Page 24 of Nico

“No,” I retorted. “Two years. We can delay the heir discussion until our second year of marriage.”

I should feel like a bastard for forcing her to do this, but I didn’t. I watched a string of emotions cross her face as she probably considered all her possibilities until she realized she had none.

“O-okay,” she whispered, resignation in her voice.

“We’ll get married a week from tomorrow,” I told her, pulling my phone out of my pocket and shooting a message to Leonardo to get the arrangements going. The sooner this happened, the better. I had a feeling this woman wouldn’t go down without a fight.

“Why so soon?”

My lip quirked into a small smile. “To ensure you don’t run away, princess.”

“I wouldn’t,” she murmured, her eyes darting away from me. She was lying. My woman was a really bad liar.

“My men are watching your girls. Just think about that if you are tempted to run, Bianca.”

ChapterNine

BIANCA

Nico Morrelli was cruel and crazy. There was no other explanation for it.

I had no doubt that he meant his threats. He was just as ruthless as the rumors I heard. Shit, getting out of this situation would be hard. But I would. He hasn’t beaten me yet.

“That’s too fast to get married,” I muttered, commenting on his timeline for the wedding. I needed more time to come up with a plan. The one where I would get the fuck away from this madman and not marry him. “My in-laws won’t believe it. Nor my kids.”

“They will.” He smirked, sure of himself. “You will find that I can be very persuasive.”

My heart thundered in my chest, my voice stuck somewhere in my throat. What have I gotten myself into?

“I have business to attend,” he said as he straightened his three piece suit that was nothing shy of perfect. I could almost be fooled that he was a gentleman not a mobster. “But we’ll have dinner tonight.”

“Dinner?” I must have sounded like a damn idiot, repeating his words like I didn’t understand what they meant.

“Yes,” he replied without missing a beat. An idea came to mind but, before I could even get excited about it, he continued. “Bear will remain here, guarding you.”

“Guarding me?” There I went repeating his words like a dummy again. “You mean keeping me locked up. And seriously… Bear?”

“Yes; he’ll be your bodyguard.”

Perfectly timed, his two men came back in.

“Bear, this is Bianca, my future wife.” I glared at Nico for just dropping the bomb so casually. I just wanted to buy time and had no intention of walking down the aisle to marry this madman. “Bianca, this is Bear. He is one of my strongest men. He will bring you to me for our dinner where we can discuss our wedding arrangement.”

Jesus, what the hell was happening?

I stared at the man that gave me a jerky nod. That man was a bulldozer, not a bear, with a scar that ran across his left cheek, making him look like a serial killer. Jesus Christ! I shouldn’t be judgmental, but he would scare anyone that came around.

“You can’t be serious!” I hissed, agitation slowly rising inside me. “He can’t stay around here. He’ll scare people away.”

Nico chuckled like I just said the funniest joke. “That’s the point.”

“He’ll scare my girls, my in-laws, my friends.” Instantly, regret flooded me for being so insensitive and I turned to Bear. “Nothing personal, I’m sure you are a great guy. It’s just that my girls don’t like strangers. And you… you-” I stumbled searching for a diplomatic word, “you are a stranger. And you are big. You know, umm.”

I blew out a frustrated sigh. “Damn it.”

“He’s good with kids,” Nico offered. “Has quite a few of his own.” My eyes snapped to the scary dude and he grinned. It was like watching a shark smile.

“You can take your bodyguards,” I mumbled. “We don’t need any. Don’t want any.”