"Why me?" I voiced the question weighing on my mind. "With the Falconi family's standing, you could have easily refused this humiliating agreement."
Luca walked to the enormous floor-to-ceiling window, gazing out at the city lights. "The Falconi family needs a foothold in New York. The Moretti family intended to use you to humiliate us, and force your compliance. But they miscalculated one thing."
He turned, his dark eyes unfathomable in the lamplight. "They underestimated you. And they underestimated me."
"This agreement may be betrayal and humiliation to you, but to me, it is the finest ally and the most perfect shield. A cripple deemed worthless by all, marrying a woman abandoned by her fiancé. No one will take us seriously—and that is precisely what we require."
His candour took me
