ISMERALDA 
It was two ‘o’ clock in the afternoon when Ismeralda finally woke up from sleep. The aspirin had knocked her out once it kicked in and she’d slept majority of the day. Her swollen eyes had gone down considerably and her head didn’t hurt anymore. 
She wasn’t surprised that when she woke up, Adriano still wasn’t home. This was how all her days would be like; locked up in a big house with nothing to do and no companion.  
It was thirty minutes past three when her sister called her.  
“Hi Sienna.” She said cheerfully when she answered the phone. She didn’t want anybody to know that just two hours into their marriage, her husband had made her cry violently.  
“Isme, it’s only been a say but I miss you so much! Although, it’s not that bad because I get to wear all the clothes you left behind.” 
“I miss you too, Sisi. And, I am coming back for all those clothes and they better be complete when I come for them.” She teased. She wasn’t really going back for the clothes, she didn’t need them.  
“Whatever.” She replied making Ismeralda to chuckle.  
“How are mom and Dad and Gabriele?”  
“They are fine. Although Dad and Gabriele are hardly ever home. Mafia stuff.” She snorted and Ismeralda knew she was rolling her eyes.  
“Well, you know that’s how it is in this world.”  
“Sure. How is it being married to the Capo of Lato Oscuro?”  
“It’s pretty normal. Adriano’s been out the whole day. He said he had a lot of work to do.” She said in a very casual tone.  
“On the day after your wedding?!” She screamed and Ismeralda had to take the phone away from her ears.  
“Sisi!” She groaned when she brought the phone back to her ear. “Well, I was okay with it.” She lied 
“Wow. Well, he is capo and he has a lot of responsibilities.” 
“Yeah. I guess.” She mumbled.  
They spoke for a few more minutes before they ended the call.  
Ismeralda took her book to living room to read while she waited for Adriano to return home.  
She had already told herself that if she was going to be stuck married to a man for the rest of her life, she would do her best to make it work. She wouldn’t be miserable for the rest of her life.  
So, she would do everything that a wife was supposed to do. She would wait for him every night like she was supposed to and no matter what he did, she wouldn’t spend the night in another room. She would suck it up and sleep right next to him like she was supposed to. Then she would muster up the courage to become his lover to.  
That was the only way this would work. The only thing that bothered her was that she would be the only one making the effort and that was a heavy load to carry. She had to talk to Adriano.  
But Ismeralda knew that the toughest challenge she would face in her marriage was trying to melt her husband’s frozen heart and try to make him open up to her. 
She couldn’t get something that Julio had said to her at the wedding out of her mind. He said that Ariano had been through worse than what many made men had to go through. What did that mean? Had Adriano gone through some sort of trauma? That would explain a lot of things.  
Well, that was probably another thing she had to figure out.  
~*~*~*~ 
ADRIANO 
It was seven minutes past twelve when he came back home. He found Ismeralda asleep on the couch in the living room.  
She looked so at peace and for some reason that put him at peace. He walked over to her slowly and sat on the couch.  
She looked so beautiful... He wondered when she would be ready for him to take her.  
This marriage was a very bad one. Most people wanted to make their marriage work and of course there were men that used their wives as though they were common whores.  
But Adriano didn’t even know how to make their marriage try to work, he didn’t know what a husband was supposed to do and he was very certain that he didn’t have a single romantic bone in his body. Even at that, he wasn’t brutal enough to mistreat his wife.  
He had very little values but one thing he was strong on was that he would never hurt somebody who he didn’t think deserved it especially women. He had never    once seen his father lay a finger on this mother, his father had never even raised his voice at his mother. That was one of the few things that he had actually respected about his father.  
Ismeralda moved slightly before her eyes started to open slowly.  
“Why did you fall asleep here?”  He asked as though she had done a stupid thing.  
She winced at his tone. “I was waiting for you.”  
“You don’t need to wait for me. I will be coming home very late.”  
He had expected her to complain but then she simply shrugged and got up from the chair.  
She started to ascend the staircase but she stopped and looked at him. “One of these days, you’d just have to spend time with me.” She said and ran up the stairs before he could give another reply.  
~*~*~*~ 
ISMERALDA  
When she got to their bed room, she slammed the door behind her and leaned against it.  
She didn’t know why she let him get to her the way he did. She knew and understood the type of man he was but she couldn’t help it.  
She needed to find a way to get through to him and she knew there was only one way for her to start and she wasn’t sure she was ready for it.  
The only time Ismeralda saw any form of emotion on his face was when he was admiring her body.  
The only thing that would move him was if she slept with him, or at least that would be the first step.