A BISHOP! I HAVE NOWHERE TO ESCAPE FROM THIS. "Hah… I won't lie saying that I never expected my parents to get me an arranged marriage, since my nonni always warned me about the possibility, and I was okay, as long as it was beneficial for the famiglia. But this? This is different. It's in England. It's with a fucked up guy. And it's with someone with ties to the Romanian Mafia. If this was how they wanted things to be, why did they raise me to be the next consigliere in Italy, then?"
Her words were more to herself than to them.
"Why make me believe in a future that would never come, all to send me to this… problematic famiglia to be a what? A bride? And when they don't even know who I actually am?" She passed her fingers through her hair, anxiously. "And with no possibility of me ever getting a divorce. I'm doomed."
That isn't the reaction we were expecting. I don't know if this is good or not. "He should have told you before, Chiara."
She finally gazed up to her uncle again, "My parents never did anything by the book. I'm a bit disappointed, bit not surprised. They always had a habit of keeping secrets, even if I eventually would uncover them all," clenching her jaw, she turned to Khloe who had the decency of flinching. "Was this why you asked me to investigate the Scarlat? Because I would eventually have to be part of that hell?"
"Kind of, yes. I also wanted the information. But it was for this. At least, now you kind of know what to expect from them, no?"
"Porca puttana, why did it had to be Damian?" She groaned.
Kevin gasped, "Well, the others are all in relationships now."
Chiara glared at him, "Yes, but he's the most fucked up of them all, stronzo. We would never work out, we would probably kill each other. I'm positive I would have the desire to murder him more than once a day, given all I got on his personality. He's too similar to me, and that is a recipe for mass destruction!"
Oh, so she noticed their similarities too. Millie smiled, "Yes, but maybe it could work out exactly because of that."
She frowned at her aunt's suggestion, "I doubt that. And what is that shit about marrying in December? It's three months from now. That is insane. Yes, I get that they have this tradition, and I enjoy the season too. Nevertheless, there's almost no time until that. And I'm in the worse moment of my entire life, merda. I'm not in the mood to know my soon-to-be groom better, neither to open up to that big famiglia of his. I haven't even opened up to you, imagine to those strangers whom I share no blood with. This is too much, zio."
Sigh, "I know, Chiara, but it's what the deal entailed. It has to happen that way, kiddo."
They are all out of their mind. I can't. I can't marry on the end of this year, because that would mean spending the holidays on the honeymoon, and I have to go to Sicily on Christmas. This won't work. I'll have to find a way to deal with this chaos. "When are you planning to go back to London?"
"In three weeks, so we can spend your birthday there!" Khloe was the one to say, enthusiastically.
Chiara clenched her jaw, "No. That won't happen. I won't be here in my birthday. I won't be in the UK!" She told them firmly and they all stared at her confused.
"What do you mean?" They all asked together.
"Me and my siblings birthday is in October 1st, papa was in October 2nd, and mama in October 5th. It's too soon. I can't spend it with anyone else but myself. You can't ask me that, we are not that close. Dio mio, my parents and siblings died not even six months ago. You can't expect me to be fine on the first birthday I'll spend without them!" She clenched her hands so hard that her nails pierced through her palm. "I bought a ticket to a place I wanted to meet in Europe. I'll leave on September 30th." It's in September 29th, but they don't need to know that. When they less expect, I'll be out of here.
"What?" They yelled.
"But I'll be back in October 9th!" October 8th, but if I told them they would definitely want to pick me up on the airport, and by doing that, they would see where I was. "You aren't in a position to ask me to stay, or not to allow me to go, so, don't even try." She slowly got up from her seat. "I need time to think. But before I leave, I have two questions!"
She must trying to avoid a breakdown in front of us. "Ask anything you want, sweetheart," Millie said, compassionately.
"Was Damian aware of this? Was this the reason why none of his parents approved of his relationship with Abigail?" Because it was, it means he'll loathe my guts for it, from the very beginning.
When they nodded, Chiara felt sick. "Yes!" Kingsley stated. "He knows of it since he was 9 years old. And yes, that was why his parents never approved of him with Lady Abigail. That was a break in the deal, and it would come at a huge cost, as you read in the deal."
He means the part where it says that is any of the parties avoid this, they will lose all of their inheritance. Quite the hellish point. And by how mama signed her true signature, I'm sure this would cost both my inheritance from her side and from papa's and I cannot afford that! "Now I get why you didn't want me to kill them, Khloe!"
Before she could leave, her uncle asked for her and she stopped, turning to him, "There's two more things we need to make sure you understand, Chiara!"
"Say it, then."
"You have to act like you are fully British, born and raised. And you will have to get totally comfortable and used to being called Rebecca," he said firmly.
She glared at him, "It's like I hadn't understood that, zio. But I'll take care of this. I'll do things my way, and you just go with it. Let's say I spend my highschool on Italy, and because of that I got used to their culture. Closer to the truth, and better than such big lie. It'll be easier to sound believable. And regardless the name, I'll just deal with it as if it were a character I have to play. I'll play my part."
Said that, Chiara left, and though she kept a stoic and cold face, her hands were still shaking as she climbed up the stairs and locked herself in her room.
"This didn't go as badly as I thought it would," Kevin spoke.
"She had said before that she never went and never would go against her parents and maternal grandparents words, even if she didn't like what they told her, because she knew that they would always do what's best for her," Khloe recalled. "That might be precisely the reason why she isn't breaking everything, and is rather acting rationally and cold."
Their mother let out a deep sigh, and unlocked her phone, "I'll call Madalina. They asked us to tell them the instant we told her about it, so let's do that."
Nodding, they waited as the phone rang and Millie put it on the speaker for them to hear the conversation too. "Millie? Is everything fine? Did anything happen to my daughter-in-law?"
"Did you tell her?" Nicolae asked, siding with his wife.
"We just told her," Millie told them.
"How did she react?" The woman asked, curiously.
They shared a gaze, before Millie said anything, "Coldly. She froze and stared at us in the most uncomfortable silence in the world for 10 bloody minutes. Then she asked if her mother knew and agreed on it, and when she saw her signature in the document, she got silent again."
"Was Rebecca closer to her mother than to Ruffy?" Nicolae questioned. "I always thought he would be closer to her."