"No," My mouth sets in a hard line.
Nik turns to me with widened eyes, "Is everything a joke to you?"
I stare at him blankly, wondering if I look as serious as I feel.
"I'm not joking though." I turn to face Capo, "I'm not marrying you,"
Capo bursts out laughing, His voice roaring in the massive ballroom. People around don't dare to turn around to judge him the way they did to me, the consequences are too severe; presumably death.
"Tesoro. You're not marrying me. My little buddy barely moves the way it used to" He lets out another laugh and I squeeze my eyes shut hard in disgust, "You're marrying my son. Damien,"
I don't know if that's supposed to make me feel better because I don't.
Nik kicks my leg under the table to try and tell me, I need to finalise this deal. I shake my head to let him know how messed up this is.
"I want to talk to Papa,"
"You can't. He said only for emergencies," Nik whispers.
I have the urge to get out of my seat and yell at him for being so calm in this kind of situation.
"Nik. I'm being married off as a way to seal the deal. Let me speak with my father,"
I've never demanded anything from him. My father taught me to be polite to everyone despite the situation. But I've never been told what to do in a case where I was getting married off because no one in my family has ever gone through this before.
There's always a first time for everything, I guess.
Nik dials my father's number into the phone, reluctantly handing it over to me.
I bring it up to my ear, hearing a few rings before his voice grumbles on the other side of the phone. My grip tightens on it and every emotion inside of me wants to come pouring out of my heart.
"Hello? Nikolai, this better be important,"
All of a sudden, it feels like I'm talking to a complete stranger and not my father, the words struggling to escape my mouth,
"Papa?"
"Miel, what happened? Are you okay?"
"No." My voice breaks a little, "Nik and Capo are finalizing a deal, but the deal we have to make is unfair on me,"
"Miel, put me on the phone with Romano," His voice sounds raspier than usual but I don't question it.
I pass the phone to Capo who takes it with a smug face.
A few words are exchanged between them for a few minutes before it gets passed back into my possession.
"Mikayla,"
That's the first time I heard my father call me anything other than honey in four years.
"Yes?"
"I'm sorry but you're going to do this. Your mother made a promise to Romano before you were even born" He sighs, "I'm working on a way to get you out of this."
I'm about to argue my case but the line goes dead and when I look up, I'm met with Capo's smug look on his face.
That's a low blow dude.
Everything about him makes me want to gorge his eyes out and force him to eat it. The way he flashes his yellow teeth in my direction every time he smiles aggravates my soul.
"You'll be meeting him later on today so make sure she's ready by seven and no later," He tells Nikolai and they shake hands before parting ways.
»»———- ———-««
"How are you going to sit at the table when he arrives?"
I don't even bother to put up a fake smile because nothing in this case gives me something to smile about.
Nikolai's shoulders drop and I can tell he's getting frustrated with my attitude.
"I'm sorry, Nik. I'm still processing the fact that I'm being married off," I sigh.
Saying it out loud is something I will never get used to. Never in a million years. I look down, scoffing at the engagement ring on my finger that Capo had one of his bodyguards deliver to our door.
The symbol of two people coming together as one.
"Kayla, I have to go," Nik hands me my phone to show me the time.
6:53
For every minute that passes, the pit in my stomach grows ten times larger.
Nikolai throws me a bottle of water and pills to subside the visible nerves; my shaking leg.
I guess he's feeling a little responsible for taking me there in the first place, even though I begged him not to.
We've been waiting at the restaurant since six and there was no sign of anyone here. We're assuming they must've rented out the place.
Nik stands up from his seat and hands me a piece of paper.
Top ten conversation starters.
I give him a blank face before shaking my head to myself. He bids me goodbye and I'm left all alone in the restaurant.
A solid fifteen minutes have gone by and it is now 7.09. My patience is running paper thin and I don't know how long I have left before I lose it.
I dial Capo's number and after a few rings, he picks up the phone. I start speaking before he can utter a word.
"Mr Romano, I'm sorry but your son is a complete waste of space. To think I'm marrying someone who doesn't even keep a watch on him is bullshit. I'll have you know, the wedding is-"
"-Still happening," A gruff voice speaks.
Wait.
The voice sounds nothing like the Capo I spoke to earlier today. It had the same accent but it wasn't as evident as Capo's. I bite my lip to stop myself from saying anything else.
