Page 11 of Legacy of Deception

“Sparky? Is that a nickname?” Frankie asked.

Marco’s jaw clenched as I forced his hand onto my hip. We both agreed to this, but it wasn’t going to work if we didn’t try to make it appear real. In that case, what were we doing here? “It’s something,” he ground out.

“Closer,” Frankie instructed, waving his hand to show us as though we needed the extra help. We did. Well, Marco did. I knew how to be in a relationship, or make it seem like we were. Clearly, Marco wasn’t heading to California for his big break anytime soon. “Brooklyn, lean your head on his chest, and Marco, hold her closer, like you’re snaking an arm around her and making sure she’s cradled against you.”

As he captured the same pose nine times over again, I made the error of inhaling, Marco’s scent assaulting my senses and nearly knocking me out. Cologne didn’t need to be all-consuming. As a matter of fact, subtlety was its friend. And this? This was anything but subtle. He smelled like orange and…and…sandalwood. Two scents that on their own were appealing, but together, had my stomach rolling over. “Lose that bottle of cologne before the next time we see each other,” I whispered, trying my hardest not to scrunch up my nose and prolong this session. If he was trying to off me before the wedding, he was a rookie because this wouldn’t do it. However, I wished it would have, since in the meantime, I had to suffer. In more ways than one.

His lips twitched as though he was holding back a grin. “Lose the claws. Nails that long are only good for one thing.”

My cheek burned as he grazed his thumb over it. I was sure this angle would photograph well, but it only irked me how my breathing was coming out shaky. Looking up, my eyes caught his, and I sensed his mouth was going to screw up in that twisted smile he had been biting back before.

“These are perfect,” Frankie said, encouragement lacing his words. “I think you’ll both be pleased with the results.”

“I’ll be pleased when this is over,” Marco grumbled in a low volume, moving away from me like I was the embodiment of cyanide. He scratched his jaw. “We are almost done, right?” he asked, louder this time.

Frankie nodded. “Almost.”

I fingered the open design Y diamond necklace that was hanging above my cleavage. With the cream blazer over a mini skirt, my neck would have appeared naked without a necklace. “Back to your earlier question, Frankie, yes, it is a nickname. I call him Sparky, and he calls me bella. Not a day goes by that I don’t remind myself I’m the luckiest girl in the world.”

“You should be asking yourself why you need that much reminding. Beginning to slip at such an early age?” I didn’t need to feel the teasing of his lips against my ear to know he had inched closer and was standing behind me. His shadow loomed over mine on the ground. His warm breath on the back of my neck made it feel like something was lodged in my throat.

I refused to turn around. I didn’t want to give him what I imagined he wanted. “Oh, he’s such a kidder, this one.” The pulse in my neck climbed. “I leave a lot of sticky notes around to serve as reminders to myself. Most times it feels as though I’d lose my head if it wasn’t attached to my body.”

Marco scoffed, putting distance between us, and all I could do was watch his shadow get further and further away before it wasn’t visible to me any longer. “That’s a scary thought.”

Ignoring him, Frankie stopped holding the camera up, allowing it to lay on his chest, held up by the straps around his neck. “You know, when my wife and I first got married, we used to leave notes for one another. We don’t do it as much as I would like us to. Less time, I suppose.”

Touching a hand to my hair, I knew my ponytail wasn’t falling or getting loose, yet I felt the need to check it. It was stuck there with product. Not a lot, but enough to keep it in place. Like the way my father did with me.

Serendipitous, beautiful stories like that, the one Frankie had to share, weren’t in the cards for me. It was a peculiar thought that I tried not to entertain if I could help it, but the very people who had brought me into this world held captive my future. That didn’t change the fact that you couldn’t choose your family, and I cared for them. I had a deep loyalty to them. Not that it had necessarily gotten me far. Plastering a smile on my face, I shrugged. “I’m sure she’d love it if you picked it back up. Surprised her with that.”

“I might just do that.” He chuckled, glancing down at his bag, like he was pondering something. “All right, let’s take a short break and reconvene in a bit.”

Ascending the stairs of a brownstone that was for sale, Marco played with the ring on his finger as his other hand fisted. He was thinking about the situation, this situation, Santo had put him in. It was my best guess, at least, and I genuinely believed I was correct.

He needed to stop giving Santo control over his headspace. I knew from experience, which was why I could speak on it. Capri and Siena didn’t have nearly as much pressure or as many expectations put on them. Then again, they weren’t their brothers. It seemed they had it the hardest.

Nonchalantly leaning against the structure of the brownstone, he took a deep breath like he was taking a drag of a cigarette.

“Unbelievable,” I said from the bottom of the stairs, shaking my head as he looked ahead, not acknowledging me.

“I agree. Engagement photos are nothing but a waste of time. They’re far too performative. But I suppose that makes them not much different from every other aspect of my life.”

I felt a ping in my chest. Frankie was gone, having left some of his equipment but not his bag. He was probably going to call his wife or something. His face had said it all when we had been talking about her. “No,” I replied, insistence in my tone as I stalked up the stairs. “That you couldn’t have enough foresight to get me a ring.” Raising my hands, I isolated my ring finger from the rest and waved it in the air, tapping the part where a ring should have been. “I’m bare, Marco.”

He made zero effort in hiding the way he was cataloging me. “Now that would make for interesting engagement photos.” It was difficult not to pick up on the mirth in his voice.

My nose flared. “You’re not taking this seriously.” Everyone knew that a ring was the first step in a proper engagement. It wasn’t like he was struggling to make ends meet, so we couldn’t tell people he was waiting until he saved enough to get me one. There was no viable reason as to why a rock wasn’t sitting on my ring finger.

“Oh, but you misunderstand.” Maneuvering his body, he pushed only a shoulder against the wall, turning to me head-on. “I did get you a ring, and if you were a little more patient, I could have made a scene in front of the camera. Even if we couldn’t publicize those photos, at least you would have them forever.” The ground seemed to shake as our eyes locked. “You know, as a memory, since you clearly need reminders like that.”

I rolled my lips that felt dry with nothing more than a red lip stain on them. “Marco, why didn’t you say anything before?” Practically closing the gap between us, I gestured with my hands. “Well, come on, let’s see it.”

I couldn’t believe he was holding out on me this whole time, making me believe he was an imbecile not to have done the simplest of things. Honestly, I would have even been happy to accompany him and select it alongside him. It would have been just another time we would have been out in public together, doing something lots of couples did. I was sure our fathers would have applauded the effort. And, in the meantime, I would have walked out with a radiant diamond. There simply was no bad in it.

He rummaged in the pocket of his jacket, his hand inching out, but much too slowly for my liking. My palms were sweaty, my heart—

A bright blue ring box was produced, and he presented it to me. Standing at his full height, but I would take it. He may have been an ass about the entire thing when I had brought it up to him in his office, but it was clear now that I had gotten through to him. I would look past the fact that he wasn’t being traditional in this, getting down on one knee.