For The Famiglia: Arranged Devotion (Complete)

A Late Night

Even when my eyes opened I knew it wasn’t morning, the lights of the city still shone brightly into the windows I realised Santos must have forgotten to close the blinds. The room was still quite bright which made it easier to notice how alone I was in the room. I began looking around the place but it was so silent aside from the sounds of distant traffic outside. Getting up I realised I was still partially dressed in my wedding dress but as soon as I stepped onto the wooden floorboards I let it drop to my feet leaving me standing there in just my underwear, a cold shiver ran up my spine in the chilly room as I made my way over to my bag. Only realising my family must have sent one of my luggage bags to the hotel which irritated me wishing they had warned me about the booking however it was late into the night, I was still tired and didn’t want to dwell further so I just began rummaging through till stumbling on a sweatshirt, halfway sliding the thing on I heard the sound of the front door to our suite opening. Quickly adjusting my shirt I made my way to the door of the bedroom catching a glimpse of the time on the clock beside the bed seeing the flashing red numbers of six passed three it made me curious where Santos has been, reaching for the door handle I came to a halt hearing a voice I didn’t recognise “s**t, look at this room” the unfamiliar voice spoke.

“Keep your f*****g voice down yeah? My wife is asleep” Santos snapped back at the man. It was unfamiliar all I had heard was the Santos’s more gentle tone to hear his so gruff had oddly caught me off guard though I should have expected it.

“Right... Right... The little wife” the man chuckled “I still can’t believe your father finally got you to pick one” he continued to laugh as though the whole thing was hilarious.

“If I didn’t pick this one he would have removed me from my position” Santos spoke in obvious annoyance. I couldn’t like that stung a little I had assumed he actually agreed.

“At least she’s a hot little thing heard she has a mouth on her though” I listened by the door hearing as the man walked across the room “surprised you haven’t given her a smack.”

“Watch your mouth before I give you a smack, Renzo” Santos threatened.

The guy simply laughed again frankly I struggled not to hit him myself with his obnoxious attitude “fine, fine. I need a drink anyway” I heard him continuing to pace the floors of the suite heading to the bar I could only assume “can I at least comment on you letting her attend school? What the f**k for? She just needs to be a wife and spit out some kids for you” he scoffed.

Santos groaned “my father made it clear, Renzo give her whatever she wanted to get her here. I followed orders.”

“Your father's orders huh?” I could hear the mocking in his tone.

“You want to go against my father. Is that what you a saying cause if that is what you are saying...”

“Easy, Santos easy” the guy's tone suddenly became serious.

“You’ve had a bit to drink and since we are friends I will excuse you for your disrespect” if I wasn’t so close to the door I probably wouldn’t have heard his tone become so low and threatening “you’ve disrespected my wife and now my father's orders you're on thin ice, Renzo I would be cautious of your next step” the warning was enough to send a shiver. There was a long silence and I wasn’t quite sure if he had killed the man till he suddenly cleared his throat.

“Your right, my apologies of course you know I would never mean any disrespect maybe it’s probably a good idea if I sleep this off” he attempted to weasel his way out.

“A good idea” Santos agreed before it sounded like the man hurried across the floor “and Renzo speak like that again there will be a bullet in your head and that will be you getting off lightly” the cold tone was unsettling and as soon as I heard the door open and close I retreated from the door and went back to bed. I couldn’t get his words out of my head, not Renzo as Santos referred to him, I could care less what he thought the typical brazen man from our world it didn’t particularly matter but Santos’s words did. The whole thing felt like a show suddenly he did whatever he had to to get me here? Now what? I shouldn’t have been as surprised as I was since those fronts were typical perhaps deep down there had been an optimistic side of me that I could get what I wanted, live my life with a husband that had treated me kindly and perhaps I could grow to have some affection for however it fell flat now with the sour taste in my mouth from the realisation of his manipulation even his kindness of the balcony? Was it fake or perhaps he had taken pity on my pathetic nature, I needed to remind myself now to keep my emotions in check. His father had made him pick me and now I wondered if he resented me like I did him but he was just better at acting the part... He had more practice with that role, however. My thought process seemed to come to a freezing halt however when the bedroom door opened. I closed my eyes trying to seem as though I was asleep as he entered. I didn’t dare look as he undressed before climbing into the bed beside me which made my whole being suddenly very alert to his presence “how long were you listening?” he suddenly asked. He knew the whole time he knew I was listening he wanted me to hear those words. “What did you hear?”

“Enough” I mumbled curling myself tighter into a ball with the blankets clutched to my chest. I could imagine my knuckles were turning white with my grip.

“Catarina..” he began but I didn’t want to hear it. Not at three in the morning, I didn’t want to hear his explanation because part of me though hurt another part didn’t want to care as much as it did.

“You’ve made your point clear. Goodnight, Santos” I replied coldly. I thought he would reach out and insist on talking, explaining but he didn’t instead we just fell into the silence of the room only our breathing and distant traffic to be heard.