Wronged
I must have been staring at Cesar too long, lost in my thoughts because suddenly Bella nudged me gently with her shoulder.
“Hey, Sarah. Earth to you.”
I blinked, startled, and turned to her with a sheepish laugh. “What? Sorry, what did you say?”
She grinned. “I asked if you like kids.”
“Oh. Yeah, I guess I do,” I said slowly. “But I’ve never really been around them much. I’ve never even carried one before. That was actually the first time and when you put him in my arms, I have to admit, I was kind of nervous.”
Bella laughed, light and warm. “Don’t worry. As long as you’re a member of this family, you’re going to be carrying him a lot. So you’ll get used to it.”
“Yeah, I guess,” I said with a shrug, trying to play it off.
“And besides,” she added, nudging me again, “this will be good practice for you, for when you have your own kids.”
At that, my smile faltered just a little.
I nodded slowly. “Yeah, I guess.”
“You do want to have kids, don’t you?” she asked, her tone shifting, softer, more curious. Her eyes searched mine like she genuinely cared to know the answer.
“Yeah... yeah, of course,” I said, forcing a smile. “I guess I want kids someday.”
Bella tilted her head, still watching me closely. “Well, you know it’s expected, right? What I mean is... you were married to create a union between your family and ours. So your heirs, are meant to carry both the Irish and the Italian bloodlines. It’s not just a personal thing, it’s a family obligation. Producing heirs is part of the reason you’re married.”
My heart thudded a little in my chest. I nodded, slowly. “Yeah… yeah, I know. It's just... Cullen and I haven’t talked about it?” I admitted. “After all… we just had our first night together, and everything still feels so new, a little awkward. Thinking about kids right now just feels like… too much. Too soon.”
Bella gave me a knowing smile and then a soft, amused laugh. “Sarah,” she said gently, “it’s actually in your marriage agreement. You’re supposed to produce heirs. You do know that, right?”
My throat went dry.
She said it so casually, like we were discussing the weather but it landed in my chest like a weight.
“So, it’s not really something to discuss,” she continued. “It’s something that’s expected. Something that’s… going to happen.”
I nodded again, but the truth was—this was news to me.
I didn’t know that producing an heir was part of the marriage agreement. I mean, maybe it was supposed to be obvious, expected. But still, hearing it like that, so plainly from Bella… it stung.
There I was sitting across from a woman I barely knew. A woman who, somehow, already seemed to know more about me, about my marriage, than I did. And I kind of hated her for that. Just a little more.
Still, I kept nodding, trying to seem unfazed. “Yeah, I guess it’s going to happen,” I said, forcing out the words. “Even though… I don’t really know why we have to. After all, it’s not like I married the heir. If I had married Cyrus, and my children were going to inherit the throne one day, then yeah.... maybe I’d understand the need to. But I married Cullen. He’s just the second son. Our kids… they won’t amount to much in this world. Maybe captains, maybe lieutenants....but they’ll never sit at the top. So I don’t really get why it’s such a big deal.”
I paused, glancing down at Cesar as he played quietly on the mat. “You already produced an heir. Cesar will inherit the throne after his father. So… I don’t see why it matters if Cullen and I have children.”
And that’s when I saw her face shift.
I realized too late I’d either spoken too long or said the wrong thing entirely.
“No, no, I didn’t mean it like that,” I said quickly, my voice stumbling to fix it. “Please don’t take it the wrong way.....”
Bella gave a tight smile and nodded. “Yeah, of course. I get it. You were supposed to marry Cyrus.”
“No. No, this has nothing to do with Cyrus.”
Her eyes flicked up to meet mine. Calm. Cool. Controlled. “Do you feel wronged in some way, that you could no longer marry the heir? That you had to marry Cullen instead of Cyrus, as originally planned?”
“What? No, of course not,” I said, a little too fast. “Why would you think that?”
But even I could hear how unconvincing I sounded.
Bella though remained completely unfazed. She just smiled at me and asked softly, “Do you remember me?”
I frowned, confused. “No… Should I? Have we met before?”
“I think we have,” she said, her smile lingering. Then she glanced at Caesar and added, “I used to be so jealous of you.”
“What?” I blinked, thrown by her words.
She continued without hesitation. “You’re here now, so I’m sure you’ll eventually hear about it. People still tease me, even now that it’s no longer a joke.”
“About what?”
She gave a light laugh, almost nostalgic. “About my crush on Cyrus.”
I just stared at her, unsure how to react.
“Cullen and I grew up together,” she went on. “Cullen, Cyrus, and me...we were always around each other. Cullen and I are only a few months apart, born in the same year. Our moms are close. And since my mom had her own issues… I mostly grew up in this house. I knew it inside and out. I even had my own room here, I was basically a part of the family.”
Her tone shifted, a faint wistfulness touching her voice. “I guess I was supposed to see Cullen and Cyrus as brothers. That’s how everyone saw it. But for some reason… I just couldn’t think of Cyrus like that. Not ever. I had this huge crush on him. He used to be my hero, even before I understood what love really meant. I admired him. Loved him in a way I couldn’t explain.”
She paused for a second, then continued, “People made fun of me for it, my silly schoolgirl crush on Cyrus Cincinnati. So when I heard he was going to marry a girl from the Irish Mafia, a girl named Sarah Sullivan I was… jealous. So jealous. And if I’m being honest, a little part of me hated you, too. I was like, Who is this competition? Who is this girl that gets him? I had to meet you. I just had to see you.”
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