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Of course, she was cold when they were alone, and she did not have to help him impress his business partners. She did not have to pretend that they held any affection for one another.

“Ava, do not play coy with me,” he said in a dangerously low voice. “You know you have been acting strange.”

Ava sighed. “I suppose I have been acting strange. But isn’t this what you would prefer?” Her heart ached.

“What do you mean, Ava? How could I possibly want you to be cold towards me?”

“I am simply following your lead.” Now, she was trying to keep her voice level.

“I have never treated you cruelly,” he insisted. “I have been kind to you.”

“I suppose I must thank you for treating me like a human,” Ava shot back.

She watched him pace around in what was undoubtedly frustration.

“You know I did not mean it like that,” he said.

“It does not matter. I cannot possibly ask for more.” She felt tears well up in her eyes, and she turned away. “Ours is only a marriage of convenience, after all.”

She felt his hands on her shoulders, and he turned her around moments later.

“Our marriage may have started as one of convenience, but you know you mean more to me now,” he murmured.

Ava itched to remove the mask from his face, to see his emotions, raw as they were, to know if she could indeed trust him.

“I thought the same, but how wrong I was.” Her shoulders slumped.

“You are most certainly not wrong,” he maintained. “How could you ever think so?”

“The day we took a walk through the grounds, the moment we shared… I thought it meant something more.” She was frustrated by the sheer weight of the emotions coursing through her.

How could he not see?

“It is, in fact, one of my fondest memories of you,” he admitted in a soft voice.

“Then why did you tell me we had to pretend to be in love in front of the Italian dignitaries?”

“That was not quite what I?—”

“And yet that was what you said. Truly, you only care about me as long as I make you look good. I have made my peace with that. But you must not pretend otherwise. You must not pretend that you hold any affection for me.”

She tried and failed to blink back the tears that now brimmed in her eyes.

“But I care for you!” Edwin shouted.

Several eyes swiveled towards them. It was then that Ava realized they had been arguing so loudly in public, where hundreds of people could see them.

“People can hear us,” she hissed.

“I do not care!” he declared. “I will shout from the rooftop how much I care for you.”

Ava could not help but smile. She got an idea then. “You do not have to shout it from the rooftop.”

With that, she took his hand and led him out of one of the side doors of the ballroom. She heaved a sigh of relief as they stepped into the quiet corridor.

“What are you doing?” Edwin asked.

“Looking for somewhere private for us to discuss.”