Pin drop silence. That’s what seemingly ensued after Emilio’s steely words. The first to break it was Ximena. “You have got to be kidding me!” she exclaimed in incredulity. She stood up from her chair and went to stand in front of her father’s desk.

That had to be the most absurd thing she had ever heard. First, he had handed off his eldest daughter because of a business contract, and now he was also handing off his youngest one. And all for what? Just because she had fallen pregnant. Granted, that was bad enough as it is but there was no need to involve matrimony in this. For starters, Andrea had just begun her senior year in high school. She barely knew what she wanted in life and now she was about to get married.

Rubbish. Absolute rubbish.

If Ximena knew anything, her baby sister was nowhere close to being ready for marriage; one of convenience much less. But with Emilio Dos Ramos, marriage seemed to be the answer to all his problems. Want to carry on your family’s legacy? Easy, marry off one of your children. One of your children dumbly got herself impregnated? No problem, just marry her off as well to the idiot who impregnated her! Enough was enough with this blatant display of idiocy and anarchy; this time she was going to stop it.

“You know very well that this isn’t the way to go about it, dad. She can have the baby and they can take care of it together but they don’t have to get married,” she reasoned, teeth clenched. Emilio gave her an unimpressed look.

“That won’t do. Have you thought about what people will say if they find out about this? Her name, not to mention mine as well, will be tarnished. The sooner they get married, the better. It will seem like they were in love. She will however have to drop out of the academy and start homeschooling and also prepare for the nuptials,” he trailed off, more so to himself. With a scoff, she turned to everyone else in the room.

“Are you guys seriously going with this stupid plan?” she echoed in disbelief. Nobody responded. She eyed her mother. “Mother? Aren’t you going to object to this?”

Dolores sighed and pressed her lips into a thin line. “This is bad enough as it is. No need to complicate things any further, hija,” she told her. “Mistakes were made and there will be consequences. I think they should just get married.”

“So, have you decided Mr. Pedrad?” Emilio dared to ask but she knew that he was well aware what the response would be. It was always his way or the high way, wasn’t it?

Omar released a shaky breath, running a hand through his hair for the umpteenth time. “I’ll marry your daughter,” he replied lowly, too ashamed to look at anyone but his lap.

Emilio grinned wolfishly. “Great choice, son. We will have to meet your parents at some point to discuss all of this-,”

“You can’t just sit there and act like this is some business deal! What the hell is wrong with you?” Ximena demanded, slamming her hand on the table.

Emilio scowled at her. “Don’t use that tone with me. Show some respect, I am still your father,” he chided coldly, their identical orbs glaring daggers at each other.

Ximena was about to fire back but Andrea made her stop. “It’s okay sis. I’ve accepted my fate. I’ll get married to him and have this child,” she squeaked lowly, her held hung low in guilt and defeat.

Salvador yawned loudly and stood up straighter. “Well, if that will be all I’m off to bed. I have school tomorrow still,” he said flippantly, beginning to walk towards the door.

He had be considerably quiet, like he already knew about this. Being the sneaky little raccoon he was, Ximena could bet her bottom dollar that he already knew about this secret relationship before everyone else did. Trust Salvador Dos Ramos to always be a few steps ahead of the pack. He was cold and calculating, just like his father. But his lack of care for the situation was way too cavalier, even for him. Did he not care about any of his siblings?

“So, you have nothing to say about this?” she asked him, pinning him with her inquisitive blue eyes.

He merely shrugged. “What is there to say? What’s done is done, like mama said and I am in full agreement with papa. It seems like I’m the only normal child in this family,” he muttered arrogantly, with a slight smirk. With that, he exited the room and shut the door behind him. Everyone was taken aback by his crude remark.

Seeing that she was pretty much wasting her time with them, Ximena huffed irately and also took her leave. Heading down the stairs, her head was spinning with rage. Couldn’t her father see that his compulsive decisions were tearing their family apart? If she got any angry, she was bound to get an attack so she tried her best to ebb down her anger and made for the living room where she’d left Adriano, Santiago and Chelsea.

When she walked in, Adriano was the first to notice her rigid stance and heaving chest. He stood up and walked over to her. Looking down at her, he cupped her cheeks. “What happened? Why do you look like you want to murder someone?” he asked, worry riddling his voice.

“Dad is making Omar marry Andrea as soon as she turns 18,” she mumbled in disgust. It still sounded all so very foolish to her.

Santiago laughed humorlessly. “Serves him right. I bet he almost wet his pants in there with the way your dad scares the crap out of almost everyone,” he said and earned a glare from Chelsea.

“How’s lil mama holding up though. Is she good?” she asked, worried about her best friend’s little sister. “This must all be a lot to process for her.”

Ximena snuggled into the warmth of Adriano’s chest, not caring at all how clingy she must have seemed. “She’s defeated. I tried to stop it all but dad won’t budge. You know how he is. He always gets what he wants, not caring about other people’s feelings,” she grumbled.

Adriano began to rub soothing circles on her back. “Do you want to go home now?” he asked her, and she nodded.

“Yeah, let’s go. I’ve had one too many migraines tonight.”

***

Many days had passed since Andrea’s announcement. It was bizarre how their father made extracurricular efforts to keep the whole situation hush hush as he didn’t want news about the arranged marriage and love child getting out to the media. The Dos Ramos name was too precious to taint, and Omar’s family had much on the line too. Ximena still frowned upon the idea of it but she had now turned a blind eye towards it because there wasn’t much she could do anyways.

