Liliana was avoiding the D'Onofrio's as best she could as she spread out across the hot sand, a book she had bought at the airport in hand. She was only wearing a white bikini and a thin, translucent shawl, her sunglasses protecting her eyes and her thick, curly hair braided back. She didn't know what else to do, trapped on a tiny island, with her father and her future marital family, who she wished to avoid. And frankly she resented the fact that she had to pretend she was okay with it all.

Unfortunately, sharing a house with a bunch of dominant males meant that solitude wasn't an easy thing to acquire.

"I hardly believe I finally get to meet the woman my father's been talking none stop about for the past two days." A shadow was cast above her, and Liliana found the youngest D'Onofrio son settling down beside her on the sand as if they were long-time friends on holiday together. He seemed to be dressed much more appropriately now, clad in only a pair of board shorts and Liliana was graced with her first real smile. "He's not usually a very talkative man. I suspect he was trying to spike my brother's interest."

Did Marcello disagree with this marriage just as much as her? Hope bloomed in her chest at the faint possibility that this could all be avoided. Surely a man as powerful as Marcello D'Onofrio would not allow himself to be forced into something he did not want?

She sat up, resting on her hands behind her and eyed Angelo suspiciously.

"Did it work?" Why Angelo had decided to join her, she didn't know, but she wasn't going to ask. Not when there was far more pressing information to gather. Perhaps he'd drawn the shortest straw and was set with the task of gaining intel - not that the D'Onofrio brothers couldn't find out everything they wanted to know about her anyway, through far more persuasive means.

Angelo didn't answer, shifting to lay on his side and his eyes lingered for longer than necessary on her exposed legs before finally meeting her face. Liliana snorted and rolled her eyes beneath her sunglasses.

Or perhaps he was a bored man just looking for entertainment. It was becoming rather clear to Liliana that Angelo was the least sombre of the family.

"What's so funny?" Angelo asked, already smirking.

"Are all you D'Onofrio's so easily distracted?"

"Unfortunately for you, no." He laughed heartily. "Marcello is a very... focused... man. You're in for no easy task with him, he's not suited for marriage at all. The again..." He waggled his eyebrows at her boyishly. "Neither am I."

Liliana ignored his flirtations.

"If he's so unsuited for marriage then why on earth are we going through with this?" she pried.

Angelo shrugged, and explained, "Good for business, I guess. The Fiorenza and D'Onofrio enterprises are being merged together. You can't say you didn't expect your father to arrange a marriage sooner or later did you? You're his heir, it's how things are done around here."

Liliana bristles at his somewhat patronising tone, but managed to keep her temper at bay for now.

"I know..." Liliana reluctantly agreed, through gritted teeth. "It's just..." Marcello D'Onofrio. The only mafioso currently in power that could possible rival her cousin's empire.

Angelo chuckled. "You'll do fine, trust me. From what I've heard you've got a good head on you and a strong back bone. Just don't let Marcello break that. He may seem tough at first but that's just to those who don't know him." Liliana didn't bother to ask who his informants were.

"Right," she replied, disbelieving. She wasn't sure what to make of Angelo's advice, she didn't even spoken to Marcello yet, but 'tough' seemed to be an understatement. She imagined the dangerous mafioso was more than just tough.

She tried to subtly end the conversation between them, picking up her book without another word, but her attention was captured once again by Angelo's sudden, sharp bark of laughter.

"I should have known he'd be watching me, practically felt his eyes burning the back of my neck," he told her quietly. She only peeked across at him from behind her glasses. He was turned towards the house and waving sarcastically at someone. Liliana didn't bother turning around to check who. "He's such a stiff all of the time. Probably afraid I would corrupt his innocent wife to be."

Liliana hated the way her body involuntarily stiffened - like she were a deer all to aware of a predator lurking nearby. Mercello was watching them.

She had to fight the urge to look at him, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of her attention, and no entirely sure she stomach seeing him again so soon. Had he, like his youngest brother, changed out of his suit and into his swimwear, or was he dressed more conservatively than his outgoing brother? She wanted to know how his personality, his demeanour compared against Angelo, she wanted to know everything about the man she was to marriage, especially as she knew Marcello no doubt knew far too much of her already.

Two days, Angelo had said, two days they had known about this marriage. It sounded like a lifetime compared to the pathetic two hours she had known. Two hours, was all she had had so far to process the concept of a husband. Two hours, to contemplate her future to the man she was to be married to for the rest or her life.

Divorce was not something she knew to be an option. Women like her did not divorce their husband, did not have the power to. Death was the only escape.

"I doubt Marcello cares what I do with my time, as long as I'm obedient once we're married," she grumbled to herself, unable to keep the bitterness from her tone.

