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“This is my daughter,” Emilio whispers, dragging my gaze from the brunette who’s staring daggers at me. I glare at her father, his short frame standing beside me now. He looks like a broken man when he says, “She’s now your property.”
I don’t know what to say, so I keep silent for a moment longer, and turning back to her, I take in her long, flowing chestnut waves and olive skin. Those same luminous, gold eyes of her father’s watch me from a petite, pretty face. I fight the urge to go to her. To inhale her scent.
And then her father murmurs, “Please meet Brielle Saviatti.”
THE WELCOME
BRIELLE
I’d heardabout Black Hollow Isle through whispers of my friends while living in England. Even though I left Italy when I was a young girl, I knew the island was notorious for taking young minds and turning them into monsters.
There have always been rumours, and even though I never wanted to listen to them, I realise now it prepared me for what I’m about to experience. All my life I’ve been taught not to show fear, and I’m trying not to, but I can’t deny my nerves are frayed.
Over the years, I often wondered whether Papa would send me to Black Hollow, but what my future holds is nothing like I’d imagined. I’m not only going to university to get my degree, but I’m being sold off like livestock to one of the most infamous families. There has never been love lost between our two families, but with what my father did, it makes it even more dangerous for me to be around these people. They all know he’s a traitor. The Saviatti name is infamous amongst the organisations, and it will be for years to come. The only chance for me to escape would be to marry outside the families, change my name, and move on.
But I can’t.
I’m being thrown back into the deep end, and I’m going to have to learn to swim with the sharks. These are blood-thirsty predators who will not think twice about killing me.
My father ran from the mafia years ago and broke the number one rule—omertà. His return to them now won’t be easy, and I have a feeling I may never see him again.
The four men before me stare as if I’m a circus act. My father and his lawyer, Mr Juliano, both have their heads bowed slightly, but I can tell their eyes are still on me. There’s also the Venier’s lawyer, Mr Hamilton, who’s intently watching the scene playing out. However, the one man I’ve avoided looking at since I walked in hovers like a dark cloud on a summer’s day, stealing the light. The man who, when I finally allow myself to take him in, steals my breath away.
When Papa told me about what’s going to happen today, that I’d be meeting my future husband, I cried, screamed, and begged him to reconsider his decision. But he informed me the arrangement had been set in motion a long time ago. Once Judah turns twenty-five, he’ll take over the Venier organisation, and the terms of the contract are clear, he has to marry me to do so. The only plus in this whole fucked up plan is that I’ll be able to study and get my degree.
I didn’t expect my fiancé to look as handsome as he does.Most men in the mafia are old and scary and look as if they could snap you like a twig while sucking on their cigars. Buthim,the young man before me is nothing like that.
Tall, over six-foot easily, he has messy brown hair that’s long on top and buzzed shorter nearer the shirt collar. A few strands hang over his forehead, covering up what I can tell are soft hazel eyes, but they hold a hardness that causes me to pause.
His lips are full, pink, and I imagine them to be soft if I ever touched them. Which I won’t. His angular jaw seems to be carved from the smoothest marble, and his suit is impeccably tailored to fit his broad, yet lean and muscled, frame.
His shoes even look like they’re custom-made for him. Polished and expensive—he is a picture of perfection. But I know who he is, or rather what he is—a violent criminal. I’m pushed further inside the office by one of my father’s men, and I have no choice but to move nearerhim.
“Please meet Brielle Saviatti,” my father says, his voice low, but it’s heard by the entire room.
I stop a few feet from the group of four men, not needing or wanting to be closer. No matter what happens, I’ll find a way out of this. I may need to obey right now, to keep the peace, but there’s no way I’m going to allow my life to be owned by someone, even if he’s a picture of perfection.
My father taught me to always get to know my enemies, that way I can defeat them. And that’s exactly what I intend to do.
“I’m Judah,”hesays.
His lips tilt into a sensual curve as he murmurs his name, and I’m offered a dark, sadistic smirk when he holds out his hand to take mine. I don’t fight him. I allow him to touch me, only to have my breath caught in my throat at the heat that passes between us.
I don’t want to greet him.
I want to ignore him forever.
If I act like an insolent child, though, I’m sure he’ll punish me. An icy shiver snakes down my spine with a warning to behave. If I don’t make him angry, perhaps he’ll leave me alone. Maybe he’s not even interested in me. He probably only sees me as a problem. There is no other way to see me. I’m just someone to ignore, surely. He’s not chosen me but been forced into this, and I know there’ll be no emotion between us. No feelings. No love.
That’s what I tell myself.
He’s not interested.
The man before me can never be attracted to me. Which is fine because, right now, I don’t like him very much either. And I don’t want to like someone who’s been forced on me. It’s not natural. It’s not how things should work.
I tip my head back, lifting my chin in a show of fake confidence and smile.
“I’ve heard a lot about you.” My voice doesn’t waver when I speak, and inwardly, I do a dance of victory.
