Dimitri spent over an hour listening to Cara’s lies before he decided it was time to leave.
Not that he knew they were lies.
Cara found out that he was based in Italy and had visited the city to attend a function but thought to check on Adonis and confirm the rumour of him finding a bride.
Frankly, she enjoyed spending time with the old man and might’ve wished at some point that this wasn’t all pretence, but there was nothing she could do. The reality remained that it was.
Adonis, on the other hand, was of no help as usual. He left the entire storytelling to her, only throwing in an occasional grunt and hum.
The moment his grandfather left, he retired back into his study, leaving Cara to herself as she walked around the big empty mansion, receiving only subtle greeting nods from the bodyguards at their various stations.
She had a lot of time to collect her thoughts. Antonio had yet to get back to her; well, he said in two days, so she’d still wait. But what if he doesn’t believe and refuses to work with her?
She needed a backup plan. A weakness she could use against Adonis.
Her mind drifted back to the conversation he had with his grandfather. Something sounded off, and his father was at the centre of it all.
Also, the coronation. What coronation?
Cara halted her steps; she had thought to check out the movie room, but not anymore; like a woman on a mission, she headed for the third floor.
This wasn’t the time to sit around; she should gather as much information as she could before meeting up with Antonio. And with that in mind, she barged into Adonis’s private study.
He didn’t look up. He didn’t even act as though someone had walked in.
Adonis was at his desk, going through some files. To her utmost surprise, he had on a medicated glass, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration. Cara had to remind herself of the reason she came to see him.
This man was all shades of wrong and dangerous. She never knew the word cute could be associated with a man of his size and nature, but that was the only word that could describe him at the moment.
He was still in the clothes he had changed to when Dimitri came in, but one extra button of his shirt had popped open, making his chest more visible. His hair looked as though he’d run his hand through it a million times as it fell over his face. Adonis pushed the glasses up the bridge of his nose.
“Are you going to just stare or state why you’re here?” He asked without looking up.
Cara walked over to his desk and tapped twice. He finally looked up.
“Yes?” His voice, a deep rumble.
Okay. It was official. Adonis was hotter than she accredited him for, but that didn’t matter. She was here for something else. Cara placed her hand on her hips.
“What did your grandfather mean when he said coronation?”
He resumed his work.
“I’ll be taking over from him in two weeks. It’s a tradition we do for new capos.”
“Like you’re going to be the overall head, not an heir anymore?” She questioned
“That’s what I said.”
“And you didn’t deem it necessary to tell me?”
“Why? Your role is to be my wife. Moreover, I told you I needed a wife to inherit the family’s business.”
“I never knew the family’s business was about mafia kinds of stuff then.”
“Now you do. End of story.”
Cara shook her head at the brush off.
She would not let him get to her until she had gotten what she came here for.
“I want to go out to-
“No.
“But you haven’t even heard what I wanted to say.” She cried out, exasperated.
“I don’t care. The answer is still no.”
“Adonis you can’t lock me up in here. There’s no one around. I’m losing my mind. I haven’t been to work in two days. My phone has been blowing up with messages, but I can’t even reply because you want to run a background check first. I need a breath of fresh air.”
Adonis signed on the file he was reading through, dropped it, and picked up another.
“If you want company, Luca will be back soon. He had to go take care of something important.”
“I don’t want Luca. Don’t you understand? I want to be free, not locked in like a helpless damsel.”
Adonis scoffed, setting the file down. He folded his hand beneath his chin and stared into her eyes.
“For the next one year, you can never be free. Do you know why? You signed a contract to be mine.”
“I signed a contract to be your wife. Not yours.”
“Exactly! Mine.”
“You cannot lock me in. I would not take that.”
He chuckled darkly.
“Then do whatever you want.” Then he picked up the file again.
Cara felt helpless. She needed to hold her ground. He was being unreasonable because he knew she needed him, but he had forgotten an important fact: without her, there would be no coronation for him. This wasn’t a parasitic relationship. It was a mutual one.
That she was sure about, but she needed to check one more thing. He was never going to be honest, but his reaction would be enough to give her a hint about the situation.
A sly grin graced her face, her lips curling to the side as she said her next words.
“It’s a shame your father had to die early. Maybe he could’ve brushed up on your human relationship skills and you wouldn’t have to be so tyrannical all the time.”
The file fell out of Adonis’s hand, and he snapped his head up, his eyes deadly calm.
The only sound that could be heard was that of his heavy breathing.
“What did you just say?”