Strong-willed, badass and bounded by the chains of an arranged marriage, Isabela Arias dreams of the freedom to live and love as she chooses.
Being sold to the Italian mafia wasn't exactly on Isabela's to do list...
As she's forced to navigate the r...
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The ache heightens on the sides of my forehead. My eyes gloss over the problem, constantly rubbing them with my fists. I think I see geometric shapes all over my bedroom. While I loved learning, studying wasn't exactly my forte. If the subject isn't interesting, it doesn't remain in my head for longer than an hour.
Which means anything math related vanishes like a ghost.
Arithmetic. Algebra. Data analysis. Geometry.
How do people go through four years of learning this? Every other subject is like a piece of cake, but math? It doesn't help that Damien randomly popped up last week and forced me to miss my math lessons.
Knock.
My eyes bounce to my bedroom door.
Julian pokes his head in through the cracked door and raises a side of his lip to mirror a half grin. Instantly, like a chain reaction, my heart accelerates at his presence alone. I wanted to slam my notebook against my forehead. Why is my heart reacting like this? A few weeks ago, I dreaded every second of being around him, and now I'm behaving like a schoolgirl with a secret crush.
It's not a crush.
It's Everleigh's fault!
She planted a seed in my mind and watered it with examples to bloom into a full-grown crush tree. Julian certainly didn't help with his trap in the club and his adequate manners by sharing his blazer. Turmoil churns in the wheels in my head. He doesn't like me. Julian wouldn't ever cross the line, even if I begged on my knees.
"How's it going?" Julian asks, wandering in his casual Armani black suit. There's a tiny difference between them. Only a girl with a harboring crush would notice things like that. Dang, it! "You have been at it for two hours already."
My eyebrows wiggle. "So, what I'm hearing is you miss me?"
A foreign sound escapes from Julian's throat, and I almost fall off my chair from the hoarse laughter. It's precious. Truly. It's sincere, full and vibrant. After our authentic conversation the other night, I didn't ever want to see Julian upset-- just like my mother's passing, his sister's death weighs like a truck on his chest.
His tongue drags across the seam of his lips. "I wouldn't go that far, Miss Arias, but I did come to bother you."
My brow raises. "How do you plan on bothering me?"
Pulling out of his pocket, he drops two packets of gummy worms and chocolate turtles on my desk by my notebook. "My mere presence is bothersome alone, according to you."
I roll my eyes. "It's hard to find you annoying when you spoil me with candy. You do know Damien will kill you if he sees you buying this for me."
Julian shrugs. "He can try. We both know I'll be the one to make it out the other side."
