Marriage by Blackmail - Book 1

Chapter Nine

Lia

I braced myself to play the obedient wife, well fiancée really, but whatever that wasn't the point. The point was, I had to mentally prepare myself as I was about to do something very out of character for me. I just hoped my gag reflex didn't kick in and blow my cover. Dressed and all dolled up I approached the door and took a deep breath before calling out in my sweetest, most timid voice.

"Hulky?"

I heard a grumble then a reluctant answer from whichever henchman was guarding my door.

"Could you tell Don Giordano I'm ready to come out now, please?" I almost choked on having to direct the kind word to one of these jerks.

I heard heavy footsteps as he lumbered away hopefully to do what I had asked. I waited about two minutes before I heard him return with set of lighter sounding feet that I assumed belonged to my arch nemesis also known as my husband to be.

I stepped back and bowed my head so he couldn't see the defiance in my gaze ruin my whole plan. I heard the turn of the lock and had to press my nails into my palms to stop myself from shaking in excitement.

The door swung open and there stood an impeccably dressed Damian. Or at least his feet looked pretty hot since that was all I could see in my current submissive position.

"I'm glad you've finally seen the err of your ways, piccolo fiore." He said calmly, almost sounding friendly even.

I ignored his tone as I wracked my brain trying desperately to remember what little Italian my parents had attempted to teach me before they gave up. I couldn't recognize the words but whatever that punk called me I was determined not to like it.

Taking my silence as a sign of submission he stepped aside for me to exit the room ahead of him. He directed me towards the stairs, I made sure to commit everything to memory so that I wouldn't get lost when he decided that I was no longer a nuclear threat and could leave my room at will. I rolled my eyes at the thought, doing so carefully to avoid him seeing me. He acted as though I came here against my will! Well his house here, yes but otherwise I was marrying him by choice! Kind of. The point was I had nothing to gain and everything to lose by trying to run away so naturally I wouldn't, which means I didn't need to be kept like a prisoner.

As we neared the bottom of the stairs I could see the front entryway totally unguarded. I guess he thought that he didn't need the hulks since I was being compliant.

Pfft, poor sucker.

As if on cue, the minute my feet touched the final stair there came a knock on the door.

"Hmmm, I'm not expecting anyone." He said, I could feel his questioning gaze on me, "wait right here." He instructed, to which I nodded obediently.

5...4...3...2...

"May I he- Oomf!" I heard, looking up in time to see Naia stomp on Damian's foot.

I quickly grabbed her hand and dragged her up the stairs with me before Damian could recover.

"Damn it! Amelia!" He growled as I cackled happily.

I didn't want to take her to my room with the lock on the outside or risk bumping into the hulks so we dodged into the first room we saw that didn't have an outside lock. After we were safely inside, I turned to see which room we ended up in. My luck ensured that it was in fact the bedroom of Mr Sexy himself, according to the open closet from which his clothing peeked. I sighed, I'd worry about that later, right now I planned to gorge on whatever my best friend had in that beautiful, stuffed looking bag.

Seeing the direction of my longing gaze, she grinned at me and did a little wiggle while holding up the bag. I squealed happily at having her here with me and threw myself into her arms, momentarily forgetting the food and enjoying my friend's embrace.

I let her go before things got too emotional. We were both dedicated to the thug life. I smiled at her again before looking around to decide where we would enjoy our feast. I noticed there was a balcony which had a nice little breakfast table and chairs. We went out and set up, then dug right in. It was clear Naia had waited to eat so we could share the meal, she was just as ravenous as I was. She had brought freshly baked buttery biscuits with still warm eggs and bacon thanks to the awesome insulated take out bags that the "Rise and Shine" diner provided for on the go customers. There were also fruit salads, orange juice, a box of little, creamy pastries and naturally hot chocolate because everyone knew coffee was for weenies.

While we ate I filled her in on everything from the moment I went to my parents' house up until I dragged her up the stairs. Her reactions were hilarious to watch despite the seriousness of the situation.

"That jerk! I wanna go stomp on his other foot and punch him in the balls!" She fumed.

I laughed at that, knowing that if she could she most definitely would. After polishing off the food we packed the empty containers and cartons into the bag and left it on the table, returning to the bedroom where we could hear feet racing up and down the hall way searching for us. I hugged Naia again and we both plopped ourselves on his big comfy bed.

Naia had thick, only slightly wavy black hair, which she wore up more often than not. Her skin held a naturally bronzed hue that people usually tried hard to achieve in a tan. Her eyes were the color of milk chocolate and were framed by thick dark lashes. Her small lips were a dusky pink color. She was a tiny at 5'2" in comparison to my massive 5'5" frame, but that wasn't her fault so I worked with it. She was slim built but somehow managed to be voluptuous at the same time.

Most importantly I loved her to death. On that thought I glanced over at her to share the very rare and affectionate thought only to find her snoring lightly next to me. I chuckled, but it ended up sounding like a distorted yawn as I soon dozed off thanks to my very full, very happy tummy.