I’m not sure I can totally accept the analogy. She must sense my uneasiness. “It really does get easier.”
“Does it?” I blurt out. “I mean—How did you deal with being married off to someone you hardly knew? Were you worried?”
She shot me a look as if I was crazy. “Are you kidding? I was furious when I first found out. The Scaranos had been our sworn enemies since our families first came here. And Dante had been kept from the spotlight his entire life, so I knew next to nothing about him. It’s not like I could have just looked him up on the gossip columns online.”
I blush a bit at that. I wonder if she knows I’ve been stalking Killian?
“When we first met, it was actually at a club my father sponsored. I was there for a mark.” She gives a short laugh. “Turns out, he was there for the same mark. I was livid that someone had taken out my target before I could. And when I found out it was my future husband, I literally wanted to kill him.”
“But you didn’t?”
“No. I didn’t. Though I almost did…a few times. Our relationship didn’t have the easiest start, and I have a feeling yours won’t either.” She pins me with a look. “Killian told us you two had dinner? That sounds nice.”
“Not really,” I mutter. At Sienna’s questioning look, I try to elaborate. “I wanted to get to know him better. But he didn’t really take it seriously.”
“Sounds like Killian. I’m guessing you didn’t really get to know him as well as you’d hoped.”
Irritation surges through me as I think back to that night. “No. I was forced to find answers another way.” Sienna looks confused, and I sigh. “I sort of ran into an ex of his.” Or tracked her down. “She told me some things about Killian that I guess I already knew but just hadn’t really…wanted confirmed. If that makes sense.”
Sienna frowns. “An ex? Who? Killian doesn’t have—” Understanding flashes across her face. “Oh. You met Blair?”
“So you know her?”
“Not really. I just know of her.” She shifts in the chair uncomfortably. “How much do you know about their relationship?”
“Just what she’d told me.”
“Well, I wouldn’t exactly trust her.” There’s something Sienna isn’t telling me, something she’s keeping back. I frown, trying to decipher just how much she knows.
“What do you mean?”
Sienna consciously glances around even though there’s no one else here to overhear her. “Look, it’s really his story to tell, but I doubt he’ll tell you. And you should know since you’ll be his wife soon anyway.” I lean forward, pressing my hands against my calves as I try to contain my interest. “They dated for about six years, I think. It was a rocky relationship. But I’m pretty sure Killian was more invested in it than she was.”
That surprises me. “Wait, what? She said that she felt he didn’t care or respect her at all.”
Sienna makes a face. “God, no. I’m pretty sure Killian was in love with her. He probably would have proposed if she hadn’t cheated on him with his brother.”
Ice skids down my spine. “Dante?”
“It caused a huge problem between them for years after.”
I sink back into the couch, too stunned to speak. Sienna wouldn’t lie to me about this. But Blair definitely would. “I had no idea.”
“And why would you? It’s not like Killian goes around telling everyone he had his heart torn out and stomped on, only to be tossed aside for the one guy he couldn’t compete with.”
Well, when she put it that way…Wait. No. I’m not about to feel sorry for the man who jacked my thong and threatened to choke me out on the street. No matter how painful his story sounded, that didn’t excuse anything he’d done to me so far.
Sienna watches me closely. Her gaze is intense, as if she’s trying to read my mind, and I have to look away.
“Cara,” she taps one long nail on her knee, “if you really don’t want to marry Killian, then why go through with it at all?”
I frown. She was raised in this world just as I’d been. She should know. “Because my father told me too.”
“But why?” Her gaze sharpens, and I have a feeling she didn’t just come here to check up on me.
“Maybe you should ask him,” I reply flatly. “It’s not like he tells me anything important ahead of time. Like the fact I was going to marry an Italian. I sort of found that out as it happened, didn’t I?”
“Of course.” The calculating look is gone in a flash, replaced with a smile. “You’re right. I apologize for the weird question.” She laughs it off, but I’m not as quick to shake the weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. Somethings up, I can tell.