"Believe me," Angelo uttered in response, still staring in his brother's direction. "He's a possessive man. You're his now and no man is going to tell him otherwise."

"Oh charming." She finally snapped, her irritation towards Angelo fuelled by a sudden surge of feminine pride. What she wanted to do in her last days of freedom were of her concern, no one else's. She didn't appreciate being objectified, even if it was just to make a point. Standing to her feet, she dusted the sand off her legs and picked up her book and folded towel, gaining Angelo's attention again.

"I'm off back inside." She uttered firmly, glaring down at the tanned man despite knowing he could not see her eyes behind her sunglasses. "I suppose we'll talk later."

His expression turned thoughtful, clearly having no care towards her anger. He only nodded in reply. But as she turned away, she heard him call out, "Welcome to the family sis'." Unfortunately, those words felt more ominous than welcoming.

***

As the evening cooled and the sun dipped lower in the sky, Liliana found herself in the villa's wide-open kitchen with her grandfather, preparing dinner for themselves and their guests. She would rather be anywhere else but one sharp look from her grandfather had her obediently following his command. No one, not even she, dared defy Valentino Fiorenza.

From where she stood dicing vegetables, she could hear the bellowing laughter of her father and Sebastiano. Shortly after her conversation with Angelo, her father had left the safety of his office and joined Sebastiano in the lounge. At first the atmosphere had been thick with tension but now it seemed whatever issues had once been between them were now worked out.

At the cost of her freedom.

When the food had been plated up, everyone gathered around the table surprisingly quickly. The brothers were the last to enter, Angelo entering first as she was placing the last plate of food down, with Giovanni and Marcello following quickly behind him. Before she could flinch away the youngest D'Onofrio had kissed her lightly on the cheek in greeting, winking at her startled expression.

"Dinner looks great, Lil'. You do too," he teased - acknowledging the light blue, thin cotton dress she was now wearing - and sat down beside his father who was staring at him with irritation.

"Knock it off Angelo," a deep voice from behind her warned. Liliana stiffened as she felt Marcello brush against her as he took his place in the empty chair beside hers. This was the first time she had heard him speak, and fear sent a chill down her spine and had her hairs standing on end. The quick glance in his direction had her cheeks flushing when she noticed his intense gaze on her, as if he could read every thought passing through her mind.

"Your brother's right, have a little more respect for his fiancée," Sebastiano spoke up though Liliana would rather he hadn't. She didn't need the reminder that she was now someone's fiancée.

Don't cry, she reprimanded herself, feeling the familiar sting of tears in her eyes. She quickly scurried back to the kitchen to collect herself, under the guise of collecting the wine for the table. When she returned everyone was silent. From Angelo's grim expression, she assumed more words had been said in her absence. Everything about this situation was so deeply uncomfortable. She understood why they were eating together, understood the need to familiarise herself with Mercello before the wedding, but she didn't like one ounce of it.

"So," Liliana broke the silence once everyone began to eat, speaking to no one in particular. "When will the wedding be?"

"Not now Liliana," her father berated instantly. She flinched at his sharp tone. Beside her, Marcello stiffened, his shoulder pressing shortly against hers as he shifted in his seat. She wanted to throw herself to the other end of the table to avoid his touch - even if it was unintentional. She wanted as much distance between her and Marcello as possible. Being so close to him had her on edge. And now, seemingly trapped between her agitated father, and her frightening fiancé, it was all she could do not to run from the table.

Instead, she steeled herself against her father's narrowed gaze, and faced his irritation without trembling as she so wished to do.

"Why not? I'd much rather know the details sooner so I can prepare myself. Why don't you want to talk about it?" She fixed her papà with a daring look, aware that she had everyone's attention. She didn't care if she caused a scene, he had cornered her into this, he should take responsibility of that.

Before he could reply, the brooding man next her spoke up. "Prepare?"

Liliana didn't take her eye off of her papà. It was extremely rude, and she knew she her grandfather would reprimand her later, but her papà was certainly hiding something from her and he needed to understand how furious she was with him. She had never been a quiet, meek daughter, but never before had she levelled her anger at him.

"I've just found out I am to be married against my will, I am going to need time to process this. Not to mention, I'm assuming we are to pretend this was a mutual agreement, and not a forced marriage. We're going to have to appear as a loving couple, yes?"

Angelo snickered, "Good luck with that, Marcello doesn't even have a heart." Liliana hid her smile. While irritating, at least Angelo was good for breaking a tense situation.

"And you have too much of one," Giovanni grumbled. "Maybe if you spent more time working like Mercello and less time flirting, then you would earn more respect."

Angelo glared at his brother, his smirk disappearing into a thin, grim line.

