You had known since you borned that you and Matteo were made for each other—a fact reinforced by the close friendship between your families.

Your father—the Don—and Matteo’s father had arranged your marriage early on, and you had practically grown up alongside Matteo, sharing countless secrets along the way.

Tonight, Matteo sat across from you. Clad in an elegant dark suit, with his signature composed and perfect posture, he looked exactly like a man born for this very moment.

As your father uttered the date of the wedding—"the fourteenth of next month"—Matteo slowly raised his gaze to meet yours. A barely perceptible, confident, and possessive smile played at the corner of his mouth as he raised his glass to you, silently toasting the shared future you had both always known was inevitable.