It’s not good for me to lose my cool but here I am smoldering from the information that my fiancée is seeing someone else.

Ilaria opens her mouth, an explanation starting to flow from her lips as her voice starts to show off that she is scared about telling me this.

“I’ve been seeing him for four months and things are getting more serious. We have been-”

“The only we is you and me, princess.”

I’m seeing red and trying to stay cool as I look at her.

She is going to get the worst of me tonight and it’s like we both are realizing I shouldn’t have been given any knowledge or this because this shouldn’t be happening right now.

Ilaria had to have known that her father was planning a marriage contract so the fact that she had someone she was dating while our fathers were planning made me even more upset.

It’s disrespectful.

“Did you fuck him?” her mouth opens in fear as if she can see my anger instead of just feeling it in the words. She’s an easy read though and the answer is no.

Good.

Usually, I’d call my cousin in the situation but something has me feeling feral about my bride-to-be. Maybe it’s the honor bound traditions that my family holds us all too. Maybe it’s just the beautiful woman with a smart mouth.

“C’mon, let’s go.” I’m grabbing her as I head to the garage across the street she parked in.

“Where are we going?” Her voice is so soft and I need to calm myself down because I might be scaring her and I don’t want her to fear me or think I’ll be violent towards her.

Her boyfriend is going to fear me but she will never have to.

Anger and violence twisting in a sort of slow dance around my mind as jealousy starts to melt in. It’s new and unpleasant. We may have just met but Ilaria is my fiancée and will be connected to me. She is not for another man.

Not now, not ever.

“To break up with your boyfriend.”

4ILARIA

The way Dante’s eyes flared with the flames of hell as he drove my car made me think twice before speaking.

Usually, I would say men are babies who overreact over dumb things. For once, I can see where he is coming from with this. Both of us knew what our families would have eventually asked of us. Unfortunately, it was something that would have been held over my father if I had gone far.

It was a quiet ride, the engine of the car the only noise as we navigated tunnels and the dead streets. I was regretting giving him the address to my boyfriend’s house and wondered if he was going to kill him.

Did that make me an accessory to murder?

“A God damn boyfriend. Did you even-”

“Go fuck yourself.” My answer cut off his, as his hands gripped the steering wheel and he pressed a little harder on the gas, shifting the clutch as I am pressed into the passenger seat of my own car from the speed.

Asshole.

I had four glasses of wine with dinner and had been slightly buzzed but after coffee and now, Dante thinking he should take my life into his hands as he threw a temper tantrum, I was feeling very sober and very annoyed with him.

He changed lanes with a quick glance in the mirror and part of me wanted to chastise him for not being more careful while the other part of me tried not to be turned on by the confidence he displayed driving my car. He was so in control, so sure of all his movements as he moved the car through the streets getting closer to the beach front apartment he had made me give him the address to..

Shifting, he moves the car off the exit, not slowing down as I cursed whoever designed Massachusetts off ramps. The sharp turn made me close my eyes, hands on my legs in tight knots as I thought about how I shouldn’t have told him. I should have just dealt with this all by myself instead of involving this lunatic.

A hand was taking mine, resting it on my thigh as I breathed out, looking at Dante who had a smirk on his face, illuminated by the red of the light we were now sitting at.

“You’re safe with me, princess. Even though you’ve found all my buttons and managed to press every single one in the short time we’ve known each other I will never do anything to put you in danger despite all your efforts to get there.”

He lifts my hand to his lips, turning our fingers and pressing a kiss to my wrist, as I wonder if he was as good at playing a role as I am.

Was this Dante playing his role as fiancée? Or was this the real him?

I want to pull my hand away from his but I don’t. I let him hold my hand as he moves our fingers over the clutch, holding our hands over it as he drives towards the apartment complex. My heart beating rapidly as we got closer and I thought about having to break up with Justin.

Justin and I had met the old fashioned way.

It had been a girls night and he had come over asking to buy me a drink. One drink had turned into dancing and then we were talking until the bar closed and he was tucking me into an Uber, texting me when I got home and asking me to breakfast the next morning.

It had all happened so naturally that I hadn’t realized we were dating until a month in and by then it was too late to just stop it.

I had made sure to slow things down, hoping to fizzle things out but Justin had liked taking things slow with me. He said it was nice I wanted to wait and make it special or at least that’s what he had said a month ago.

This past month things had been getting intense.

Intense was a different way to put it when really he had started to put on the pressure, asking me to stay over, pressing his hand up my thigh as I tried to say no.

Breaking up with him wasn’t a heartbreak for me but I still felt nervous.

But that could be because I didn’t know Dante. I didn’t know what his reaction to the man would be or what role he wanted to play in this break up.

Oh fuck, we were here.

“I’m going to let you handle this, princess. You can tell him whatever sweet lie that you want. But when he closes that door and this is done with you’re going to give me your hand and slide this big rock on your finger. We’re going to head home and you’re going to pick a date for our wedding. But most importantly you’re going to sign the god damn permit so my restaurant can open.” Dante’s words hit me as I sit in the car, not making a motion to move yet.

He gives my hand a squeeze before letting go as he finds a parking spot and turns my car off with a quick flick of the key.

This wasn’t going to go well.

“You’ll stay here?” I ask him as he scoffs, already getting out of the car as I mentally freak out.

I hate awkward situations.

I hate breakups and quitting jobs.

That feeling of letting someone down gives me the worst stomach ache possible. The fact I had texted Justin and hadn’t heard back was also not sitting so good with me.