THIS TIME, CHIARA ONLY SPEND THREE DAYS INSIDE HER ROOM. It was all the time she needed to make peace with her disagreement and accept her situation. And she decided to deal with it, as if this, this marriage, had been her parents last wish for her.
Decided, she called her uncle Arianna Di Matteo, the 2nd oldest, who took over after her mom passed away, and whom she was always close to. He was always her favorite uncle, and she was always honest with him, in a way she wasn't with almost no one.
"Mia cara," he said caringly, "I missed you."
Hearing his voice made her heart ache, all because she wanted to stay with them, and not on the UK. "I missed you too, zio," she answered in their mother language. "What are you doing now?"
He tilted his head, sitting down on the couch of his office in his villa back in Sicily, "I just came home. I was dealing with the Beccari clan, they have been disrespecting Rina's passing. So, I disrespected his ancestors, by killing them!"
A ghostly grin took over her lips, "I wish I was there to help you out, zio. How is everyone?"
"Missing you. Have you met little Melissa yet? Guilhermina told me yesterday that she told her daughter that you are in the UK."
"No. I haven't yet, but I will. I'll be in London on October 10th, so, from them on I'll go after her. I need someone I'm familiar with in this damned place!" Sighing, she took a sip of her passion fruit juice. "How's nonna?"
"Mama is missing you more than anyone. She's tough, you know. She lost more people than you and me together, mia cara, so she's better than we are. But she's suffering in her own way," he caressed his wavy light brown hair. "Taddeo's famiglia will all gather for Christmas, mia cara. Even though we want to kill him, they are all yours. This revenge is yours, raggaza."
Her anger his her like a giant wave, and she kicked the chair in front of her. "Where? In their home in Milan, Tuscany, or Sicily?"
"To our lucky, in Sicily. They will all be there for the 24th and 25th of December. Only his clan, no one else. Every one of the twenty people confirmed their presence. I looked over it myself, with mama!"
Ugh, I knew that marriage would complicate everything. "Zio, there's something I need to talk to you about. I have a feeling that you might know already."
"Tell me. I'm all ears for you, mia cara!"
She proceeded to tell him everything that had happened since she arrived, and how she was seemingly close to getting engaged to a jerk. And he listened to every detail in silence, respecting her voice. "As Kingsley told me that one of the copies is with mama's famiglia, I wanted to know since when you knew about this."
He closed his eyes, "My sister told us when it happened. But don't think we were okay with it, mia cara. We weren't. Mama definitely wasn't. However, as the deal was already closed, we made father move to Sicily and raise you and the kids here. Not letting you get into any contact with the Scarlat. That way, we would be able to spend 18 years with you, raising you, teaching you everything, before letting you go. It's just terrible that it all had to happen like this, and at this disgraceful moment of your life, raggaza."
Chiara stayed silent for a while, absorbing what her uncle told her, knowing that he wouldn't lie to her. "I'll do it, zio. I feel like I'm forsaking my entire life, but I'll do it. If this is what they thought would be the best, then I won't fight against. But I won't be a blushing bride either. I won't accept them so easily even after I get married."
"I'm sorry that you have to do this, mia cara!"
"It's alright, zio. There's no use to feel sorry now. I don't have a choice, and I'll never abdicate my inheritance just because of my hurt pride or stubbornness. I'm smarter than that. Besides, Damian may be a bitch to me, but at least, he is hot."
Her uncle burst out in fresh laughter, "Is he?"
"Mm-hm. He's tall too. 1.99m, can you believe it?"
"Dio mio, you will look like a dwarf near him. But, that aside, can you promise me something, mia cara?"
She gulped, nothing the seriousness in his voice, "Yes!"
"Promise me that you will participate in the wedding. I know how you always dreamed of getting married one day, and as this will be your only marriage, I want you to, despite the bad phase on our lives, to make it look like your marriage. Give your heart to it, Chiara. I do not want you to have any regrets. I've talked with Rufus when he was still with us, and he told me they are wealthy, and will definitely take care of you. And though I know you don't need anyone to do what you can do by yourself, I want you to promise me that you will try."
She pressed her lips together, "Zio Arianno…"
"Promise me. Promise that you will try to find love in this. That you won't avoid your husband just because he's an asshole, because you are one too," that made her giggle. "I know you like I know myself, mia cara. You never found love, but you dreamed of finding it one day. I don't want that dream to go away. Even if you need to make him your bitch, I want you to give it a try, okay? Even if it takes time, I want you to try giving a chance. So, Chiara Di Matteo, promise me you won't push them away just because of your pride!"
Having a soft spot for him, she let out a giggle, "Fine. I promise you, zio, that I'll give it a try to this marriage. Even if it takes me some years to be able to do that. I won't push him away. At least, not after we are married."
He gasped, "Why? What are you scheming?"
Chiara blushing, "I have to make him hate me enough for him to want to spend our honeymoon anywhere but with me, zio. They can't know how I'm am, and if Damian knew, he could end up liking me even for a bit, because I'm his type as much as his mine, even if he isn't with an open mind for that. So, I'll pretend that my sister was me."
"What? You will pretend to be Tine?"
"No!" She gasped. "No. I'll just pretend that she was the genius, prodigy, good at everything, polyglot, who is a badass… everything I am. I'll act like I'm the opposite of what I actually am. I'll act dumb and silly. A good for nothing. Damian with absolutely hate that, because, like me, he's a genius, a prodigy good at everything he does. And with that ego of his, he will never tolerate a bride who's stupid!"
Her uncle burst out laughing again, at her mischievousness. "Dio mio, the Romanian dude is sentenced to a life of mischief by marrying you. Oh, I'm so here for it. But why? I mean, why are you going that far, mia cara? Scared of the honeymoon?"