Page 44 of Her Cruel One-Sided Love

Thatwasthe truth...but as he gazed at the scratches that cut into the soft skin of hisfidanzata's face, Massimo could feel his anger finding a new target in his ex-girlfriend, and he then heard himself say, "I came here...to make things official."

Ten

Ysabel wasn't surprisedto see the horde of reporters waiting outside Mammina's. #MasNez shippers had been up in arms since the public announcement of her upcoming marriage to Massimo, and local media had been more than eager to feed their need for gossip.

Massimo glanced at Ysabel, asking gruffly, "Are you sure you're up for this?"

"Yup."

She did look ready, he considered broodingly, but what if this was merely Ysabel not wanting to show her weakness?

Makeup might have miraculously concealed every scratch on her face, but memories of it were still viciously fresh in his mind. He also remembered how she had involuntarily flinched at his touch, and this had him feeling so fiercely protective Massimo found himself tightening his grip on Ysabel's hand as he helped her out of the car.

Click! Click! Click!

The reporters immediately swarmed close upon seeing them, taking photo after photo.

"How does it feel to steal your sister's boyfriend?"

Ysabel had already prepared herself for such a question, and more importantly, she knew it would be foolish of her to expect Massimo to come to her defense. But just as she opened her mouth to answer the press—-

"Ysabel and I dated when she was still in college. A whirlwind romance, if you will."

It was all Ysabel could do to keep her jaw from dropping.What was Massimo saying?

"But Ysabel isn't used to being in the limelight, and so only few people knew about our relationship."

"And then you started dating her sister? Isn't that fucked up?"

"I didn't know they were related until Ynez introduced me to her family. When Ysabel and I were dating, a certainaspectof our relationship kept us quite busy—-"

Ysabel could feel her cheeks burning pink as a few reporters snickered at this.

"And so the topic of getting to know each other's families never came up."

"You really think we'd fall for that crap?"

---