When Pa started laying the food on the table, the doorbell chimed, signaling the rest of my nightmare.
Glenda, our maid, went to answer the door.
Seconds later Armand,my beloved ex, appeared at the door.
He looked to me first with satisfaction all over his face, then to Pa.
“Welcome son,” Pa boomed. “Please take a seat.”
“Thank you, boss,” Armand answered.
Pa shook his head. “No this is not a meal like that. Tonight you are here as family. You will not call me Boss tonight.”
Armand bowed his head in the customary fashion and made his way over to the seat next to me. He was to sit next to me and Pa at the head of the table. One on my right, the other on my left, barricading me.
Armand looked to me and I stared back at him, not knowing what to say.
“Bellezza,” he began with the endearment Pa usually used. He stuck out his hand for me to take.
I looked at it not wanting him to touch me. Pa cleared his throat and my gaze snapped to meet his.
Like the obedient servant I was supposed to be, I gave Armand my hand and groaned inwardly when he lowered to kiss my knuckles.
God… it was happening. All that I feared.
Being with this man.
It was so ironic that when I caught him cheating on me with not one but two cheap skanks who looked like two dollar hookers, I didn’t feel an ounce of what I’d felt when Xander told me it wouldn’t be fair for him to see me anymore.
I’d been angry at Armand. Sure I was pissed off but I was mainly pissed off with myself. I thought I should have seen it coming because I sensed it. A woman always knows. I thought a woman always knew when her man was cheating.
I’d sensed it, then it happened and I saw him balls deep in one of the women who was begging for more.
That was the person my father wanted me to marry.
He released my hand and Pa moved to take his seat.
“This is nice. I am happy that the three of us can sit like this together,” Pa began.
I tensed when Pa looked at Armand with a proud smile.
Armand returned the smile, gazing over me. “I appreciate the invitation like everything else you have given me. You set me up for life and that is something I will always be grateful for.”
It was all so fake. He wasn’t grateful. He was lucky. That was what it was. Luck was different to just showing some form of gratitude for something that had been given to you. Pa gave him that luck on the basis of that old familial bond our families shared.
No, there were no prior arrangements for me to be with him, but it didn’t bode well when I was with him. Seeds were sewn that I never wanted to plant.
“Armand, I appreciate your gratitude. You’ve always been good to me.” Pa straightened up in his chair and shuffled so he could look at me and Armand. “We are here tonight for a special purpose. That purpose is your union. You Armand Ricci and mybellezza, Jia Marchesi. A union that will not just be one of love but one of strength.”
A union of love and strength?
No, this wouldn’t be that at all. Yes it would make Armand stronger because he’d get some part of Pa’s billion dollar empire, but me? I would just be a means to his end.
His words just pushed the last part of me out the window. Just shoved my hopes and dreams to the back of beyond. They coursed through my veins like poison. Slow and sure. Hitting the mark and killing me slowly, softly.Surely.
“A union of love and strength,” Armand agreed.
What a hypocrite. He had the audacity to reach for my hand and give it a gentle squeeze.
