

I flashed him a saccharine smile. If the shoe fit, he could go right ahead and slip it right on. “I try my best. Give me your phone, so I can put my number in it, husband-to-be.”

He handed me his phone, amusement still lingering in his gaze. I typed in my phone number.

“That’s all for today. Pick a date, and I’ll meet you at the wedding. Anything that needs to be said will be discussed over the phone.”

“Not so fast,” he said, stopping me from leaving. “I have to propose first.”

My heart slammed against my rib cage. Propose?

I stared at him in bafflement.

Did he hit his head somewhere before he got here? I got a present from him, and now he wanted to propose?

I guess the proposing part did make sense; only if I’d agreed to marry him because we were deeply in love. This was merely a transaction to keep him in line.

My mouth dried as I watched him fetch something from his pocket.

My engagement ring.

An intense red diamond ring stared at me as he held it out to me. I watched him, immobile, as he took my hand and slid the diamond-studded rose-gold band down my finger.

“It fits,” he said, almost sounding like he was talking to himself. “I was worried it wouldn’t fit.”

Why, I almost asked, and being always one step ahead of my thoughts, he said, “It belonged to my mother.”

I snatched my hand back from his hold, cradling my hand against my chest like he’d burned me. Why would he hand something so precious to me?

It was his mother’s ring!

If he wanted to give it out, he could have at least given it to a woman he loved.

I wouldn't give my mother's ring to any Tom, Dick, or Harry.

“I have to go.”

Immediately he read the text and nodded, I gathered my presents into my arms, rising to my feet.

He eyed me with a weird spark in his eyes as I stepped into my slippers and made my way back to the house.

The princess-cut gemstone caught the morning rays, and it gleamed, reminding me of everything that just happened.

I was engaged to Aleksei Tarasov.

Cold reality slapped me in the face, and I immediately clamped my jaw hard in anger.

Sure, he got me a tablet, but that didn’t mean I’d forgotten about how he charged in here, demanding things from my family.

He was the enemy, and that was something I wasn’t going to forget anytime soon, diamond ring or not.