Married to My Enemy

“Giovanni, this is Mr. and Mrs. Marino,” Dad said. “And this is their daughter, Arianna.”

Arianna Marino.

Ari.

The woman from last night.

Oh fuck.

CHAPTER 9

Arianna

My heart sank somewhere down to my toes.

I couldn’t believe it.

It was him.

Of all people, it was him…

Ever since I was a little girl, I had imagined a million times what this moment would be like. I had always hoped that whoever my parents chose for me would be handsome and charming with a heart of gold. Every now and then, I would have nightmares about being matched with someone completely unacceptable, but I always brushed those worries aside, trusting my parents loved me enough to find me a suitable mate.

Had I not gone on my rebellious adventure the previous night, I would have been completely oblivious to the fact that the guy standing before me was an inconsiderate playboy who obviously wouldn’t make a suitable husband.

My eyes stung with tears that I prayed wouldn’t fall, and I struggled to breathe around the lump that had formed in my throat.

At this moment, I felt that literally anyone—anyone—would have been better than him.

Images from the previous night forcibly returned to my mind. Initially, he had seemed like a decent guy. That’s what had brought about such a wild streak within me, to begin with. He had been so handsome and charming—and the way he had saved me from that creep harassing me at the nightclub, I’d been under the impression that he did have a heart of gold. Mere hours ago, I would have assumed Giovanni Romano was precisely the kind of guy I would have hoped to get matched up with.

But that was before learning the truth—that Gio was just as much of a creep, and his only intention last night had been to get in my pants. Very literally, the instant he was done with me, he had practically kicked me out of his apartment.

Never in my life had I felt so used. So, cheap. So, dirty. Although I hadn’t expected anything special to continue between us, I had expected him to at least treat me with some decency. My blood boiled, recalling how he had laughed at me, threw my clothes at me, and urged me to get a cab and let myself out of his apartment—to get out of his life.

Now we were expected to become a permanent part of each other’s lives. I never knew fate could be so cruel.

“Arianna, honey? Are you all right?” my mother said.

I snapped back to my senses, realizing that everyone was looking at me. I cleared my throat and attempted to force a smile, even though my mouth so desperately wanted to curve downward into a grimace. “I’m fine,” I said, hoping no one noted how high and strained my voice sounded.

Giovanni stared into my eyes, so many unspoken thoughts darting between us. His movements were hesitant as he stepped forward, approaching me. I could tell that he too, was trying his best to pretend that everything was fine. To pretend that I wasn’t the woman he had so rudely kicked to the curb just hours ago. Beneath the calm expression, he was keeping on his face, I could see that he was practically looking at me as if seeing a ghost.

He extended his hand to me, and I forced myself to accept it. “Nice to meet you, Arianna,” he said, his voice deceptively smooth. He then brought my hand to his lips and kissed it. I fought hard not to snatch my hand away.

Meanwhile, our parents stood around us, beaming and clearly under the impression that we were off to a good start.

If they only knew…

When Gio released my hand, I was tempted to rub it against my skirt to wipe away his kiss, but I refrained. I had to be on my best behavior, so as not to embarrass my parents.

It was going to be a long evening.

Mrs. Romano smiled politely. “Well, I hope you all are hungry.”

“We certainly are,” my mother said.

“Please, take a seat then,” Mrs. Romano said, leading us to the dining room table.