The Italian Vow (Croesus #1)

Chapter 6

Laura Conti's POV

It was 8 PM and I was standing in front of the enormous hotel that belonged to one and only, Giovanni's Empire. Lucca said that I needed to be elegant tonight but I don't have the dress for the occasion.

Hence, the leather jacket and black jeans were my go-to outfit tonight. I tried not to expect Lucca to see me in a dress as we were going to be in a platonic marriage after all. He was a stranger that I was unfortunate enough to know my whole life.

I walked inside the lobby and went toward the receptionist to ask the direction of the restaurant that Lucca mentioned. The receptionist, who wore thick makeup and a skin-tight dress, showed me the way.

She even eyed me up and down as if I was a beggar. I smiled saccharinely at her before walking toward the restaurant. What was it that Lucca's employees kept eyeing me up and down as if I was a homeless person?

Oh yeah, because of my choice of clothing.

I went into the restaurant as I don't have a care in the world before I was stopped by a hostess.

Here we go again...

I smiled at her as she was smiling at me with her hand on my arm. "Hello, miss. Can I help you? Are you lost?" she asked as if I did not belong here. I sighed mentally as I smiled saccharinely toward her before she spoke again.

"Do you have any reservations? If not, I can show you where the fast-food joint is," she said while batting her eyelashes. Hairs on my nape stood up and I caught a whiff of his cologne as well as sensed his body heat was behind me before his velvety voice came to my ears.

"She's with me," Lucca said before the hostess looked at him and stammered.

"Yes...of course, Mr. Giovanni. I was just about to show the way for her," she said sweetly while batting her eyelashes at Lucca. I rolled my eyes at her. Lucca smiled before speaking again.

"That's fine. I can take it from here. Keep up the good work," he said before he dragged me from the entrance. We were walking by some of the patrons and there were a few strange glances on our way.

"Lucca. Lucca. Lucca!" I hissed at him, trying not to get any more attention than it already was. He dragged me until he walked through a room and the door was closed shut. We were in a room that had a table in the middle before he pulled me in to offer me a seat. I obliged before he took a seat across me.

"Now that you are here, we can get started even though I waited for you for some time. I hated wasting my time, Laura," Lucca said as he put his hand under his chin making him look like a model.

"Well, it's not my fault that your employees have a thing for making sure I am late. They thought I was a beggar!" I exclaimed before sighing. Lucca eyed me up and down before mumbling I do look like one. I glared at him before he cleared his throat.

"No time to waste. Here is the pre-nuptial agreement that I made for our marriage. Feel free to cross out anything that you don't like," he said before sliding the file toward me. I took it and read it.

Agreement between Lucca Giovanni and Laura Conti; a Pre-Nuptial Contract.

1. Ms. Conti must remain loyal to Mr. Giovanni as he will as well during the arrangement.

2. Mr. Giovanni will pay and seek a private investigator for the investigation of the death of Oronzo Conti until Ms. Conti is satisfied with the result.

3. Ms. Conti needs to live with Mr. Giovanni during the arrangement until both parties agree to depart their ways.

4. Ms. Conti will need to share the bed with Mr. Giovanni to convince Mrs. Giovanni, his mother, that both parties were truly in love as well as living with him during the arrangement.

5. Mr. Giovanni will provide for Ms. Conti's needs as well as she will also provide for Mr. Giovanni.

6. This pre-nuptial is not to be mentioned outside of this room or it will be considered a breach of the contract.

"Well, that's interesting. Just one thing I would like to change, Mr. Giovanni," I looked at him, Lucca was staring at me intensely before I cleared my throat to go on, "I will sleep with you in the same bed, in the same room, in the same house, but I will never, ever want to have sex with you in any way," I said, trembling as my heart was beating fast. I looked at Lucca who was looking intensely at me and his eyes were playing some emotion in them before he blinked it and it was gone.

"Okay but you must accompany me to all the business parties, events, and invitations as my wife," he said and I was about to answer him before he continued, "without any complaints if I have to show the public some affection and you have to oblige to it even though you don't like it until the end of the night, agreed?" he looked at me with his slate orbs like he can read me. I nodded.

"Very well then," Lucca said as he snapped his finger, and waiters just coming in with a lot of food that was being put on the table. I drooled at the sight as Lucca took the file and handed it to his lawyer, by the way, he dressed and disappeared from a series of the room with the waiters.

"Shall we dig in?" Lucca said before we ate in silence.

After a few hours of eating, chatting, and drinking, I felt a little lightheaded as I can see Lucca was looking at me with amusement in his eyes. I was glaring at him before he sipped on his champagne and put it down.

"Did you drive here?" he asked. I shook my head. I was too poor to take out a loan for a car even though my father probably has several of his that I can use. But, I rather used public transport or bike because I believe we can do something about global warming and climate change that had been an issue these days.

I looked at him as he casually continued to sip on his champagne. I had a glass and immediately my head was lightheaded.

"Why do you hate me?" I slurred at him, making Lucca stop in his track.

"What do you mean?" he said chuckling as he put down his glass.

"I mean 3 years back before I headed to Albania, you said you hate me. So, tell me why you hate me," I slurred again, trying to keep my eyes open.

"I think you had too much champagne. Let's take you home," Lucca said before he stood up and pulled me up to stand. I looked into his eyes, straining my neck when he was 6 foot 4 when I was 5 foot 7. I looked into his eyes before spitting the words without thinking.

"You hate me because you believe that I only care about my study and my future. You think I don't care about you and that's the reason why you went out with Lucia Ricci. You think that I will be jealous when I saw you with her around campus, that you will fuck her mouth whenever I passed by or your friends would tell the glory of you screwing her. You are proud to declare that you love her pussy and that you don't care about anyone else, including me," I said before I choked on my throat. I did not know that I was crying.

The tears were hot, streaming down my cheeks.

"You left me, Lucca. You left me alone. With my father's being sick, and my brothers, god knows where they were, you left me out in the dark. You shut your door from me as I am an embarrassment to you. Whenever people asked you if you know me, you just laugh it off and told them that I...I...I was a slut because of the way I look. And guess what? This very slut is you will be married to!" I barked at him before he took hold of my arms.

"Laura, stop. You're drunk. Come on, let's go home," he said, trying to get me going. I laughed as he tried to pull me.

"Home? Home?!! I don't have a home. Every time I go back to that mansion, it was cold and distant and with my father's absence, it is much colder. I don't have a home, I don't..." I sobbed before I sat on the ground. Lucca was shocked to look at my condition now. He tried to get me up from my spot but I refused.

"I don't have a home because you, Lucca, were my last and only home now," I said before darkness took over me. And the last thing that I remember from that night was that Lucca kissed me on the lips and said those sentences as I closed my eyes.