CHAPTER 17
Arianna
It had taken some effort, but I managed to shake Angela off so that I could go home alone and unbothered. After seeing Giovanni at the club with another woman, I just needed some time to myself. I couldn’t handle dealing with anyone at the moment.
Granted, I knew Angela could have been a good shoulder to lean on, if necessary. I was so naïve when it came to relationships due to my lack of experience, but Angela, on the other hand, had plenty of experience. In fact, I’d spent a considerable portion of my life living vicariously through her as she told me about her various escapades with men over the years.
She had told me and warned me about the ‘pretty boys’—the handsome ones who could practically seduce you with one wink of the eye. They were good-looking smooth-talkers who were charming on the surface, but corrupt underneath. They were players, and they lived their lives to treating women as conquests. Each woman they managed to seduce was placed on a wall in their memories, like trophies for missions accomplished.
“They’re all the same,” Angela had told me. “I don’t know why I keep falling for them, but I swear I won’t do it again.”
After repeatedly hearing all the warning signs from her for years, I felt beyond stupid for having fallen for one myself. I should have known what kind of guy Giovanni Romano was from a mile away. In a sense, I had though, which was precisely why my guard had been up after our first night together. When I’d woken up in his apartment, I’d seen all the red flags about him. Yet somehow, I was dumb enough to let him get to me again anyway.
I officially knew better now though, and I refused to let him make a fool of me again.
I came to realize that I would be the biggest fool of all if I decided to go through with our wedding. I simply could not, under any circumstances, marry Giovanni Romano. It didn’t matter what kind of arrangement my family had made with his, or vice-versa. At the end of the day, this was my life, and I was the only one who had to live it. I didn’t deserve to spend the rest of my life unhappily with a man who would grow tired of me and just move on to his next conquest behind my back. That simply wasn’t a way to live, and I wasn’t going to condemn myself to that kind of life no matter what.
Thankfully, when I’d made it back home, my parents were already sleeping. I crept up to my bedroom, closed the door, and lied in bed, staring at the ceiling late into the night until I fell into an uneasy sleep.
I stared at myself in the mirror, admiring the long beautiful wedding gown I wore. Behind my reflection, my father appeared. He smiled.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
I nodded, feeling nervous, yet excited.
He held his arm out to me. “All right then. Let’s get this show on the road.”
Looping my arm through his, we turned around. A magnificent church door appeared behind us, adorned with flowers lining the doorway. Within the church, the opening notes of “Bridal Chorus” began to play.
We stepped inside the church, and my eyes immediately zoomed in on Giovanni, standing at the altar beaming at me. He almost looked too handsome to be real.
Yet, as I made my way down the aisle, I began to hear footsteps behind me. I attempted to turn around, but my father held me steady. “Eyes on the prize, sweetie. Don’t look back.”
But I couldn’t help myself. I turned around. Behind me, there was another woman, far more beautiful than I could ever hope to be. She gave me a sly grin and then slinked passed me, right into Gio’s arms. The two of them locked in a passionate embrace and began making out right before my eyes.
Bile rose in my throat. “How could you?” I said, blinking back tears.
Gio nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders. Kissing the woman once more, he then pushed her aside. “Don’t worry about it,” he said. He then held his hand out to me. “Come on. Let’s just get this over with already.”
I shook my head, turning around and bolting down the aisle for the door.
“Arianna! Come back!” Daddy yelled after me. “It’s too late! The arrangement has been made! You can’t back out now!”
“Arianna!”
“Arianna!”
“Arianna!”
“Arianna?”
I sat bolt upright in bed, drenched in cold sweat and breathing heavily. Disoriented, it took me a moment to realize that it had all been just a dream. And then it took me a moment further to understand that someone actually was calling my name. I noticed the knocking on my door, and my father’s voice calling from the other side.
I climbed out of bed, my heart still racing from the nightmare. I hadn’t even managed to change out of my clothes from the night before. Briefly glancing at myself in the mirror, my own reflection almost frightened me. My hair was a mess, and mascara ran down my face from the tears I had apparently shed in my sleep.
I opened the door.
My father’s eyes widened at the sight of me. “Arianna?” he said. “Honey, what’s wrong?”
I swallowed, not realizing until then that it was already past noon.
“Ari.” A note of sternness crept into Daddy’s voice, knowing something was wrong. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to get away with lying and claiming everything was fine. “Giovanni just called not too long ago,” he informed. “He said that he’s been trying to call you all morning, but you haven’t been answering your phone.”
