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“You shouldn’t be here at the house alone, Sera. It’s still too unsafe.” He smirks, but his eyes have a mocking smolder to them. “I’m concerned about you, my beloved fiancée.”
Ignoring the funny feeling I get in my stomach when he says that word, I give him an exasperated sigh. “Antony, I told you —”
“I know what you told me.” He stands up abruptly and begins pacing back and forth in the space, which suddenly feels too small for the two of us. “Look, this situation is not right.”
“What’s not right about it?”
He waves a hand. “The way it looks.”
I snort. “Are you really that concerned about what other people think? I took you as less…conventionalthan that.”
“That’s not what I mean, Serafina.” He stops pacing and approaches, then leans against the desk. “You know how people talk. Everyone knows you are here alone, with Carmine out of the picture somewhere. They know I’m your fiancé, but any decent fiancé wouldn’t accept you living here without protection.”
“But we do have protection!”
“A couple of bodyguards don’t cut it, Sera,” he says impatiently. “It’s about men doing right by their women. It doesn’t look right that you’re staying here without your father or me.”
“Ugh, So, more patriarchal bullshit, is what you’re saying.”
He gives me a grim smile. “You weren’t born yesterday, Serafina. You grew up in this world. You know how it works. And you know I’m right.”
I refuse to give him the satisfaction of agreeing with him. “So what are you saying?”
“I’m saying you should come stay at my penthouse.”
“What? No!”
“Why not?”
My face reddens. “That would look even worse. And my father would never allow it.”
“I could talk him into it. He would see reason, that I was protecting you as a good future husband should.”
Husband. That word sends a shiver down my spine even more than fiancé did. “It’s out of the question, Antony.”
“Fine,” he barks.
My shoulders relax; I’ve won the argument.
“Then I’ll stay here.”
What?!
“Are you kidding me, Antony? What would people say? What would mymothersay?”
He stifles a grin. “Do you honestly think she would protest? Your fiancé? The heir to the D’Agostino throne? Here, proving his devotion to you and your safety?”
We argue back and forth, neither of us wanting to give way. Each reason I give why this is a supremely bad idea, Antony lobs it back at me like an easy tennis volley.
“You’re even more stubborn than my father,” I snap at him,
But he just laughs. “When have you ever known a made man to take no for an answer?”
Dammit.
“You know I’m going to win this one, Serafina,” he says gently. “It’s the right thing to do, and I won’t take no for an answer.
In the end I give in to letting Antony move into the Mucci estate —temporarily. I know he’ll never let this go until we’re under the same roof. As soon as I acquiesce, he gives me a brief nod and leaves the estate immediately, saying he’ll be back soon.
