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At least the man in front of her seemed to appreciate it. Her fiancé.
She still couldn’t believe it.
“Are you disappointed by the betrothal?” Gio asked lowly, an odd note lying there. His pose was just as relaxed as ever, but she noticed the tight clench of his fist and wondered at the source of the sudden tension.
“Disappointed?”
Since the day she heard the news, there had been a riot of emotions roiling through her. Tumbling all together until she was anxious, nervous, and breathless–at the thought of binding herself to such a controlled and powerful man.
But disappointed? “No.”
There were far worse prospects for a woman in the Family. She thought back to some of the horrifying marriages her peers had to endure with abusive, unfaithful men…men old enough to be their grandfathers. Men who sought to acquire chattel.
But Gio seemed different, at least so far. He certainly wasn’t old.
Ana felt herself blush at the sight of his lean body lounging languidly in the chair, his earlier tension seemingly gone.
“I was promoted to Capo of New York last month,” Gio said casually.
“Oh.” Ana’s lips rounded as she sat back. “That’s wonderful! You should have said so earlier.” But then caught herself. He was an extremely busy man, and communications between an unmarried couple were frowned upon in their world.
But he nodded in understanding.
“I’m happy for you,” she said, smiling.
“Really?”
“Of course.” Her brows furrowed.
“Many people feel it’s too low of a rank for a Don’s son,” Gio explained. “They think I wasted too much time working with soldiers.” His jaw worked in irritation as he looked away, staring out the windows. “You were also promised to at least be an Underboss’s wife.”
Ana tilted her head. “I was promised to be your wife.”
He was arrested at her soft correction, the first time she had seen him so thrown. It was as if she had told him the skies were turning red.
Uncomfortable with his reaction, Ana added sheepishly, “I’m not sure I’m suited to be such a high-ranking wife, anyway.”
He didn’t smile at her or even move. There was some odd expression passing over his face that she could not decipher. He opened his mouth as if to say something in reply, but then thought better of it.
“You’re suited,” Gio said gruffly.
Her chest grew tight at that, sharpening the longer he stared at her. She fiddled with the machine, deliberately shifting her gaze. It was too difficult to breathe with his intensity. Whether he was scrutinizing her every move out of suspicion or boredom, she could not tell. Whatever his intention, it certainly unnerved her.
So she positioned the fabric and changed the topic. “You never said why you started working as a soldier after school. Did your father ask you to?”
“My father?” Gio asked. “No. He just introduced me to his men and made sure I gave them my respect. But he didn’t expect anything more. I was the one who asked to join the troops.”
“To learn the ropes?”
The hum of the machine droned on as he nodded. “Everyone assumed I was going to spend my time rolling out of bars and strip clubs and then have a high rank handed to me.” Gio laughed dryly. “That’s what those soldiers thought too…and I couldn’t accept that. I didn’t want to just give respect; I wanted to earn it too. The honor of the Family is in my blood, and I won’t stop until I prove myself.”
The room was hushed in the wake of his pronouncement. Only punctuated by the machine’s relentless hum.
Their eyes met together like magnets that couldn’t part for too long. And her breaths came heavier and heavier. Respect blended with fear, in a cocktail that was so heady it choked her.
He was relentless.
Unbending.
