Bound by duty

No, no, this can't be happening. This shouldn't be happening. Why is Nonno telling her to marry this man? What is going on?

Several questions stormed inside Lily's head, and she couldn't come up with an answer to any of them. Her eyes darted between Enzo and Nonno, both of them glaring at her.

"Sit," Nonno instructed, pointing at the nearest chair. His gray, flintstone-like eyes were so sharp they could draw blood. She did as he told, without uttering a sound. Now she sat in the middle of the two men, feeling like a deer trapped between two lions.

She stared down at her lap and hoped a black hole would emerge beneath her feet and swallow her. Enzo got up, approached her, and reached his hand out to her face. As a response, she flinched away from a slap that never came.

The pad of this rough thumb caressed her bruised cheek and surprisingly, it felt warm against her skin, contradicting his cold disposition.

Enzo's eyes narrowed, oozing bloodlust. For a second she thought it was directed at her, then he side-glanced at nonno. "Hurt her again, Matteo, and I'll have your right hand as a betrothal gift."

She gave him a wide-eyed stare. Did this man just call a *capo by his first name?!

How disrespectful!

Nonno released a savage laugh. "She is MY granddaughter and whatever I do to discipline her is none of your business."

Lily lowered her head in embarrassment. She hated nonno for treating her like a mindless child.

"No one has the right to hurt what's mine. Not even you." Enzo warned in a voice dragged straight from the netherworld.

"Lily doesn't want to marry you," Nonno growled.

"I can change her mind," Enzo said with a self-entitled smirk. "You may leave."

Both Lily and nonno looked at him as if he'd grown the devil's horns. No one had ever shown this amount of disrespect towards Matteo Russo and that too inside his own house.

Yet, her nonno got up, suppressing his rage boiling inside his blood, his hands balled into tight fists, veins popping out. He shot a killer's glare at Enzo. "Bastard!" He muttered and stormed out of the living room.

Lily rose to her feet, her eyes red-rimmed with tears. "Why are you doing this?" She asked in a soft, quivering voice.

"I already gave you my reason." He answered and indifferently sat back on the large antique sofa opposite her.

"And I already told you I don't want to marry you!"

"Your Nonno agreed to this alliance."

"What did you do to make him agree?" She questioned, scowling at him.

"His business had been in hot waters recently. I offered to help him out of it." He answered dryly.

Lie.

Her frown deepened. "You threatened him."

He smiled.

She chewed her bottom lip. "I'm not marrying you. Please leave me alone!" She pleaded.

The smile left, replaced with a stone-cold expression. "Hear what I offer and then speak." He said, his timber rigid as his face. "Sit down."

She wanted to protest, but then bit her tongue and did as he told her.

"You are no less than a docile little lamb for your dear nonno. He orders and you obey. You even let him hit your face." He said, his gaze lingering on her cheek.

"What do you offer?" she asked.

"Protection."

"Protection?" she murmured. That's what she desperately needed. But of course, Enzo wasn't so generous in protecting her with nothing in return. "What do you want from me in exchange?" She asked.

"Sign the marriage certificate and become my wife."

"That's all?"

"What else can you offer?"

"Well..." Right. He was Vincenzo Salvadori. This man had everything: money, women, fame, and most importantly power. You name it, he has it. There isn't much she offered other than her body. She wouldn't offer him that. It would make her sound like a prostitute offering herself. "I-I don't know..." she uttered.

The Cosa Nostra kept their women docile and dumb so they wouldn't protest when they are to be wedded for political gain. The man could be on his deathbed even so. They would give away their young and beautiful daughters for their own benefit.

Here, time was an asset for men and a burden for women. She was halfway through her twenties, and her value in the marriage market must have decreased significantly.

If she marries Enzo, her nonno wouldn't have to wed her off to some demented old man or a sadistic pervert like Antonio Armando.

Nonno was most likely to marry her off to the Armandos to settle some debts.

Sebastian was right. She needed Enzo's protection.

This marriage was just an exchange. She gets protection, and he gets to fulfill the promise he made to Elena.

"I can marry you, but I won't love you." She reminded.

He remained silent.

So he doesn't need her love after all.

She pursed her lips and stared down at her lap, thinking.

"I-I have three conditions that I would like to put forward before this marriage takes place." Lilliana slowly lifted her eyes to meet his scorching gaze that seemed to burn into her skin.

"Speak." The deep calm in his voice made her shudder.

She took a deep breath and straightened her back to appear confident. "First, I want to continue working as a doctor after the wedding. Second, after our marriage, we will sleep in separate rooms until I am ready to sleep with you, and third, I am not having a baby with you until I want to." She breathlessly listed out, and nervously twisted the ring latched on the chain she wore.

The corner of his devious lips tilted upwards and a flicker of amusement danced in his dark, whiskey-colored eyes.

He leaned back on the antique sofa and brooded over what she said.

Silence prevailed, and so did her urge to take back her conditions and escape from his overbearing presence.

"First and third, agreed." He answered in an unsettling calm.

"What about the second?" She questioned.

"You are my wife. We WILL share the same room."

She wanted to open her mouth and object when he abruptly got up from his seat, immobilizing her objections. Her heart thudded rapidly as he closed the space between them, his enormous stature shadowing her petite form.

His gaze had her locked in place and she failed to notice his hand reaching out to lift her chin. He neared her face, his breath fanned against her cheek. "Or do you think I won't be able to stop myself around you? If you do, you think too highly of yourself, Dr. Russo."

She gulped, growing thirsty for something she didn't know for what. When his touch left her face, she understood why.

'Oh god, how will I survive alongside this devil?!'

"C-call me L-Lilliana or Lily is fine." She said. Being called Dr. Russo by him felt weird. It felt distant.

"Lily." The way her name rolled out of his mouth send butterflies aflutter in her stomach. "Call me Enzo."

"Enzo."

Hearing her sweet voice say his name, a smile of contentment pulled his lips. His hand reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small red velvet box, and opened it.

Inside, there was a small platinum band with a blue, heart-shaped diamond studded in the middle. "It's my Mother's."

"This... I don't deserve such things..." she said, feeling overwhelmed.

He took her hand and slipped the ring and, to her surprise; it fit perfectly.

"You will be my wife, Lily. And my wife deserves every single privilege she can get as a Salvadori. Including this ring." He said with determination. For a bewitching moment, she thought he was professing his love for her.

"I'm not a man of love, but I give you my word to be faithful and fulfill my duties as your husband." He said, bursting the little bubble she had created in her head. "I expect the same from you too, Lily." He asserted.

"I will perform my duties too." She affirmed. This is just an agreement. Nothing else. Love would not bind them. Instead, they were going to be bound by spousal duties, that's all.