With a self-satisfied grin on his face, Giovanni took a swig of his drink before turning to address his father. "Liliana's right, these two love birds are going to have to get comfortable around each other unless you want people to talk." He waved his hand in their direction.

"I'm sure Liliana and Marcello are very capable of acting appropriately in public," Sebastiano assured his second eldest son. The old man caught Liliana's eyes. "I have faith in them both that everything will go smoothly." She was sure that a threat lay hidden in his words.

"The wedding will be held here, only immediate family flying out and staying in the other villas on the island."

"Here?" Liliana breathed, placing down her knife and fork. She suddenly felt a little lightheaded. Her papà had only planned two weeks on the island. "That would mean..."

"Eight days," Sebastiano confirmed with a spark of humour in his eyes as he observed her reaction.

"Very well," she uttered lowly, forcing down the anger within her, unsure sure how else to respond without turning to scream at her father.

Liliana quickly finished her meal without speaking again, listening in on Giovanni and Angelo tease one another, and the polite conversation between her father, grandfather and Sebastiano. She knew Mercello was watching her, but she couldn't allow herself to meet his gaze for fear he would see the glistening of tears in her eyes. Instead she kept her head down until she had cleared her plate.

"May I be excused?" Liliana hated how meek her voice sounded.

"Of course," her grandfather smiled comfortingly at her from across the table. Liliana noticed the stares she was receiving from the two youngest brothers. "We'll see you in the morning, enjoy your rest."

***

Marcello wasn't paying attention to the conversation. Everyone but his wife-to-be had collected in the lounge for drinks, talking amongst themselves until they too retired for bed, but Mercello wasn't in the mood to talk.

Liliana had been withdrawn throughout the rest of dinner and Marcello knew the suddenness of their wedding was entirely to blame. He had wanted to scowl at her dread towards marrying him, he had scowled at her father, but knew it wasn't fair to expect Liliana to be accepting of such an immense change to her life. It wasn't personal, and he had no need to take offence to her distaste. Anyone would react the same, no matter who they were marrying. Of course she was afraid.

He too had yet to accept the prospect of marriage. It wasn't something he had ever considered in the past, and he certainly didn't wish to consider it now.

A sharp pain on the back of his head brought Marcello out of his musings. He turned to glare heatedly at the assailant but cooled his expression when he realised it was his father to blame.

"We were talking to you," his father grumbled.

"Yeah," Angelo butted in. "Dad was saying that you needed to up your game, try a little harder to do something other than completely ignore Liliana."

"Perhaps talking to her would help," Valentino spoke up with a chuckle. Unlike his weasel of a son, Marcello actually respected Valentino. From what Marcello had gathered over meetings in the past, Valentino was a quiet sort of man who preferred to observing those around him in detail rather than force his opinion into a conversation. He was a very dangerous man to meddle with and an incredibly value ally. So instead rolling his eyes he opted for the politeness.

"I'll keep that in mind," he replied, appreciating any advice from the older man, even if he wasn't going to take it.

That was the last Marcello spoke, but his brothers did more than enough of it to make up for his silence.

By the time Marcello himself was retiring to bed he had the unfortunate presence of his youngest brother walking with him.

"What do you want, Angelo?" Marcello questioned warily. He was far too tired for his brother's games right now. Angelo shrugged, following along quietly, but just as Marcello reached his bedroom door Angelo nudged his arm and smirked at him in that irritating way of his.

"Liliana, huh."

"Don't even think about it," Marcello warned, narrowing his eyes. Angelo raised his hands innocently, though his devilish grin was still intact.

"Hey, hey, I'm not going to do anything. Besides, you need all the help you can get," Angelo teased. "She was so tense sitting beside you, at one point I thought she was going to throw up. Man, you really know how to repel the ladies."

"I'm flattered that you're going out of your way to tell me this but I'm not a complete idiot when it comes to women." Marcello rolled his eyes at the more devious smile spreading across Angelo's face.

Marcello didn't worry about Liliana's reaction to his presence at dinner. How else was she to react to a man she was being thrust into marriage with? With time she would grow more comfortable with him.

He certainly already found himself comfortable in her presence. She was physically attractive yes, but he found her confidence to be more so. He knew, when she challenged her father without pause, that she would make for a strong D'Onofrio wife.

Maybe this marriage wouldn't be a complete disaster after all.



Again guys, please let me know what you think in the comment section! I always feel far more encouraged to write when I get feedback (even if it's not all that positive).

***

Made some slight changes to this chapter where Liliana is a little more assertive against her dad, and as usually I've cleaned up the chapter a little. There's been no big changes to the story as of yet other than Liliana now being a year older. [09/12/20]