Chapter 5
1224 Words
"Three days from now, I’m flying to Europe," I said. "Important business. I’m also picking up my brother Dael in New York."
Bella sat on the large sofa across from me. Small. Still. Her eyes on me. Innocent. Still grief behind them.
Bella Ramos. Eighteen. Orphan now. Completely.
She had that kind of face that made men look twice. Not because she tried. She didn’t. But something about her did it anyway.
She wore a crop top and tight jeans. Simple. No effort. Yet her body filled them exactly how it should. Petite frame. Clean lines. The kind of body that didn’t need to be loud to be noticed.
Her hair fell past her shoulders. Natural brown with sun in it. Perfect brows. Eyes too round, too honest. Small nose. Mouth that looked soft even when she wasn’t smiling. Skin pale enough to show every mark.
I’d seen her skin react before. When she fainted last week, my fingers on her arm left red prints. Fragile. It's too easy to damage.
I rated her a seven out of ten. Objectively. Face, body, presence.
The missing three points weren’t about looks. They were about what came after. Performance. Screams. The way she’d say my name when she couldn’t hold it in anymore.
Things she wasn’t ready for. Things I shouldn’t want yet.
She was too young. Seven years younger than me. Virgin. Her father raised her strict. I knew that much. Mama told me stories every time I called. How stric Uncle Franco was. How protected Bella was.
So even if one reason I agreed to this marriage was to have her... I couldn’t take it yet. Not like that. Not with her.
I lost my virginity at sixteen. New York. A classmate. After that, I never bothered with relationships. Commitment was a waste of time. I wanted s*x. Clean. No strings. No headaches.
But Bella wasn’t a headache I could solve in one night.
"Are you really going to do this, Enzo?" Her voice was soft. It pulled me back.
I exhaled and leaned back. Crossed my legs under the table. Hid the reaction her jeans caused. I didn’t want her scared of me yet.
"Yes, Bella. I’ll fulfill Uncle Franco’s request."
"Can I ask why you’re agreeing, Enzo?"
"I have a reason, Bella. I’ll tell you soon. For now, the main reason is this: you’ll have support. You’ll keep studying. You’ll have a home. And you’ll keep the life you’re used to."
She nodded slowly. Sadness in her eyes. She didn’t believe she deserved that life anymore.
"Tomorrow is our wedding," I said. "The man you saw with me at the coffee shop will handle everything."
She just nodded. So I continued.
"After the wedding, you’re coming with me. You’ll leave San Miguel temporarily."
Her head lifted. Those round eyes went wide. Her lips parted. I had to swallow.
"You’re coming with me?" she asked. Shocked.
"Yes, Bella. You’re my wife now."
"You mean... We have to live together. Like a real married couple?"
"Yes, Bella."
"What?!" She stood up fast. Too fast.
I couldn’t help it. My eyes dropped to her flat stomach. The small strip of skin her top revealed. Down to the tight jeans. The shape they made.
I closed my eyes for a second. Forced control.
Bella was different. Other women knew my signals after one look. Bella didn’t. That made her dangerous.
"Enzo, I can’t come with you," she said.
"Why not?"
"If I go with you after the wedding, what about my studies?"
"The man with me at the coffee shop will handle that. He’ll transfer your records. You’ll study at San Ignacio University."
"What?!" Her voice rose. Sharp.
I knew this would change everything for her. Not just her last name. Her whole life. Her environment. Her friends. Her quiet world.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"After our wedding tomorrow, you’re coming to my house in San Ignacio. That’s where you’ll live now, Bella. You’ll study there."
She shook her head like she couldn’t process it. Like the words were in another language.
My decision was made. I was taking her to my house. As my wife, I had the right. Not because I needed her to play the role of wife yet. Because I needed to keep her close. Because her name would be De Silva now. That name needed protection.
Bella sat back down hard on the sofa. Head down. Eyes closed tight.
I knew this wasn’t easy for her. I knew she had no choice right now. She couldn’t stand on her own yet. Not with the debts on her shoulders. She couldn’t refuse even if she wanted to.
"I don’t want to," she whispered, still looking down. "But I have no choice."
I exhaled slowly. I wasn’t doing this to hurt her. I was doing this to protect her. My work wasn’t in San Miguel. I couldn’t commute between San Ignacio and San Miguel daily.
I ran De Silva Company. A major construction firm in the country. We had partnerships in Europe, too. Right now, it was just me and my father running it.
As Lorenzo De Silva’s eldest son from his first marriage to Imelda, I was his right hand. Dael, my half-brother, was only twenty-one. He just graduated in New York as a civil engineer. Once he started, he’d help run things, too.
My father had two more kids with his second wife. Dael, twenty-one, and Annika, fifteen. I am still in high school at San Ignacio University.
I had a good relationship with them. With my stepmother too.
"I’m sorry, Bella," was all I could say. There were no better words for how fast her life was changing.
She looked up. Those innocent eyes again. Something in them that wasn’t there in any other woman I knew.
"I have to follow what you want, Enzo," she said. "I know you couldn’t refuse my father’s request either."
"I could’ve refused if I wanted," I said. "I’m thinking about where you’d end up. What would happen to you if I left you here."
"Did you think about what would happen to me if you abandoned me?"
"I don’t want to think about it," she answered. Fear and grief in her eyes.
It took everything in me not to reach for her. Not to pull her into my arms.
"The wedding is tomorrow at nine," I said instead. "At a judge’s office. Simple ceremony. I don’t have time for a big wedding."
She nodded. She probably didn’t expect a grand wedding from me anyway.
"Thank you, Enzo, for helping me," she said seriously. "I hope one day I can pay you back."
I smiled. Behind my mind, I thought: One hot honeymoon would be enough payment.
I wouldn’t regret spending millions on Bella if the price was one steamy night with her. Especially since she was one hundred percent virgin. If it happened, I’d be the first man to touch her body. The first is to ruin her for anyone else.
Just thinking about it made it worth it.
I didn’t know when that day would come. But I was willing to wait.
And when it did... God help her. Because I wouldn’t stop until she was screaming my name.
Bella Ramos would be mine. Forever.
And I couldn’t f*****g wait.
- Writer
