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I was pacing in my room, trying to calm my nerves and give myself a little courage to face Alessandro D’Amelio. Although, it was not helping me at all. Instead, my anxiety was escalating with each tick of the clock.

I knew that it was impossible to cancel the dinner with him, so I wished to get over with it as soon as possible. After that, I hope that I will be left alone with my own self.

I glanced at the clock again; it was my 10th time doing it in the past 4 minutes. The time was 07:47 p.m. Francesca had told me that Alessandro would be there around 8 o’clock. She had also informed me that she would call me upon his arrival.

Fidgeting with the ring on my finger, I sat on the loveseat present in my room. But I could not command myself to sit still. I was a nervous wreck!

So I decided to distract myself with an e-book. I took out my phone from my jeans pocket and opened the novel, I was currently reading.

It helped me to shift my thoughts from the dreaded dinner, not entirely, but to some extents. But it did not last long because I was interrupted by the firm knock on my door.

I looked up from my phone towards the door and stared at it keenly, as if the person on the other side of the door would disappear on its own. But it was just a wishful thinking!

I knew that it was Francesca who had come to call me. It meant that Alessandro was there and the time to face him had come.

As much as I hated Ermanno and feared him, I wished for him to be present there along with Alessandro at the moment. I was already familiar with him, so it would calm me a little while meeting his ruthless grandfather for the first time.

How pathetic I had become!

I was wishing for one monster to save me from another, and that too his own grandfather, who himself had made him that way.

What a day had graced my life!

I was startled by another impatient knock on the door. I had totally forgotten that someone was waiting for me on the door while I was having a mental battle with my own self.

Shaking my head to get rid of all the thoughts invading my brain, I got up to open the door for Francesca.

Just as I neared the door, I took a deep breath to calm myself. I opened the door expecting to find the sweet and kind Francesca, only to find the Mafia King himself gracing me with his presence.

Ermanno stood there in all his glory, wearing his signature black suit, looking breathtakingly handsome as ever. He assessed my look as if he was in a trance and whispered, “Bellisimo.”

(Beautiful)

I asked him, confused, “You said something?”

He shook his head and spoke, “I was asking why did you take so long to open the door?”

I made an ‘o’ with my lips and lied to him, “I was in the washroom.”

How could I say to him that I was mentally fighting with myself for wishing him to be there with me as a support?

He nodded at me and spoke, “Alright, let’s go. Nonno is waiting for us.”

I gulped the lump forming in my throat and shakily nodded at him.

He sighed at my reaction and said, “You don’t have to worry about him. He is already impressed by you after hearing about you from the people around. So don’t stress yourself. He is completely harmless.”

Was this man crazy or what?!

The man who didn’t blink his eyes before slitting the throat of someone, was harmless?!

I guess that we both had different meanings of harmless, because for me, Alessandro was a walking talking danger.

But I didn’t dare to say anything to him. Getting no reply from me, he looked little bummed, but nonetheless, gestured me to follow him, which I did without a word.

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I followed him to his lavish living room, where a man in his 70’s sat authoritatively on the sofa, like a king, with a stoic expression marring his features. But it soon disappeared as his gaze fell upon me.

He stood up with a warm smile on his wrinkled lips and spoke, “Finally, I meet the girl who has bewitched my ruthless nipote in the first sight.”

(Grandson)

I was stumped by his statement and snapped my face in the direction of Ermanno, instinctively. He was glaring at his grandfather, while discreetly shaking his head. But Alessandro remained unfazed by him, instead a sly smirk played on his lips.

Not wanting to be rude, I quietly greeted him, “Hi.”

He enthusiastically replied to me, “Hello to you too, young lady. Please have a seat, both of you.”

We all took our seats on the sofa, me next to Ermanno, facing Alessandro.

As mush as I was fretting over that meeting, it was going on smoothly. Alessandro was behaving warmly and kindly, which was quite contrary to what I had expected him to be.

Infact, Ermanno and him seemed to be quite close each other. They both were looking extremely relaxed and talking very freely, which reflected their strong bond.

Francesca had told me that Alessandro had taken care of him, after his parents’ demise, at a very young age. I guess it was the reason behind their special bond.

They tried to include me too in their conversation. I had started to ease out a little bit around them.

We were interrupted by the ringing of Alessandro’s phone and he excused himself to receive the call.

After his departure, Ermanno turned to me and spoke, “See! I had told you not to stress over it. He is kind and harmless. He only got angry when anyone defied his wishes and went against him. He takes it as a sign of rebellion, which he despises the most. As long as you obey him, he could be the sweetest nonno you could ever have.”

I gave him a small smile and replied, “I would try my best, not to trigger him.”

He was staring at me intently with many emotions, swirling in his hypnotising orbs and spoke as if he was in some sort of trance, “You look so enchanting when you smile.”

I was shocked at his praise and stared in his mesmerizing, bluish-green eyes, with mine open, widely.

Our staring session was interrupted by the clearing of his nonno’s throat, who had returned after finishing his call. His eyes were glinting with mischief, while a teasing expression was resting on his face lazily, as he was looking at us with a smirk.

I felt embarrassed for having been caught by him and lowered my gaze towards my fingers and started fidgeting with my ring.

Before he could speak anything, Francesca came to call us for the dinner. I felt relieved for being saved by her unintentionally.

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The table was as usual flooding with worth drooling dishes; lasagna, pasta, meat, salad, soup, cheese and tiramisu.

Alessandro was sitting on the head of the table, while Ermanno sat next to him. But before sitting, he made sure to pull out the chair next to him, for me. He even served me food in front of his nonno, who had a slight smirk on his face and looked content for some reason.

I, however, was feeling embarrassed at all that. I was not a fan of PDA, not that I was looking forward to establish any affectionate relationship with him.

Our dinner was going on quite well. Both the men were discussing about some party.

“I assume that you are attending the party tomorrow, right?” Alessandro asked him.

He hesitantly replied, “Yeah. But I am planning to go there alone.”

“And why is that? If I may know!” Alessandro asked him in pure displeasure.

He stole a glance at me and spoke, “She is not ready yet.”

That triggered Alessandro, who furiously hit the table with his fist, rattling all the dishes. I was scared at the sudden turn of events and looked at both of them, terrified.

Ermanno held my hand in his warm, big ones, under the table in a reassuring manner. But what Alessandro spoke next had all the air sucked out of me.

Alessandro looked at me and spoke, “You will attend the party with him, tomorrow. And there you would be introduced as his betrothed in front of the whole world and this is my final verdict.”

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otherwise he ha