As the days dragged on, it became increasingly harder for her to keep her feelings towards Adriano at bay. The way he looked at her, smiled at her, touched her… it was just too intense for her that she was on the verge of imploding. She desperately needed to tell him how she felt and had chosen that day to finally let him know. She wasn’t sure how he was going to take it, but at least a heavy burden would be off her chest.

When he walked out of the closet looking pristine in his crisp navy-blue Armani suit, with a shite shirt, black tie and dark brown Prada dress shoes to go along with it, she couldn’t help but swoon. She was virtually in love with everything about him, inside and out. His lame jokes made her burst out in uncontrollable fits of laughter and his hopes and aspirations inspired her. What was not to love about this man? He was damn well near perfect in her eyes.

Setting down her hair brush, she turned to look at him. “I need to tell you something,” she began nervously and he made his way towards her.

He frowned at her shaky tone. “Yeah, sure. What’s up.”

“I love you Adriano.”

Adriano froze in his tracks, eyes widening and jaw slackening. He remained like that for a few seconds before he came back to his senses. “W-what did you say?” he asked her in bewilderment.

She gulped and shuffled closer to him. “I said I love you. I’m in love with you, I have been for a while now.”

He did a sharp in take before averting his gaze from her. “Wow, okay. I was not expecting that at all,” he responded bluntly and she felt her heart constrict.

All of a sudden, she felt embarrassed for having confessed to him. Clearly, he wasn’t ready for that. What had she been thinking anyways? That he would swoop her into his arms and tell her that he loved her too? He obviously didn’t reciprocate the sentiment. Tears pricked her eyelids and threatened to fall. Holding her head low, she went to grab her purse and car keys.’

“Wait, where are you going?” he asked her but she just shook her head. “We need to talk about this-,”

She held her hand up and passed him a sad smile. “It’s okay if you don’t feel the same way. No need to say it, your silence is enough for me. I’m going to work now, I’ll see you later,” she voiced in an eerily calm voice and exited the room.

Once she got to her car, she slid in and drove out of the driveway. Never in her life had she ever felt so stupid, hurt and ashamed. She was sure she had done the right thing but why did it all feel so wrong? Maybe she should have just kept her mouth shut to avoid the awkward predicament she was in now. How would she ever face Adriano again? Gosh, this was all so very unwise.

Telling herself to pull it together and wiping away the few stray tears that had spilled from her eyes, she drove on to work. Once she got there, she gave her keys to her personal valet and padded over to her office, nodding to everybody who greeted her. Once in her office, she got herself busy with her work. No matter how hard she tried to calm her emotions, she failed miserably. She couldn’t do anything right. At some point when Dom was reading out a presentation, she had to do the following day she finally broke down.

She held her face in her hands as she allowed the tears to freely stream down her face and a sob racked through her entire frame. Dom dropped the papers he’d been holding and rushed over to her, completely concerned. It was the first time ever he had seen her cry and it didn’t sit too well with him.

“Ximena, what’s wrong?” he asked her, taking her hands from her face. She shut her eyes tightly, refusing to look at her, another sob escaping her lips.

“He doesn’t love me back. I love him so much but h-he…he doesn’t feel the same way. I thought he did b-but I was wrong and now I’ve ruined everything,” she cried in anguish. “Am I so unlovable?” she asked, finally opening her now bloodshot eyes, looking into his honey-colored ones in desperation.

Dom didn’t enjoy seeing her like this; crying over a man. In his opinion, there was everything to love about her. In fact, he had been in love with her since the very first day he’d met her. Maybe it was her glowing personality or her easy-going smile that drew him to her; he couldn’t put his finger on it. And the fact that her so-called husband couldn’t even reciprocate her love for him made his blood simmer in indignation. If he had been in that imbecile’s place, he would have spent the better part of his days confessing his love to her in any way possible.

But he had had to keep his feelings a secret. If he had let her know that’s how he felt about her, he would have been out of the job quicker than he could say I’m in love with my boss. So, he played the part of efficient assistant, occasional confidante, basically being at her beck and call 24/7. As long as he got to be around her, he didn’t care that his heart was aching for her. Damn, how shattered he had felt when he found out she was betrothed. He couldn’t even show his face at the wedding!

Swiping away her tears with his thumbs, he gently cupped her face. “Of course not, darling. You’re the most lovable person I know,” he assured her boldly. There really wasn't any other truth to it.

Her lip jutted out in a cute pout. “A-are you sure? Then why doesn’t he love me?”

“Because he is an imbecile, that’s why. He is so goddamn foolish foor not loving you back. If he was here, I’d knock some sense into him,” he seethed and she managed to crack a smile at his mindless threat. He smiled at her too. “Now, my dearest Ximena, I never want to see you cry. It literally wounds me. It’s not easy for me at all,” he whispered as his eyes sinfully flickered down to her plump lips. He had never been this close to her before, which explains why he was acting so out of character.

Subconsciously, he felt his head tilt forward. All inhibitions flew out the window for him. Ximena’s eyes widened in shock and before she could stop it, Dom’s lips connected with hers. And to make matters worse, the door burst open to reveal the very last person who should have been entering the room at that precise moment.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

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