Total pages in book: 42
Estimated words: 39233 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 196(@200wpm)___ 157(@250wpm)___ 131(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 39233 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 196(@200wpm)___ 157(@250wpm)___ 131(@300wpm)
"Every word you have read is perfectly accurate. I am the one my grandmother has chosen to be your groom, not Ezio."
Ysabel could only stare at Massimo as she tried to wrap her head around what he was saying. If every word was accurate, then...
No. Impossible. It can't be.
Massimo couldn't understand why it had pissed him off to hear Ysabel think of himself as a possible bride for his younger brother. What was wrong with him, dammit? And when he heard her laugh nervously yet again, he even had the strangest compulsion to punish her with a kiss.
What. The. Hell.
Ysabel waited for Massimo to say he was joking. But all he did was look at her like he was wanting to drag her to his lap to give her a spanking.
Which she would love...to object to, Ysabel mentally hurried to add, just to keep her conscience clear.
Ysabel tried her best to gather her thoughts even as the thought of Massimo spanking her ass refused to leave her. "I think there's some kind of misunderstanding. Because you can't actually be saying that I'm your bride—-"
"You are."
Another laugh escaped her, and Massimo's lips tightened at the urge to cover her lips with a punishing kiss.
"But Ynez—-"
"Your sister was the first one outside my famiglia to know of my arranged marriage. She understands that this is my duty as a Marchetti."
Ysabel was starting to remember what had happened earlier. This was why, she realized, so many more people than usual had been staring at her like she was a freak. It was because they had already read La Strega's announcement about her engagement to Massimo, and it seemed she was the only one who hadn't known about it.
Massimo used to trust his instincts as a rule, but his ex-girlfriend's unexpected act of infidelity had changed this. Ynez had warned him long ago about her sister's ability to manipulate and deceive people, and it was this memory that had him grimly observing Ynez's reaction to his words.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Ysabel asked uneasily.
"Your reaction to my breakup with your sister was rather...lacking." Was she secretly taking pleasure at the fact that Massimo had dumped her sister because of her?
Ysabel struggled to find the safest way to respond to this without lying. "Our relationship isn't...like others."
"Why not?"
"It's just how it is..." Ysabel knew she should be used to this by now, but her heart still ached every time she was forced to confront the reality of her relationship with Ynez.
She had loved her sister from the moment she was born, and Ynez had...tolerated Ysabel's presence for the most part. But everything had changed following their father's unexpected death, and since then Ynez hadn't even bothered to hide her disinterest in Ysabel.
"I do not think that is quite true, signorina...since I know exactly what you did."
"I don't understand—-"
"Ynez told me about what happened to her when she was sixteen."
Ysabel's confusion faded. "I see."
Massimo raised a brow at Ysabel's continued silence. "You do not intend to deny it?"
Ysabel couldn't answer right away, with how her heart was still hurting over Ynez's betrayal.
Perché, Ynez?
That should have been just between them, and she still remembered how Ynez had been crying so, so hard when she herself swore not to speak of it to any other living soul. That was, in fact, the only and last time Ynez had hugged her, and even now, Ysabel could not forget how she had been so full of hope, thinking that she and her sister could finally have the kind of bond she had always dreamed of.
"Your silence is good enough, I suppose. You at least know it is best not to lie to me, and I would have known if you were to lie." Massimo saw Ysabel's eyes widen, and a sardonic smile twisted over his lips. "Sì, signorina. I was able to obtain a copy of your taped confession to the police, and so I know every detail about the incident."
No wonder, Ysabel thought sickly. No wonder Massimo had always seemed aloof and even contemptuous of her.
Ynez had only been sixteen when a man twice her age had started stalking her. It had eventually culminated with the man being arrested after his failed attempt to kidnap Ynez from school. He had gone berserk as soon as the police had cuffed him behind his back, and he had left everyone in the vicinity in shock as he started shouting and cursing Ynez, blaming her for leading him on with their online relationship.
I gave you all my fucking money, you gold-digging bitch! My family's left me because of you! My company's fucking gone because of you! I will never fucking leave you alone, do you hear me?
Ynez had begged Ysabel to do something, saying that their father's death had made her lose her mind with grief, and in the end, Ysabel had been forced to lie for her sister's sake.