Page 45 of Corrupted Bride

“I’m not your family.” She says it quietly, staring down at her hands. “Lia told me you volunteered for this. That my uncle tried to talk you out of it.”

I stiffen and grip my glass. “It’s true, but it’s not important. And you are my family now, whether we like it or not.”

She closes her eyes. I know how hard this is. I can’t blame her, either. I took this on myself because I couldn’t stand the idea of making Vince or Nico do it. I won’t let my brothers suffer, not for something I can do myself.

“How would this work?”

Now we’re getting somewhere. Back to safe ground. Back to logistics. “We act like a married couple. We share a bed. We share a life. You come with me to family functions. We make social calls. We do everything we’re expected to do, and maybe there are no children, but that happens. Couples have trouble conceiving all the time. I need your uncle and your cousins to trust me. I need them to believe we’re in this for the long run, until one day, after everyone’s fat and happy, you disappear, and there are questions, maybe some angry accusations, but the world moves on and you’re free to be who you want. But until then—” I gesture at the bed. “You sleep with me.”

Her cheeks are pink as she chews on her lip. I know she’s considering it. She’s doing the math now, trying to decide if I’m full of shit or not. She’s wondering if she can trust me. What would happen if I decided not to honor my end of the bargain?

She has no way of knowing that I’d never go back on my word.

“Five years,” she says. “One million per year.”

“That might be too short.”

“I don’t care. Five years. Five million. And I’m gone. That’s the deal.”

I swirl my drink and stare at her. God, she’s so fucking beautiful. It kills me, doing this, but it’s the right thing. I wouldn’t force my brothers into a marriage they didn’t want—and I won’t keep her locked in one forever, either.

At least this way, she has a chance of getting what she wants.

That’s how I justify this travesty.

“Five years,” I concede with a low rumble. “But for five years, you’re mine, Marisol. All of you is mine, every inch of you, from your pretty lips to your little toes. You play the game. You sleep in my bed. You hold my arm at garden parties and you laugh at my jokes and you look at me like you can’t wait for me to take you home and fuck you senseless. Do you understand?”

She’s breathing fast as she nods. “But no sex. I mean, I’m not going to be your—your⁠—”

“My fuck toy?” I stand, heedless of my newly stiff cock. She looks at it and I don’t give a fuck. Let her know what she does to me. “When I fuck you, Mari, you’re going to ask for it first, and I won’t fill you until you do.”

“Yeah?” Her voice is shaking. “Guess you’re in for five long, celibate years.”

“We’ll see who breaks first.” I take off my jacket and toss it onto the back of a chair. I unbutton my shirt as she stares.

“What are you doing?!”

“Getting changed.”

“Right in front of me?”

“Welcome to marriage, love.” I take off my shirt, rolling my shoulders to ease the knot in my back. “We’re going to be very intimate from here on out.”

She blanches, watching as I unbuckle my belt, but clearly that’s too far, even for her. My dick’s still hard as she stands and hurries away, disappearing into the bathroom to spare herself the horror of her husband’s naked, aroused body.

I sigh and pause, standing alone in my socks and briefs, gripping the back of the couch. Five years isn’t long, but it’s also an eternity. How am I going to survive with this girl? Who doesn’t want to be here? While I want to keep her in my bed, tied to the posts, aching and needy.

Her spitfire smile. Her quick wit. That adorable laugh. The way her cheeks turn pink. The way she smells… the gleam in her eye when she makes a joke…

It’s the details I can’t get over.

And the details that’ll ruin me if I’m not careful.

14

MARI

Iexpected to stay up all night tossing and turning and trying to imagine what life will be like as Mrs. Serafino for the next five years while doing my best to ignore the oven-hot monster of a man lying beside me⁠—