INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER SIX 

Bianca stepped out of the hotel, the blood red gown hugging her figure perfectly. The gown was an off shouldered gown with short sleeves and a sweetheart neckline with showed an ample amount of cleavage. Her hair was packed up in a deliberate messy bun, with strands of hairs to here face and nape, the ruby jewelry set elevated her looks and she looked dangerous and ethereal.

Luca struggled to keep his cool as his eyes swept over her, he schooled his face into a hard mask as he opened the door for her.

"Miss Braulio", he said as a form of greeting as he put his hand under the car's door head to prevent her from hitting her head.

Bianca sat graceful and her full, red lips caught his eyes again. He hurriedly shut the door and used the time turning to his seat to compose himself.

He got into his seat and refused to look at her before he would lose control and clean up her lips with his.

"Drive"

The car quickly found the road to the estate and a few minutes later, minutes which felt like hours to Luca, the car pulled up to the front of the estate door. Luca stepped out of the door and turned around to open the door for Bianca but she was already out and waiting for him. He shot her a questioning look and she glared back at him.

"Quit the loving gentleman act, I don't need it", she spat.

"Well, I need it to convince my family we're in love. So, you'll play along with it or consider the deal off"

Bianca rolled her eyes and sighed, leaving Luca contemplating if this arrangement was ever going to be convincing enough for his father.

"Shall we, my lady?", he drawled, stretching his hands to her, palm open and waiting for here.

Bianca placed her hand in his and together they entered the La Mano Nera mansion.

The mansion was bustling with people and activities, the staffs were preparing for dinner, while a few of the mafia men were clustered in groups, having various conversations. 

As soon as they walked in, all the noise seized, maid scurried away and all eyes were on them. Luca noticed how Bianca struggled to hide her tremors, he didn't know if it was from fear or nerves, and he felt bad for her for a while, until he remembered this was a cold blooded assassin who almost succeeded in killing him. All iota of empathy left him as he pulled her forward into the crowd. He immediately spotted his father and uncle together and walked straight to them with Bianca, their arm interwoven together.

"Papá", he called sweetly, "Uncle", he greeted with a bow. "I'll like to introduce my lady and my future wife, Bianca" he turned to Bianca with a smile before continuing.

"Biance, this is my father, Antonio Vincenzo , the don of the La Mano Nera cartel, and my uncle, Matteo Pasquale, the consigliere"

"Hello", Bianca said softly, "I am Bianca Braulio. It's a pleasure to meet you both, Luca here has told me a lot about you both and how close he is to family".

She looked at Luca with big brown eyes and Luca was both shocked and impressed at how good her acting was, she really looked like a lady smitten by him.

"Welcome to the family Miss Bianca", his father said finally, pulling himself out of his shock. He couldn't believe that his son finally found a wife, and found one so soon.

"Thank you so much, I'm glad to have a family. I never had the opportunity to be in one, having been raised in different foster homes", Bianca said, her voice confident but pitiful. Luca nearly laughed, he was intrigued at how well she could keep up with this game and suddenly, his doubt of if this would work fled.

"So, how did you and Luca meet?" His uncle asked, and before he knew what was happening, Bianca threw herself into his arms, leaning on his chest with her hand playing on his chest and her face tilted up towards him, it looked so natural as she stared at him with a soul shattering look as she mumbled out, 

"I think I'll let Luca darling to share the story, but he swears I nearly killed him with a kiss", she drawled, his father and uncle laughed before focusing their attention on him.

"Well, go ahead. I want to hear about this kiss of death", his uncle said with a soft chuckle. 

An elderly lady, dressed in a pristine uniform arrived just in time to announce dinner is ready to be served and with that everyone moved to the dinning room. Luca noticed Bianca staring at the dinning room with an appreciative gaze which she quickly hid once her gaze met his. He chuckled slightly, he couldn't help himself, she looked too cute in that moment. Like a child that was caught stealing her own stuff.

Once everyone was sitted, he stretched his hand and held Bianca's hand and his father's hand, he saw the confusion on Bianca's face as the whole table held hands before Papà said a short prayer of thanksgiving to God. After the prayers, they all released each others' hands as they rushed to grab their cutleries and quickly dug into the food. 

He observed that Bianca hadn't reached for anything yet, but kept looking at the empty seat opposite her and nodded absent mindedly to whatever Papà and his uncle were saying. He focused on cutting into smaller pieces the steak before passing the plate to her and exchanging it for her empty plate. She looked genuinely confused at his gesture but decided not to push it, probably due to the eyes staring at them. She offered a soft smile.

"Thank you babe", she said sweetly while pushing a slice of the steak into her mouth. He watched her stifle to death a soft moan as she chewed, her face had gotten brighter and she ate more while genuinely listening to his father and uncle talk about his early days and how they were afraid he will die alone.

He was even more surprised about how quickly and skillful she had spun and twisted the story of their first meeting. Her voice flooded the room and Luca was immediately drawn to look at her. He noticed the way her face flushed fully, how beautiful her lips were, how tense her spine was even though she tried to deceive everyone else she was relaxed.

"I came into town for a business meeting and coincidentally bumped into Luca 3 times in one day. Of course, being the narcissistic pri*k that he is, he was sure I was stalking him and kept asking him to follow him to his room. I got tired of him pestering me and decided to give him a chance and well...he really didn't waste time to propose to me"

"Aren't you even suspicious to know if you're being used or not?" 

A voice rang through the room and made everyone go silent, they all knew Luca needed the marriage, but they could not have told the innocent girl she was being used. Everyone either respected or fear Luca too much to do this.

Everyone but her.