Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 105679 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 528(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105679 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 528(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
Predatory.
There was nothing but utter silence.
The physical weight of their eyes pressed against my skin, my flesh feeling the burn of their collective judgment.
Oh God, I don’t think I can do this.
“Serafina.” My father’s voice cut through the silence. “You’ve kept our guests waiting.”
I blinked to stop myself from flinching. There was a sharpness in his voice that I wasn’t expecting.
I didn’t keep them waiting.
The clock had only just struck seven.
Maybe it took me two minutes to walk from my bedroom to the dining room, but… it was only two minutes…
How foolish of me.
Even two minutes was unacceptable for tonight.
“Good evening.” I didn’t know how I stopped my voice from shaking, but I sounded demure and clear.
Fake to my own ears.
“I apologize for keeping everyone waiting.”
Matteo stood up and pulled out my chair, a gesture too gentlemanly that it surprised me. So, they had me placed beside my future husband, the farthest away from my brother and father.
A clear message to both families, that I was no longer the daughter of the Morelli family but now a Salvatore woman.
The distance to my seat felt impossibly long under their scrutiny, but I kept my chin up and my pace unhurried. The empty chair beside my own was a cutting reminder of the only person missing from this table. My deceased mother.
If she were here, she would have been seated beside me. As any other caring and devoted mother would. Except, Caterina Morelli was anything but loving.
I slid into the chair gracefully, arranging my dress as I sat.
I had avoided any eye contact before, but my gaze finally settled on the person across from me.
Thud.
And that was when I saw him.
Casually sitting back against his chair.
Thud.
Thud.
A half-smirk on his lips.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
His eyes lingered on me, and there was something in them—dark mischief. Almost like he had been waiting for this moment, oh so impatiently. For me to discover him.
For us to come face to face again.
The table separated us, but for a single moment, it disappeared.
And I was transported back to the gazebo, sitting on the bench and him, leaning against the marble pillar.
“What a vision you are, Serafina.” The voice dragged me back to my senses.
I blinked, forcing my gaze away from my mystery man.
“Your beauty wasn’t exaggerated,” Enzo Salvatore continued, smiling but it didn’t reach his eyes. He was quite literally the much older version of Matteo. Silver hair and eyes that had seen too much. Every wrinkle on his face was measured by his experience.
“You’re too kind,” I responded, the practiced words falling easily from my lips.
My attention slid over to my mystery man again.
He was still watching me.
Oh God.
He licked the corner of his lips.
“The dress suits you,” he drawled, his dark stare traveling deliberately from my face to the neckline of my gown before returning to meet my eyes. Confronting. Probing. Invasive.
The challenge in them was unmistakable. “Though I must say, I preferred the black from yesterday. It showed your... devotion to family.”
A test, already. Fuck.
The implication was clear. Did I lack respect for my recently deceased mother?
If I lacked devotion to my biological family… then how was I expected to give the Salvatores my complete loyalty?
My mystery man was setting me up for failure—for his own personal amusement.
Fuck him.
And fuck me.
CHAPTER THREE
I was taught and trained for this very moment. To be the woman they expected… wanted me to be.
“Emerald signifies abundance, prosperity and new beginning,” I countered, poised and confident.
Emerald also meant wealth.
Royalty.
And our families were nothing short of royalty— that was if royalty ruled through fear and if crowns were forged with bullets. Our hands were bloodied in the most despicable and barbaric way.
“And the new bride is meant to bring prosperity and balance, right?” He mused in a humorous tone, as if he found the idea of me bringing prosperity laughable. Unattainable.
“That is correct,” I agreed softly.
His gaze never left mine. “So you think of yourself as some kind of savior to our family?”
My lips parted with a soft, inaudible gasp. Shit. Shock and horror coursed through me. “I d-didn’t say that.”
My role in the Salvatore family could never be as important as a savior or a protector. And I sure as hell couldn’t dream of being anything… more.
Dreaming was for pretty, starry-eyed girls.
And I stopped dreaming when I was fifteen.
“That’s enough.” Matteo’s voice sliced through the tension, sharp and commanding. “It’s not very gentlemanly to bully your future sister-in-law on our first formal dinner together, is it?”
Mystery man didn’t look the least bit chastised. Instead, his eyes gleamed with wicked amusement.
Wait—
Future sister-in-law.
Oh.
Blood rushed between my ears in a deafening roar and the knots in my stomach seemed to tighten. Twisted and painful.
My mystery man from the gazebo was Matteo’s brother.
The man I mistakenly flirted with and thought I would marry was Matteo’s brother.
They didn’t look alike but I saw the familiarity now. They both had Enzo’s eyes: shape and color. The same dark bluish eyes that sometimes looked stormy gray.