It took everything within me to not spit at the sound of his name. “I don’t want to talk to Giovanni,” I said through gritted teeth.
My father’s eyes widened again, startled. A wrinkle appeared on his forehead. “You want to tell me why?”
When I didn’t respond, he placed a hand on my shoulder and steered me into my room. He sat at the edge of my bed, his eyes never leaving mine. “All right, kiddo. Tell me what’s going on. Did something happen between the two of you that I should know about?”
What hadn’t happened between us was probably an easier question to answer. How could I tell my father about all the ups and downs that had already occurred in the short time Giovanni had entered my life? Yet, with the way he stared at me, I knew I had to tell him something. I had to tell him because I knew now that Giovanni Romano wasn’t going to change just because he was supposed to marry me; he was far too set in his ways, and nothing or no one would ever change that. You can’t teach an old player new tricks—and you certainly can’t get them to give up their old tricks either…
When I looked into my father’s eyes, a whole life of unhappiness suddenly flashed before my own. I and Giovanni would not have the kind of marriage that my parents enjoyed, so there was only one thing for me to do.
I sat down beside my father and took a deep breath. “Daddy, I can’t do it.” I stared into my lap. A long silence stretched between us.
“Honey, what are you talking about?” he asked after a moment.
“I’m talking about the arranged marriage. I can’t go through with it. I can’t…”
“But why not?” he asked after another pause. “I thought you and Gio were getting along well? The two of you looked so happy together just the other day. Things can’t have gone wrong so quickly.”
“But they have.”
“How?”
“Last night…I…I went out with Angela.”
“Yes…” Daddy said, waiting for me to continue.
I took another deep breath. “We went out just for drinks and to go dancing. But…I saw Giovanni there. The day before, he had told me that he would be busy working with his father…”
“Yes, I remember him saying that.”
“Well, I don’t know how true that was.”
“What makes you say that?”
“He was at the club.”
“But it was late by then, dear. Perhaps he was finished and just looking for a way to unwind. There’s no harm in that.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought too, initially. But then I saw that he was there to meet up with another woman.”
Again, another long pause stretched between us.
“Are you sure that’s what you saw?”
I nodded. “Yes. I know what I saw.”
“Did he see that you were there?” Daddy asked, a note of anger creeping into his voice now.
“No.”
“Do you want me to talk to him?”
There was definitely a threatening tone to his voice now, and I doubt he was offering to just ‘talk’ to Giovanni. And as much as I wanted to give him my permission to handle Giovanni, a part of me felt that he wasn’t worth it. Gio had hurt me far too badly, and no amount of revenge would make it for it, regardless of how tempting it seemed.
I shook my head. “No, Daddy. That won’t be necessary. The only thing I want is for the wedding to be called off.”
I heard him let out a sigh, and he began pacing the room.
My father had always been a tough man, but it was very seldom that he got angry in front of me. He was angry now though…
I felt mildly panicked. Although I knew there was no way that I could go through with marrying a man like Giovanni, I also hated the thought of letting my parents down. I didn’t know all the details, but I knew there was a reason beyond the obvious for me to have gotten matched with Giovanni. Apparently, our families needed each other for one reason or other. I wasn’t stupid. I knew the line of work my family was involved in, and I knew that it had somehow likely played a role in the arranged marriage. Yet, I also knew that regardless, it simply wasn’t worth my happiness or me giving up my own peace of mind.
“Daddy, I know this arrangement meant something important to you, but you have to understand, I just can’t go through with it. Not after what I saw last night. After seeing what kind of man Giovanni is, I can’t see myself being happy with him anymore.”
Daddy sighed. “And you know that you and your happiness are and always will be one of the most important things in the world to me. You’re my baby girl, and all I’ll ever want is for you to be happy. I can’t make you go through with something you aren’t comfortable with because if you aren’t satisfied, then neither am I.”
I stood. “So, does that mean you’ll do it? You’ll call the wedding off?”
“I have no choice but to, darling.”
My bottom lip trembling, I threw myself into my father’s arms. “Thank you so much, Daddy.”
“You’re welcome. Anything for my princess. I’ll call the Romanos and let them know that the whole deal is off.”
“I’m sorry if I’m messing everything up.”
“You have nothing to apologize for. You haven’t messed anything up. He did. And trust me, that’s his loss, and he’ll pay dearly for it. Not to mention, he’ll have his own family to answer to.”