Chapter XXX

Dante

I held her delicate hand in mine. I had to force myself not to look at our hands. I still couldn't believe she hadn't let go of her hand. We both looked at the priest and I prayed that he would fast forward to the important part of the ceremony. I wanted to be able to call her mine . Just thinking about how my cousin had shamelessly stared at her makes me sick again and I have to control the anger inside me.

Rückblick

I opened the door to her room. I can't wait for her to finally live in my room, in ours. I wanted to do it that way from the beginning, but my mother convinced me that she should have her own room before the wedding. I wish the woman hadn't persuaded me. She was standing with her back to me, in a stunning black dress. I held my breath as she turned to me and gave me a what-do-you-want look . I have to admit that this makes her even hotter than she already was. I had to suppress a grin when I noticed her checking me out from top to bottom. She seemed to like what she saw. Her gaze was fixed on my hands, so I glanced at them too. She looked at my tattoo, my eagle. I placed my non-tattooed hand over the picture. I looked up again and noticed the two slits in her cleavage. How could I have missed them? She's definitely not leaving this room like that. Does she actually want to kill me? Okay, calm down, I have to come down, she's not mine yet. But I swear, if

anyone looks at her, I'll shoot them in the head, even if it's Marco.

Marco, the biggest troublemaker of all, especially since she's been here. He's always deliberately making me angry with his actions because he knows full well that she's mine and he has to keep his hands off her. But of course this idiot has to try anyway.

I calmed my thoughts again and focused on her. I was still staring at her when she suddenly started speaking.

"Can we go?" I would have loved to throw her over my shoulder again and force her to change, but then I had to grin. So she couldn't wait to celebrate our engagement. Of course I can't say no to my girl's wish. She must have lost her impatience because she was just about to go through the door when I had to grab her by the wrist.

"Not so fast, we should clear up a few things first." Before we go downstairs, she needs to know a few things. I can't allow my enemies to not believe that we're a couple in love. Normally, I wouldn't let her in on the details of my demands, but despite the short time, I know her well enough to know that otherwise she'll do exactly the opposite of what I expect of her. Even though my family and most of our friends know that this marriage is only meant to bring peace, it's important that they believe we're in love. Or at least like each other. The only thing that will protect her from an attack by enemies or a push from unsatisfied partners is me. I've built up a reputation over the years and no one will dare to even look at my fiancée or wife without having to expect my revenge. And they will.

I hope for both of us that she plays along. I'm giving her a maximum of a month before she falls madly in love with me anyway, then I won't have to worry about it.

"It is in your interest that we convincingly give the impression of a couple in love this evening." Her look was priceless when I began to explain the new rules of etiquette to her.

"Forget it, why should we? Everyone knows that our wedding is a peace agreement. Besides, it's only your family here anyway." Oh, she should control her tongue, how is she talking to me? But today I'll let it go, if I start an argument now, then I can forget about the couple in love thing. But my girl will soon learn how to talk to me. I swallowed the anger that was building up.

"That's not quite true. There are also some business partners and friends here, as well as a few rather hostile families. That's exactly why you should show as best you can that I care about you." Only now did I realize that she still thought it was going to be a family dinner. I didn't want to deceive her, but I thought it would be better if she expected a smaller meal. Besides, every girl dreams of an engagement party. Her confused look was simply divine. She bit her lower lip and that only made her hotter. God, I'll be glad when this whole game and uncertainty is finally over and I can carry my girl into our bed and she will belong only to me.

"You have to be more specific," she said in a provocative tone and looked at me innocently at the same time.

I gritted my teeth. The little one really wants to know today. But hey, she should just let her cheeky side out in the last few days, because after the wedding she will lock it away deep inside her, I will make sure of that.I took a deep breath and expanded on my explanation.

"It is public knowledge that our marriage will bring peace to our families, but not that this was the reason. Most people believe that we are both so in love that our families gave in and agreed to marry." I emphasized the word in love as if it were something disgusting. She doesn't have to look at my cards. Besides, it was a lie, nobody really believed in this version of the marriage, but she didn't need to know that. I was excited to see how she would act as a fiancée in love. But to be absolutely sure, I went one step further.

"This was decided for everyone's safety, especially for Isabella and yours." My thoughts wandered to my little sister. I hope for Ivan's sake that he treats her well, otherwise I'll give a damn about the contract and shoot him in the face and I don't care what nickname he has. I wonder what nickname my girl has, it's clear that she was named after Anastasia Petrov a, the daughter of Nikalaj II. But I would be interested to know what name she was given.

"If it becomes public that it is only a contract and I don't care about you, no one would fear my retaliation if something happened to you." I finished my explanation. I hoped that she had understood now. I don't want to tell her more than absolutely necessary, but I have quite a few enemies. So she should do her best to convince them. But I could still see the doubts in her face. Well, then I guess I have to go further.

"You could also be used to turn us against each other. So you should act as madly in love as possible if you don't want to have a target on your back." It wasn't my style to involve her family, but if she finally does what I want her to do and she is sure, then I will do it. She looked at me in shock, good, I had achieved what I wanted. A grin crept across my lips because I had succeeded.

