Owned By The Possessive Alpha, Bounded To My Mate novel Chapter 124

Chapter 124

Lyra POV

I told myself I had delayed long enough so I had no choice but to go.

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It was the same logic I used to respond to Marco’s text and it was true to a very large degree. Every day! left his invitation unanswered was to wonder if the alliance between his family and mine will be affected by dilly-dallying about his invitation.

My mother had brought Marco whenever the conversation with her lulled. My father didn’t which meant it wasn’t time for him to step in. He still trusted me to do the right time.

I had chosen the arrangement but the restaurant was not what I had expected.

I had expected an exclusive restaurant that had a wait list that was practically impossible for even wealthy people to get into but it was none of those. It was just a normal restaurant that laid plenty emphasis on having the right ambience between tables.

It was actually a place someone went to have a meal and not for optics, I noticed as the host led me to the table.

He stood when I arrived as a sign of respect and his upbringing: a gentleman to the hilt.

“You came.”

“I said I would.”

“Thursday worked doesn’t have the same ring.”

I sat down. “And yet here I am.”

He flashed a smile as he sat down.

The first question arrived before I finished checking the menu.

“What do you want that your family hasn’t already decided for you?”

I looked at him. “Not subtle I see.”

“I have a small window to learn about you before my families finalizes this arrangement so I’ll rather use the time to learn about you than fake a performance.”

“And if I don’t have an answer?”

“It is what it is.”

I thought about it longer than I had intended to because his unexpected directness had disoriented me. “I want to make decisions that remain mine after I’ve made them.”

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14:44 Sat, Sep 19.

Chapter 124

He nodded. “That’s quite the answer.”

“Well, you asked quite the question.”

“What do you do when you’re wrong?” he said.

The shift was immediate enough that I caught myself before I answered.

“Depend on the situation,” I said.

“What does it depend on?”

“Whether anyone else knows.”

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He held my eyes for a moment. His eyes had the awareness of someone in the know and not someone fishing for information.

“What would make this marriage unacceptable to you?”

“If I couldn’t function independently inside it.”

“And what’s your idea of independently.”

“I want to be Lyra Marchetti and not Mrs Marchetti. I’ll fulfill the obligations the arrangement requires but I’m not sacrificing my identity for anything”

“Good, “I don’t want someone who disappears or who can’t think for herself.”

I asked him a question. “What do you expect publicly?”

“Honesty when we are alone and whatever version we need to be in public is something we can always decide together. I don’t have a performance I need you to maintain.”

“And my independence?” I watched carefully, trying to get a read of the man I seemed to have no idea of.

“You’ve already established that as a requirement. I heard you the first time.”

“Most people hear requirements and agree with them but have no intention of keeping to the terms.”

“I’m not most people and I’d rather you find out for yourself.”

The food arrived and we ate and the conversation moved through things smoothly till I asked his opinions on the eastern boundary question. His opinions were blunt to put it mildly and I expressed my stand on them. He argued back and didn’t bulge from his position.

He didn’t become cold or tried to flatter me into agreement. We went back and forth for twenty minutes and continued lunch when it became apparent there was no resolution in sight.

I had expected someone I could read by the second course: we were on the third course and I still didn’t have a bead on him.

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Chapter 124

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Two hours had passed when the conversation slowed as time deemed the conversation had ran it course.

“I’m not interested in a wife who is performing,” Marco said.

I looked at him. “Everyone perforins.”

“For audiences and family yes. But right now, I’d rather know who you actually are than who your family needs you to be in this arrangement.”

He watched me process the thought, his hand tapping on the table, subtly like a mechanical timer. “You do that a lot or is it just me?”

“Do what?”

“Receive information and don’t respond immediately.”

“That’s called thinking.”

“It’s also a very efficient way of never saying anything you haven’t considered.”

I set my glass down. “You know most people would consider that diplomatic.”

“Most people aren’t getting married to me and I have no need for diplomacy.”

The conversation had shifted significantly and I had no idea when.

“And what do you think you’re offering in return?”

He held my gaze. “Honesty and that’s something rare you’d expect from someone in my position.”

“People who are genuinely honest rarely lead with it.”

Without changing his tone in any way that should have warned me, “Now that you have mentioned it. I know what you were involved in. I’m giving you the chance to tell me yourself.”

The room continued around us A server passed our table. The noise level at the adjacent table rose briefly

and fell.

I looked at Marco.

My first instinct to deny how could I mount a sufficient denial when I had no idea of exactly what he was accusing me of. I had no idea whether he had spoken to someone connected to Kieran’s investigation or whether he had somehow walked into this information through an entirely separate channel I hadn’t considered.

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