Page 36 of The Viper's Wife

I take a step back. He stands.

My heart thunders. “I’m leaving now.”

“You just got here.”

“Nico, we can’t get married,” I blurt. The last syllable echoes briefly in his empty living room. I tense.

He frowns and closes the gap between us with a step. “You don’t want to get married?”

“No—well—not yet.” Of course, I want to get married. Just not to him.

He seems to relax a little. “That’s fine.”

That’s fine.I blow out a huge sigh of relief. “That’s great to hear?—”

“The wedding won’t be for another few months.”

I shake my head. “Nico.”

“Val.” His fingers brush mine. “Why don’t you tell me what’s really on your mind?”

My mind is short-circuiting from his gentle touch. “I can’t marry you. I don’t want to.”

His fingers start to circle my wrist, and I pull away like a rabbit narrowly escaping a snare.

I snatch my clothes off the floor and yank them on as I talk, circling the armchair to put distance between us. “Listen to me. No one asked me if I wanted this. I had my whole life ahead of me—I had a job, and I almost had enough money to move out. This throws a wrench in everything. Please, Nico, there’s so many other women in the Family who would kill to marry someone like you. I am not that woman.”

He frowns. “No one asked me if I wanted to get married either. This is something we just have to do.”

“But not me. Please, Nico, I am a nobody, nothing. I don’t want to be in the Family, I can’t raise kids in a lifestyle like this.”

Nico stalks me around his armchair. “You want kids?”

I rack my brain. This is going off the rails.

“If I don’t marry you, you know what’s gonna happen to your family?” he asks.

“That’s not fair.”

“Your dad should’ve thought of that before he tried killing my brother.”

I stop in my tracks.What?

Nico laughs. He finally catches up to me and herds me until my back bumps against a wall. “No one told you? Your dad teamed up with a group of Russian mercenaries and tried to assassinate Don Salvatore, but he was one step ahead, and the only reason your dad is alive today is because I told Salvatore that I was madly in love with you.”

“But you’re not,” I murmur.

There’s a heavy pause before he admits, “I’m not.”

Thank god.

“You picked me because I was the worst option, because you wanted to get back at your dad?”

Nico smirks. “Sounds like you’re all caught up. And since we’re going to be stuck together?—”

“You picked me because you wanted to embarrass the Family.” My mind is whirling. “But you know what would be even more embarrassing?”

Nico’s silent, his face unreadable. He looks like a stranger—he is a stranger, an intimidating one with black clothes and a powerful physique.