"Who's this?"
"Damien Romano," He starts, "and you are..."
My heart drops to my stomach.
"Mikayla Cikari. Your bride-to-be," I breathe.
He sighs from the other end of the phone, "Don't move, I'm coming,"
That's what she said.
"It's not like I have anywhere to go," The line cuts, leaving my words hanging in the air for absolutely no one to hear.
After a while, a black car pulls up with a dark figure stepping out.
Damien.
His eyes were an empty dark color. Almost black, with a hint of hazel. His dark brown hair was wavy and neatly styled but a strand of his curly hair fell in front of his forehead, framing his face nicely.
His black suit tightly hugged his body, two buttons open, exposing a bit of his tattooed skin but not exposed enough for me to see what it is. One of his hands lay comfortably in his trouser pockets, a Rolex sitting on his wrist. The other has his phone.
That jawline...and that body...
Women must kill to be with him, or even just in the same room as him.
Everything about this man screams important. I would've never guessed that Capo's child would look this fine, considering Capo himself looks like that.
His intimidating stance made my breath unsteady for a second but I quickly recollected myself, strutting over to him out of impulse.
"Damien?"
He doesn't say a word, eyeing me up and down, and he grabs me by my wrist and drags me to his car.
Bad memories of that night start filling my mind.
The wet kisses against my neck, the tight hold he had over my waist, those mind drilling words he spat and the way he tossed me to the side like I was nothing.
I jerk my hand away from his grasp and he stops walking to turn to me.
"If you do that again, I will carry you to the car myself," He warns me in an abrasive tone.
No thank you.
A few meters away, I see the black range rover he pulled up in and I immediately get in the car, looking around the empty parking lot.
Damien gets in on the driver's side and he starts the car, not saying a word.
Silence is his specialty.
I've learned when the heart gets too heavy with pain, people don't cry. They become silent.
It makes me wonder what terrible event he has gone through that makes him so bitter. But then again, I can't blame him for the way he acts when he grew up with his father.
The sound of my stomach growling fills up most of the silence. He turns to look at me with narrowed eyes, searching my face.
"You need to eat something," His inked hand moves the gear stick.
I didn't notice it before because his hand was in his pocket but a rose was etched out perfectly on his skin.
"I don't want to go to any of your rented out restaurants," I slumped in my seat.
The car came to an abrupt stop and I almost went flying, "Then where?"
"McDonald's," I faintly smiled.
However, it quickly falters when he gives me a deadpanned look.
"What?"
He runs his hand through his curly hair, "No."
"What do you mean 'no'?"
"That's not real food, Lilah"
"Mikayla," I corrected, "and yes it is."
He scoffs at me but brings out his phone to find out the nearest McDonald's near us.
When we pull up in the drive through, I rummage in my pocket for any spare cash on me, pulling out twenty dollars with a few cents and I hand it over to Damien.
He doesn't even give a glance at the crumpled note in my hand, pushing it out of the way and my mouth immediately falls open.
"Hello, What will be your order?" A soft voice spoke through the speaker, getting my full attention.
"Hi, can I have twenty chicken nuggets and medium fries please." I changed the pitch of my voice to sound nicer and Damien slightly scrunches his face in disgust.
"That will be $12.98,"
"Thank you."
The car moves onto the next window and the server hands Damien the bag of food which he passes to me and the wave of freshly made fries hits my nose. He swiftly parks in their parking lot and I'm very confused.
"I think we're supposed to pay,"
He stays silent, choosing to ignore me, bringing back the awkwardness in the car.
I close my eyes to savor the first nugget that goes into my mouth which tastes like complete heaven. He stares at me with fixed eyes as I eat.
I remember the top ten conversation starters Nikolai gave me and I quickly read the first bullet point;
Share common interests.
I peer over at Damien, who's still staring, handing him the food in my hand, "Want one?"
"I don't know what that is," He counters, shaking his head.
"You don't know what chicken nuggets are?" I gasp hard.
He ignores my emotional outbreak and eyes the box in disgust. I push it in his direction but he sends it back without hesitation.
"I don't eat poison,"
Did he just...
I clench onto my chest in pain.
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Thank you for reading 𝐋𝐨𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐢𝐦.
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