Chapter 36- PROPOSITION

'Open your eyes my love" Aurora heard Leonardo's whisper and the mint smell of his mouth brushing past her nose for her to grasp the scent. Opening her eyes, she hitched. Leonardo's face was only a few inches away from hers and his smile was just another dig at her.

'Let go of me" she gritted the words through her teeth, inwardly fighting with herself. She longed for Leonardo to touch her like he would touch a wife, one that he was in love with but on the other hand she needed to fulfill her duty.

Everything I am doing is for you. She thought to herself, trying to wiggle herself out of his grip.

'Stop fighting me" he told her calmly, rolling his eyes whilst knowing that there was no way that she could free herself from his grip.

'I am not fighting you, all I want is for you to let me go" Aurora hit his arm, hoping that it would help ease her escape but again, she failed.

'Okay, I will let you go… on one condition"

'That is?"

'Who thought you how to cook such perfect Italian food?" he smiled as he asked her, licking his lips, wetting it so much that something in Aurora stirred.

'Mama, what are you making?" Aurora pushed a chair against the kitchen counter, climbing onto it as she watched her mother stir the tomato soup. There was not much to eat at home and with her mother's job cutting her pay, matters only got worse for them.

Even with the wage shortage, her mother always made sure that the two of them always had something to eat.

'I am making something special, Mi hija" her mother told her, her little self, looking over the pot as she tried to see what it was that her mother was preparing.

'Be careful my dear, you might just fall into the pot!" her mother joked, grabbing her around her waist and placing her onto the floor as she smiled up at her mother.

'One day I want to cook like you" she cheerfully told her mother who smiled down at her.

'Of course you will be a great cook my dear… even better than me" her mother's words echoed in her ears, so much that all the sounds that surrounded her had disappeared.

'Avena!"

'Yes!" she answered, yelling out her answer as she stepped out of memory lane and now the person staring at her was Leonardo and not her mother. Leonardo straightened her, let go of her and carefully placed his hand on her cheek. The warmness of her cheeks met with that of his hands and the connection between them was instant.

'What happened?" he asked her, trying to get a better understanding of what had saddened her so much that he could see the buildup of her tears in her eyes.

'Nothing" she responded, widening the gap between them and turning around to wipe the tears from her eyes.

'I asked you a question and instead of answering me, you start crying. And you think that I will let that go"

'Maybe you should"

'No, I will not let this go. You are my wife and I have to make sure that you are alright" Leonardo told Aurora firmly, hoping that she would get it through her head.

'No, you will have to let this go!" Aurora turned to face him, slapping her hand against the kitchen counter. Silence filled the kitchen as Leonardo looked at Aurora's hand as it landed onto the kitchen counter. He slowly turned his gaze to face Aurora and looked into her eyes.

'Why?" he asked her, a small part of his heart beating and sending emotions that Leonardo had not quite felt before.

'Because we are not in love and it's about time that you start realizing that this marriage is a business deal" she spat out, Leonardo's eyes widened as he heard those words leave her mouth.

Deep down he was aware what their marriage was but to hear Aurora speak about it as though it were nothing other than a business negotiation was what sent a sharp pain through his heart.

'If that is how you view our marriage, then there is nothing that I can do about your way of thinking. I will see you during dinner," he told her, before stepping back and out of the kitchen.

Aurora stood on the same spot, frozen. She could not believe her ears that she had said such a thing to Leonardo, seeing the hurt expression on his face was enough to make her cry but she stopped herself in the process.

She let out a breath and felt all the strength within her body leave her, never had she been put in such a difficult position before. Aurora spun around as quick as a gush of wind, upon hearing the slow clapping of hands.

She saw who it was and just then, she wanted nothing than to claw his eyes out as she saw the smirk on his face.

'I must say Avena, your mother and father thought you well" he laughed as he stopped before her. Towering over her short frame and looking as intimidating as he was in real life.

'Good afternoon father in-law" she greeted her father in-law, not once smiling at the older man as she greeted him.

'You are doing a great job in keeping my son away from you, I must commend you" he told her, his false praise only rubbing salt into Aurora's wound.