"Don't worry, mia cara, I'll be with you the whole time." I couldn't help but say this. I held out my arm and she took it. We went down the stairs, but my eyes were on her the whole time. Her beautiful hair, her body moving elegantly next to me.

I think it's time to reveal the surprise that we had just arrived at our engagement.

"And how do you like our engagement party, mia vita?" I looked at her face very closely. She didn't seem angry that she had only just found out about it, but rather impressed by the decorations. My mother came over to us, but I didn't really pay her any attention, still looking at Anastasia. My mother's voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

"Oh, thank you, love, by the way, you look stunning. Has my son already told you that?" It was clear that Mamá had to bring it up, but I wasn't going to do her that favor. So I did the exact opposite, instead of saying a compliment, I let my cool remark slip from my lips. "Why should I bring up something obvious?"

I looked for Lucca, he was supposed to pick me up here so we could go to the bar. Suddenly I heard a whistle. I turned in that direction and saw Marco coming towards us.

"Now that's what I call hot. Don't you want to find another brother instead?" He's got to be kidding me. And then the idiot winks at me. If he wasn't my brother, I would have slapped him long ago. He's getting on my nerves and I know he's doing it on purpose, which makes me even angrier. I put my hand possessively around Anastasia's waist to make my claim as clear as possible. Just as I was about to teach the pants-shitter a lesson, Anastasia answered him.

"Now that you mention it, do you know where Lucca is?" I had to laugh inwardly. Quick-witted, I like that.

I simply ignored Marco and continued to look around the crowd for Lucca, but then I saw Leonora. This could be fun. I loosened my tight grip on Anastasia to greet Leonora. Anastasia watched my every move, which made me grin.

"Hello Dante baby," Leonora's shrill voice rang out. God, what did I find attractive about her. Now that I thought about it more carefully, nothing. It was just comfortable. She knew me from childhood and knew that I would never get into anything serious with her. Or anyone else. We were only interested in sex and that was no secret to her or anyone else. I may be an asshole, but I don't lie to women. I've never promised anyone more than sex and I never planned to before Anastasia. If this marriage wasn't the only way to keep peace, I would never have married. In that sense, Anastasia is the only woman who could be considered as my wife. But she will never know that.

"Nice to see you, Leonora," I said out of politeness. Leonora's gaze wandered to Anastasia. "And you are?" Leonora asked her, who answered with a simple "Sie." Yes, Leonora was not known for her manners. She was direct and often clumsy.

"Excuse me?" she countered, confused. As I said, not exactly adept when it comes to manners.

"It's Sie, who are you. That's the pronoun used to address a person you're seeing for the first time and who hasn't been offered the informal "Du". It's the recognition value of a polite and civilized conversation and is used to show respect." I had to suppress a grin. So my girl is a quick-witted woman, good to know.

"Oh, darling, you don't have to tell me the contents of some dictionary to hide your insecurity." But unfortunately Leonora just wouldn't keep her mouth shut and had to provoke Anastasia even further. If a man had dared to speak to her like that, he would already be dead before he had finished the sentence. But I couldn't interfere here, at least not yet. She had to do it alone.

"Dictionaries," she just said bluntly. Marco burst out laughing and I also had trouble not laughing straight away. I could have kissed her for that answer, but I'm saving our first kiss for the altar.

My thoughts were interrupted again by Leonora putting her hand on my upper arm. I was about to push her hand away when I saw Anastasia's angry look. I didn't know if she was looking at us like that because of Leonora's stupid comments or because of her hand on my bicep, but something told me it was because of the latter.

"Dante baby, I missed you the other day, you were gone so quickly."

She snuggled closer and closer to me and started to tell me about her weekend. I didn't listen to Leonora's talk at all, but let my thoughts be with Anastasia and the dress she was wearing. Even though I wasn't looking at her right now, it wouldn't leave my mind. I was so lost in thought that I hadn't noticed Anastasia moving away from me. I looked around for her nearby, but couldn't see her anywhere.

Then I saw my brothers at the bar and went to the boys without saying goodbye to Leonora. I mean, she had already completed her task and if Anastasia wasn't around, I didn't have to endure Leonora's presence any longer.

I had just arrived at the bar when Pablo handed me a glass of scotch. I drank it in one go and let my gaze wander through the crowd again. Where had she gone?

"Have you seen Anastasia?" I asked my brothers. "Oh man, you've only been here an hour and you've already lost her?" came one of my cousins. He should keep his mouth shut. He doesn't give a damn about my fiancée. "I talked to my brothers," I snapped at him. "It's fine, I was only joking." What an idiot.

I downed another drink before I went looking for her. I went through the pavilion and our house, but couldn't find her anywhere. Where is she?

I walked a little way off along the garden when I saw Ella picking flowers. I followed her and saw my girl sitting on the bench. I had to smile at the sight of my beauty, but this stopped when I saw Fabio sitting next to her. What does he want here and what the hell is he doing next to my fiancée. I was just about to storm towards her in anger when I heard Ella's lovely voice. "You are so beautiful." Ella put flowers in my girl's hair and smiled lovingly at her. The two looked incredible together. I can't wait to see Anastasia playing with our children in the garden.

"Oh yes she is," I agreed with Ella. Anastasia turned to me in shock.