CHAPTER TWELVE

"Did you just say marriage?" Leo questions.

"Whose marriage?" Romero's face looks shocked for a mere second but again turns blank.

Arcadio makes his way towards me and suddenly pulls an arm around my waist, and as if my body froze on the spot, I don't move. "Our marriage. Isn't that right, darling?" he asks, and all I could do is stare at him in response.

"You can't marry Ellie?!" Leo shrieks.

He returns her a deadpan look, "and please tell me why can't I marry her? She is of legal age as of I know."

"But you don't even love each other. You just met a few days back," Leo further asks. I don't know if I should be happy at her questions or feel slightly offended that she doesn't see me marrying her brother. Still, I keep my lips shut.

"So, are you telling that you don't believe in love at first sight? Also, if you would recall, she helped me, and it is because of her that I'm not dead," He explains.

"And you? You don't have anything that you want to say about this marriage?" Leo looks right at me. I feel Arcadio's arm getting tighter around my waist.

"I...."

"Did I stutter?" Arcadio interferes, and before I could talk to her, he drags both of us out of the living room to a familiar hallway.

"Where are we going?" Finally summoning up the courage, I ask him while we are still walking in the hallway. He doesn't reply and walks us straight inside the room. I am standing in the center of the room while he locks the room. It looks like his office somewhere that I've never been before. Well, I've never been to half of these places anyway.

The desk is mahogany in color, and the colors of the wall are grey. The interior of the room looks just like the bedroom, dark and depressing.

"Would you please tell me what the hell is happening?" I inquire loudly.

"I guess I didn't hear you right. You're welcome." He leans at the door with his arms folded in front of his chest, showing off his bulging muscles through the shirt, leaving me staring at him like a gaping idiot.

"I am not saying thank you to you!"

He returns me a sly smirk, "babe, please tell me that you'll stop shouting after we get married?" It was the last straw, all my anger bubbled up, and I did the only thing I was restricting myself to do.

"Listen up, Arcadio. I've had it with your petty nonsense. I get it you brought me here, you saved me, and I'm thankful for everything, but please stop blabbering shit!"

"Still feisty. I like it," I hate that damn smirk.

"Are you kidding me right now?!"

"Oh definitely not, darling, kids come later, after marriage," he replies with the same smirk. The hell!

"Who the hell are you, and what did you to Arcadio?" I throw my hands in the air, sighing.

His facial expression changes and the smirk immediately becomes a cold hard one. He closes the gap between us with my back touching his desk. "I am Arcadio, and we are getting married."

"Oh, enough with the threatening tone! I'm truly sick of it." his eyes widen at my words. Still, I continue, "Arcadio, I don't know what is cooking up in that brain of yours, but we are not getting married."

"But you will marry me for your parents, right?" I stand still at my spot. "What the hell do you mean, Arcadio?"

"I meant what I said, darling. You will have to marry me. Otherwise, I'm not sure if your parents are going to live to see you the next day."

The world just slipped beneath my feet. The man standing in front of me is far from the Arcadio who saved me. He was the Boss of the Mafia. He was Arcadio Constantino.

Immediately tears take over my eyes, "Arcadio, why are you doing this to me?"

"I'm doing nothing. You see, the whole reason you were here in the first place was to become my bride. Yet the delay happened because you turned out to be my little sister's 'best friend.' But now I'm running short on time especially, after the little stunt that you pulled at the dungeon." His every word pierced my heart.

"Why me, when you can have anyone as a bride?" I question nonchalantly.

"It's true I can have anyone I want, but I need someone outside the mafia for this marriage," he explains.

"Why?"

His eyes turn grey, and they glare at me, "do I look like I need to explain shit to you?!" I gulped at the thunder of his voice however switched my face back to normal. There was no way I was showing him fear.

"What about everyone? Do they know about this?" The way Leo and Romero acted to the news sounded all foreign to them, so I'm sure they don't know about this, but what about the others?

"No, and I'm sure you could keep it a secret," he smiles at me, which makes me want to punch him.

"Can I think about it?"

"It's not something you can think about whereas, it's not something which is your decision," he says. I gulp at the power he holds right now. Which also makes me question what happened to the man whom I kissed? The way he was with me in his room seems all like a dream right now.

"Now go away. I have important things I need to tend to," Arcadio instructs and sits behind the desk.

I gape at him for a second, then walk out. There is no point in talking to him now, and I'm not wasting my time on words.

"Aghh," out of nowhere, my hand is being pulled by someone, the horrors of yesterday run in my brain.

"Leave me!" I try to remove the grip from my hand, yet the hold only gets tighter.

"Oh, will you calm down!" The unfamiliar voice makes me pause.

My vision clears, and I gasp seeing the person standing in front of me. Romero.

"What are you doing here?" I question him while trying to remove his grip. "Is it true?" He scowls at me.

"What exactly?" I match his frown.

"Are you going to marry him?" He asks again.

I pull my hand from his grip. "What is with you Constantino men? You think you can come here interrogate me like a cop, and I'm supposed to blabber out answers for you!"

Before he could say anything, I continue, "And why do you think I would answer to you. Especially when you've never even uttered a single word to me before!"

"Just answer the damn question Ellie," the way he says my name makes me frown further. I am surprised he even knows my name.

"And why would I not know your name?" He answers. I may have said it out loud. "The only reason I've never uttered a word to you is that I don't know how to talk to you."

"Really? That is the explanation you have?"

He shrugs and replies, "yes." He looks so different from every other day. His whole expression does not say don't talk to me. Instead, it makes him appear calmer.