'Why are you doing this? Why are you making me hurt Leonardo like this?" she pleaded with him but as she stood in front of him, looking at his cold stare, nothing she said got through to him.

'My son is weak and having you around is not making things any better for him"

'If I am such a distraction to him then why set up this marriage in the first place? Why put us through all this" she almost raised her voice and slammed her hand against the kitchen counter, even though hand still throbbed from when she had slammed it in Leonardo's presence.

'Someone told me that you were a smart girl Avena, but now that I look at you, you are not as bright as most people said you were" Senor Metteo, told her. His insult had done nothing to her, for years senora Mia had called her all sorts of names, so much that she had become immune to them.

'Father In-law, I think it is best that you do not underestimate me" she warned him, knowing just what she was capable of but even so, she knew to be weary of him.

'I hope that this is not a threat… I do not take lightly to threats being made by little girls who have only one job in this entire house"

'And that is?" She dared him.

'To hurry up and sign those documents, my vineyards cannot wait for you as I actually have money to make" he told her. Senor Matteo's words had not hurt her, he had made it clear from the very beginning that he wanted nothing other than the lands that belonged to the Russo's.

'I see" she answered plainly, looking unbothered by her father in-law's presence.

'Good, get dinner ready because I am hungry" he told Aurora as he stepped out of the kitchen, Aurora balled her hand into a fist and even as it pained her, she ignored the pain.

Her father in-law was truly despicable and she had to do whatever it took to protect Leonardo from him, if it was the last thing she did.

**

'The dinner is great, don't you think so Leonardo?" senora Carina asked her son during dinner. Leonardo lifted his head and flashed a smile at his mother.

'Yes it is" he answered plainly before turning his attention back to his food.

Dinner at the dinner table had turned in war of silence, no one saying anything but one another but the battleground had already been drawn. The only person trying to keep the peace between everyone was Signora Carina and she was not doing a very good job at it.

'Leonardo had Avena spoken to you yet?" Signora Carina asked her son in which he lifted his head and looked at his mother confused.

'Told me what?" He asked, turning his attention to Aurora who filled her mouth with food, not wanting to deal with Leonardo's drama. She had one goal and that was to stay away from him as much as possible.

'Oh maybe she forgot" Signora Carina smiled at the both of them.

'Well your daughter in-law seems quite forgetful these day" Signor Metteo commented and the room was silent once more. Aurora was boiling at his comment, knowing quite well that he was against her just as much as she was against him.

'Metteo, do not say such things" Signora Carina tapped her husband's shoulder and whispered even though her whispers were loud enough to hear.

Placing her cutlery onto the table, she swallowed her food and flashed a smile at her father in-law. She would have to challenge him silently.

'Well mother it seems that these days my wife likes to hid things from me" Leonardo blasted his wife and all Aurora could do was sit in silence and watch her husband aced out.

'Oh, I see—Well there is mascaraed ball tomorrow evening and I thought that it would be good if you and Avena went in the place of your father and I" his mother suggested. Both Leonardo and Aurora looked at signora Carina in complete shock, never have the two of them been at a public event together.

Leonardo cleared his throat, he hated events with rich people pretending that they actually cared about one another.

'Mother, that is impossible at this point. Like I said before, we will be leaving soon" he plainly told his mother and her face saddened. Aurora turned her face away, knowing that she might be dragged in the center of the family drama.

'That is what I told Avena to talk to you about my son, please I need you and Avena to stay a bit longer" she said, her tone of voice soft and her eyes softened as she looked into her son's eyes.

'Mother—"

'Please my son!" Signora Carina reached for her son's hand from across the table, holding it so tight that one might think that she might break Leonardo's hand.

'Just two more weeks, that is all that I can promise" Leonardo told his mom, her lips curled into a smile and a tear almost fell from her eyes.

'Thank you so much my son, so does that mean that you and Avena would attend the function on our behalf?" his mother asked him, Aurora turned her head to look back at the family.

'Yes mother, my wife and I will gladly attend the function on your behalf" he answered, Aurora stared at Leonardo in shock, she could not believe that one again, he had made a decision regarding them without informing her.