AllFreeNovel
Share Us
No man will ever have her but me.
This won’t be a loving marriage. I fucking hatethe fact that it will be a marriage at all. I don’t need a wife, and I don’t need a partner. I barely even need friends. What I especially don’t need, what I won’taccept, is closeness. Toanyone.
All closeness leads to is pain.
I don’t want to marry Ava. I want to keep her tied to my fucking bedpost.
Snarling in frustration, I throw my knife across the room, embedding it in the target I have set up in my penthouse. Every time I think about it, I get white-hot. With rage at my life being taken from me. With bitterness that I don’t have a say in the matter.
With disgust when I realize that I would do anything to bind her to me, regardless of the circumstances.
My phone buzzes. I pick up. “Hi,Nonno.”
I can hear the smile in my grandfather’s voice. “We’re meeting with the Gagliardis today to arrange your wedding. Are you at home?”
Retrieving my knife from the target, I prepare to throw again. “Yes. Now?”
“I’ll send a car,” he says simply, and hangs up.
My next throw, the knife ends up sticking out of the drywall.
Like I could give a fuck.
***
It’s my first time visiting the Gagliardi estate. The place is as nice as you would expect, with a yard full of perfectly manicured hedges, statues, and water features. My grandfather’s driver parks out front, and Tony Gagliardi meets us in the driveway, along with his wife and daughter. In the background, several bodyguards are present, watching.
“His wife is named Maria,” my grandfather hisses before we get out, “and the daughter is Ava.”
I can’t help but smirk, even though I’m in a bad mood. I know Ava a lot better than anyone else here realizes.
Including her.
We get out of our black SUV, and Maria Gagliardi is all smiles. “Nazzaro! Good to see you again! I’m so glad I caught you on my way out.” There’s something strained about her mannerisms that I can’t quite place. My guess is she doesn’t like this arrangement for her daughter any more than I do.
“Maria,” says my grandfather curtly, barely looking at her. His lip twitches in what almost seems to be an uncharacteristic loss of composure. Then he turns to Tony. “We have much to discuss!”
Maria makes her apologies, then gets in her little red convertible to go to spin class. Ava doesn’t say a word, just follows the three of us into the house, avoiding eye contact with me.
***
Ava
I sit at the kitchen table, listening to my dad and another mob boss discuss my arranged marriage to a man I barely know. I can’t bear to look at Alessandro, even though his demeanor is different now from what it was last night.
He’s not staring a hole in the table anymore. Now, he’s looking right at me.
A bead of sweat drips down my armpit, tickling uncomfortably. What I’m planning to do is extreme, but it’s my only choice. I’ve been backed into a corner.
My father asks me a question. Something about wedding dates. They’re trying to include me, to pretend as though I have a say in this. I give a perfunctory answer, but I don’t even know what I’m saying. Not even a small part of me is listening. I’m waiting for my moment.
And waiting. And waiting.
Finally, I realize there isn’t going tobea moment. I just need to do it. It’s a matter of bravery, not timing.
I need to make the choice.
My gaze flits to Alessandro. I can’t help it. This whole time, his presence has been a magnet, and I’ve been resisting. We make eye contact.
