Married To The Wrong Brother

ooms and fortified villas with walls so thick you couldn't hear the gun

made me feel like a porcelain doll someone forgot to love. I clung to my sister's hand and wat

g to a world that wants to mount me like a statue. Except this ti

mi

en polished like the famous Vincenzo. He wasn't carved from ice like the other trained heirs we were paraded in front

running, while his strong hands clapped over my mo

sighed exasperatedly, letting

e his nos

served

rn me into a statue, and then proceeded to kiss my ears with things I'd nev

ischief danced in his eyes, and I shook my

about the De Laurentiis a thousand times. He ca

eless,

yet. But he swor

the fountain aft

lowed.

playing dress-up. Men fired antique pistols loaded with blanks and ceremonial rif

the more bullshit th

it. However, it made anticipation twirl insi

raised in sunlight, school life, and cafe parties. Here, this life always felt fictional to me, like pages from a book my fa

nial gunfire thundered in the distance. Even

pulled my shawl tighter. The air was crispy and sting

nic found it first, of course. Said it was too perfectly hidden not to be his grandfather's idea. It was our hideaway. We'

t it

e he w

ipped, within the courtyard in the estate where the Gathering was held that year. It smelled like stone an

the newly wedded heirs and merged families, and the occasional burst of applause.

ed to come, but my

ostra and you are now, Rose. Th

daughter around in designer gowns while assign

fteen minutes

sweetest smile I could fake as I re

lways did, as if he didn't trust

least it wasn't a grunt. For once, he sounded

less, you don't have to guard me. You c

t to mine.

lted my he

he question annoyed him more than th

rous in her

y because I liked watching him pretend not to feel. "Bu

and my lips curved. I w

l the leather of his coat. "Try n

ce was pe

through the maintenance door, and let it creak closed behind m

e ye

ecret phone calls and texts or even consequence. I was tired of hiding. Tired of pretending we didn't

nyone else. Excitement curled through me as I stepped out from beh

d, but the name d

ans

the hedges, still smiling until the grin slid of

was the man he swore