CHAPTER 5

Ann’s POV

The sudden streaming of sunlight makes me toss until a deep, reverberating voice follows, making me snap my eyes open to see the handsome man I keep dreaming about ever since the night he took me away from that hotel where I was almost raped.

I practically called him my knight in shining armor.

It felt silly, but I figured dreams are always like that.

Silly and lame.

“It's high time you got up. "You have had enough sleep," he murmurs, gazing at me with his jaws clenched.

Quietly, I sit up in bed, glancing around the room and looking down to find myself properly dressed.

I blink.

What the hell happened? Did I sleep in these clothes?

“Do you even remember?” He demands in a loud voice, making nervous energy rush through my veins.

“Remember what?” I can't help but ask. I can't bring myself to recall whatever it is that happened after I got drunk, but I am sure it is nothing serious.

I am a lightweight, but I know I wouldn't do anything stupid, especially not when I am still heartbroken.

“Cazzo!” He mutters beneath his breath as he turns around to face the window. His shoulders tense.

I don't know what that means, but it sounds like a curse word, and he looks extremely mad.

Quietly, I step down from the bed, letting go of the duvet before moving close to him. He doesn't turn to look at me, and I bite my lips, thinking of how to make him tell me whatever is bothering him.

Maybe it's a work-related problem?

Without warning, he whirls around to face me again, and I almost stumbled backward in fright.

“Are you kidding right now? How can't you remember a thing? I thought you said you weren't drunk?” He barks at me, rage building up in his eyes.

Terror begins to slice through me.

Is this about me? Did I do something bad? Did I call him names, like I always do whenever I am drunk?

Shit!

“Ann, tell me you are kidding right now!”

“I…I'm sorry, but I don't know what you are talking about. Just tell me what it is so I can apologize properly instead of thinking I am pretending not to remember.”

That didn't come out well, did it?

His attractive face tightens with anger before he points to something on the drawer beside my bed.

"I got that this morning," he informs me, prickling my curiosity as to what this must be about.

Quickly, I stroll to the drawer and grab the paper to see if it is a marriage certificate. My gaze flips to the names on the certificate, just as shock spreads over my skin at the realization.

My jaws drop, and I shift my gaze to him.

This is when I see the ring on his finger. Slowly, I drop my gaze to my own finger to see the same ring.

This is what Ryan and I were supposed to exchange after our vows. After he broke up with me in my apartment in New York, he dropped the ring and the marriage license, which were empty.

Guilt streams through my gut as I slump to the bed, my mouth agape.

I got married? How?

Why can't I remember a thing?

I am not the impulsive type. Despite being drunk, I wouldn't have done something so stupid. Getting married should have been the last thing on my mind considering how I am still heartbroken.

I stare up at him. The man who took me in and promised to keep me safe from Carter.

It's high time I left. I believe I have done enough harm. Not only have I inconvenient him, but now I have him bonded to me in marriage.

Absolutely ridiculous.

I tilt my head back down as soon as my gaze catches the clothes I'm wearing. Out of sheer curiosity, I ask. “If we got married, did we…did we have sex then?”

He doesn't say a word.

It makes me dart my eyes back to his face, fear crawling slowly at the thought of another stupid thing that I must have done in my drunken state.

A marriage should have a remedy, which is annulment. But having sex with him is the worst.

There will be no going back.

“No!” He finally answers, and I let out a gasp.

“Are you sure? How did you know? Were you also drunk?” The questions roll out quickly, making my head spin with throbbing.

“If we did, you wouldn't be fully dressed, would you?” His sarcastic reply gets to me, and I feel pathetic.

Tears start to spring to my eyes at the turn of events. At the way my life is going nowhere. Nowhere near my imaginations or what I had planned out for myself.

Dad always emphasizes that. People who don't plan get derailed in life’s journey. But people who do know what they want and when they want it, people who have a strategic plan become successful more quickly than those who don’t.

I had every aspect of my life planned out. College. First boyfriend. Fiance. Engagement party. And finally, a wedding.

College went according to my plans. I met my first boyfriend there. We broke up when we graduated, and I met Ryan immediately after.

I was glad he knew what he wanted too, just like me, and two years after we met, he proposed to me. The engagement party was supposed to be next, and finally the wedding.

But none of that is going to happen. The engagement party never happened. He kept postponing it.

I wanted to meet with his sisters too, but he denied me that right. I knew he was an orphan, so I had to be so soft on him.

I should have known everything was suspicious and probably planned. If he truly loved me, he wouldn't give me up for someone else.

“Cazzo! Are you crying?” Vince’s voice breaks into my thoughts, making me realize he is bent to my height and staring at me with concern.

Quickly, I wipe my tears with the back of my palm and shake my head.

His gaze holds mine for a moment, making guilt slither through me again for jumping in from nowhere.

"I wasn't expecting it to be real. It turned out to be the moment the certificate arrived. Everything happened really fast, so it's not your fault. You were heavily drunk; I should have seen that.”

I don't say anything. I feel ashamed of myself.

Not only has he seen me at my lowest, but now I may look like some desperate bitch to me.

He wouldn't respect me anymore.

I was drunk, but he wasn't. Maybe he just followed along because he thought it was impossible to married in reality.

My eyes fly to his expression, which is unpredictable. I can't tell if he is furious with me or not.

He should be mad at me. I practically dragged him to the altar.

I stand up slowly before moving close to him. “I'm truly sorry. I shouldn't have involved you in any of these situations. I feel pathetic, and I can't even bring myself…”

"It's fine," he says, cutting me short and making me dart my eyes to his.

It's fine? Is he truly fine about it? Is he fine with us being married?

There is no point panicking when there is an easy solution to this. Before it gets out, we should get it annulled, and then I can go my way.

I won't let my situation affect him anymore. He has done enough.

My eyes do not waver from his. Not only did I consider him a knight in shining armor but now he is giving me a kind of unwanted energy of tingles.

He looked intimidating to me from the very first sight, but now I can see how softhearted he is, and it makes me want to think of the impossible.

This guy doesn't even know me from Adams. He still helped me. Housed me for two days straight. Fed and clothed me, and now he married me.

What a wonderful twist this is!

I should probably write about it.

"I have a solution anyway," he says as he steps closer, his cologne waffling through my nostril, making his presence well known.

With the tingles still in place, I try to stay calm and listen to whatever the solution is.

When he doesn't say any word but keeps staring at me, my heart hammers wildly in my ribcage, and I decide to break the silence stretching for long and making me feel tense.

“I do have a solution, too,” I chuckle awkwardly before tugging a pleat of hair behind my ear.

He nods, as if to urge me to go ahead and say the word.

Quickly, I mutter, “Let's get it annulled.”

His expression darkens for a while, giving off the bad boy vibe from the other day at the hotel.

He folds his arms around his bicep, making them visible enough for me beneath his shirt.

I'd like to touch them.

Ann!

He shakes his head in disagreement, and I raise a brow, wondering if he has a better option. What other options would be better than getting things annulled quickly anyway?

He continues to watch me, his eyes dead serious and cold as he mutters. “Let's stay married.”

I blink several times to be sure I heard right. When his gaze is still fixed on me, I realize I heard right, and I exclaim in disbelief. “What?!”