Too Late—Now I’m Married to Your Enemy Chapter 01

Too Late—Now I’m Married to Your Enemy Chapter 01

At the Christmas family gathering, my mother set down a plate of homemade fortune cookies.

My older sister Sofia grabbed one for me.

The slip of paper inside my fortune cookie read, “Your upcoming marriage will be filled with joy and happiness.”

Sofia read the words on the slip out loud.

Every gaze in the room landed on Luca Colombo, the youngest Don ever to rule Ironwood City.

I stared at him, my heart thrumming with anticipation too.

I thought he would take my hand and propose to me right then and there.

Even if a proposal was off the table, the least he could do was offer me some kind of commitment.

Instead, he only said calmly, “Gina, Sofia picked that fortune cookie for you, so the prediction should belong to her.”

“Best wishes to you,” he said to Sofia.

We had been together for five years, and he never once brought up the topic of marriage.

He had no idea that this tiny slip of paper was my parents’ final test for us.

He had just missed his last chance to marry me.

Luca’s phone rang.

The screen displayed a number I knew all too well.

He mumbled a quick apology, excused himself, and stepped out into the hallway to take the call.

Even through the closed door, I could picture the woman on the other end of the line — the one who always acted so helpless, who always needed him to fix her problems, speaking in that breathless, clinging tone she only used for him.

My parents’ faces had turned grim.

“That’s that woman calling again, isn’t it?” Sofia was angrier than I was.

“Gina, you’ve had a crush on him for ten years, and you’ve been dating for five. You can’t just let this end like this! I’ll go tell him the truth. As long as he proposes to you right now, there’s still time for everything!”

I held her back, eerily calm, like I’d seen this exact outcome coming a mile away.

“Sofia, I promised Papa. I lost the bet, so I have to marry the person he arranged for me.”

Sofia glared at me furiously, “Even if you don’t plan on marrying him, are you just going to let that woman’s matter slide too?”

I handed her a cookie.

“Stop talking. I’ll handle my own affairs. You need to eat more — the little one in your stomach can’t go hungry.”

When Luca returned, I was the only one left in the room.

“Gina, I’m sorry that call took so long. Since dinner’s over, let’s go home.”

He seemed not to notice at all that my family had left, or that their attitude toward him had shifted completely.

I knew he was only in a hurry to leave so he could meet Rosa Bianchi.

I repeated his words under my breath, “Since dinner’s over, let’s go home.”

“Home?”

I asked, my tone sharp with confusion, “Don’t you need to go see Madre?”

Every time he got a call from Rosa, he would rush over immediately — no matter the time, no matter the occasion. All I ever got was the sight of his back retreating from view.

“Nico is on an IV drip at the hospital, I’ll go pick up Rosa later. I’ll drive you home first.”

Nico was his older brother’s son. Rosa was his older brother’s widow.

As the widow of the former Don, Rosa was supposed to be addressed as Madre, and Luca always preferred to call her that.

He naturally opened the passenger door for me, then leaned over like he always did to help me fasten my seatbelt.

I did not give him the chance, and fastened it myself.

He froze for a second, then smiled and pressed a kiss to my forehead, “What? Are you mad at me?”

I stared at the streetlights receding outside the car window, and said nothing.

“Your sister is getting married at the end of the month, you’re jealous again.”

I shook my head, “That’s not the reason.”

I was just mourning the slow, quiet death of what we had.

Wedding? My parents were already arranging one for me. I would be having my wedding on the same day as Sofia.

“You’re always like this, you start daydreaming whenever you see someone else get married. I told you I would give you a wedding of the century, make you the most talked-about Donna in Ironwood City.”

He lit a cigarette.

“But Gina, it’s not the right time yet. After my older brother passed away, the family was beset by internal strife and external threats. I finally managed to stabilize the situation. Give me a little more time.”