Married to My Enemy

“Ha, ha,” I said. I untied my hair from its ponytail, partially just to annoy him. “You’re just mad you can’t grow hair like this, old man. Look at you—you’re balding. One foot in the grave already. All the more reason you need to pass on some more responsibility to me. It’s about time for you to start thinking about who you’ll leave the family business to. I am your firstborn son, remember?”

“Oh, I remember, all right. Firstborn and the most hard-headed.”

“I certainly know where I get that from.”

Dad sighed. “Listen, Gio—do you want to know how you can really help out?”

“I’m all ears, Pops.”

“Get into the Marino family.”

His statement hung in the air for a long time. A stretch of silence passed between us. I raised an eyebrow, wondering if he was implying what I thought. I cleared my throat. “Oh yeah? And how do you suppose I do that?” I asked although I suspected I already knew the answer.

“Through their daughter, of course,” Dad said. “You get in good with the Marino girl. Work your magic and charm and whatever else it is that you do. Hell, the marriage doesn’t have to be like, you know, a real marriage. It just needs to happen so that you can secure our family ties with the Marino fortune. Got it?”

I swore under my breath, but I definitely understood my father’s logic. The Marino family was loaded, and as the firstborn son, it made sense for Dad to want me to be the one to do such a duty.

He also knew that I was the one who would always do anything for my family, no matter how unpleasant. And it certainly didn’t help that I was so desperate to prove my worth within the family. Fuck.

I sighed. “Consider it done, Dad,” I said dejectedly.

He smiled broadly. “That’s my boy.”

I left his office, deciding that the sooner I set to work on my task, the better.

I also knew though, that for tonight, I was going out to party as hard as I could before I set my focus on the Marino girl.

After all, it was potentially my last night as a single man.

CHAPTER 3

Arianna

“You did it, Lee!” I said, clapping my hands together.

Lee gasped, his eyes widening in shock. He was eight-years-old, and long division had been giving him trouble ever since I’d introduced it to the class. But being the hard-worker that he was, he stayed after school whenever he could to get extra tutoring, determined to catch up to the rest of his classmates. Finally, his hard work had paid off.

“I actually got it right?” he asked, dumbfounded.

“You most certainly did,” I said, smiling and ruffling his hair.

Abruptly, he jumped into the air and did a victory dance that I almost wanted to join in on. I didn’t mind staying after school to help him, but it was also nice to leave the school a little earlier. “So, looks like we can get out of here early today,” I said.

Lee happily nodded his head and began packing his backpack. “See you next week, Ms. Marino!”

“See you, Lee,” I said, watching him exit the classroom. I then set to work cleaning the blackboards and packing my own bags, more than ready to start my weekend even though I had no plans. Relaxing at home was good enough for me though.

“Have a good weekend, Ms. Marino,” said one of my former students as I exited the school.

“Thanks, you too!” I said, waving goodbye as I headed to my car.

Setting my briefcase in the backseat, I climbed behind the driver’s wheel, thinking that before I got too settled into relaxing for the weekend, I needed to make sure I had the following week’s lesson plan ready.

In the couple of years that I’d been working as a teacher, I’d easily gathered that it was a tiring career, but a rewarding one, especially when working with children as young as second-graders. Even on the toughest days, which were prone to be full of tears and temper-tantrums, I wouldn’t change my career for anything in the world. I’ve always loved children and always knew that I wanted to make a career that would allow me to work with them. So, when I’d landed my first full-time teaching position about two years ago, it had been a dream come true, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it since.

Most of all, I was at least thankful to not have to be in the family business. Yet, being the only daughter, it was pretty much obvious right from the start that I wouldn’t be forced into the family line of work.

It wasn’t a secret; I knew my father and brothers worked for the mafia and that our family’s riches were essentially ‘dirty money.’ Nevertheless, they kept my mother and me out of it, which is the most I could ask for. I happily permitted them to keep the wool over my eyes and let me live the life that I wanted to live, for the most part.