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What a fucking oddity.
Saul sighed and Dio threw himself down into the chair at the table.
“She came downstairs with no problem; her brother Carmine brought her down. She seemed almost…” Saul paused searching for the right word.
“Hopeful,” Dio added with a raised brow.
“Yeah,” Saul nodded, “She was upbeat like the wedding was something she could handle and was optimistic about.” He sighed again with a slight shake of his head. “Each time something from you was delivered throughout the day she’d smile and sigh a little like it was helping warm her up to the idea of it. But then her father met her at the door downstairs and lit into her without a second of hesitation.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, forcing myself to walk away from the liquor I’d been nursing constantly for the last few days so I could approach this entire situation with a somewhat clear head.
“He commented on the ceremony last night. And how he’d make her pay for it. Then he crushed her hand as he dragged her down the aisle so she couldn’t cry out.”
My blood ran cold when I realized he broke her hand because I decided to break his fucked-up tradition last night. How did he even know?
Over my dead body was I going to let my new wife get fucked by some old man just because Emilio Rosetti’s family was twisted in the head enough to allow it for years.
“And the taser thing with Carmine?” I asked Saul, remembering the way my tiny bride had stood up to me, begging me to spare her brother like she thought I meant some harm to him.
“I never saw it,” Saul shrugged.
“I did,” Dio said, who was usually silent, but he had spoken up twice now in the matter.
“What happened?”
“Emilio pulled something from his pocket and pushed it into his son’s ribs when you said your part, and then when Arianna paused, Carmine jolted stiff as a board. Emilio used it to get her to do her part and when she was done, he released his son.”
“His fucking heir!” I snapped, “Why the fuck is he dangling his heir in front of his middle child like a bargaining chip? Why does he care so much about this union taking place? It makes no sense,” I scrubbed my hand over my face and paced.
“Something is at play here,” Saul added, “You think the girl is in on it?”
“No,” I said firmly because I knew it in my bones. “She had a handprint on her face last night when I got to her, and she was nearly unconscious from the drugs when I walked in. Then add the broken hand today,” I shook my head, “No, she’s just a pawn in their game like I am.”
“Well, they picked the wrong family to try to control,” Saul said with menace and Dio nodded his agreement.
“Sure as fuck did,” I said, lifting my glass to my lips. “My father was lenient with Emilio Rosetti over the years, that’s how I got shackled to his child. But my father is gone now, and I’m going to eradicate Emilio’s pathetic existence from this earth,” I sneered, “Starting with him and working my way down his bloodline.”
Saul and Dio looked at each other but remained silent. My father had made the deal with Emilio a decade ago for me to marry his daughter Arianna. And I had no intention of going through with it after my father passed away last year. I intended to tell the Rosetti family to go fuck with someone else’s family line because I had no desire to be linked to the vile man.
But then, eight months ago, I saw the grown up Arianna Rosetti, in passing at an event in Milan.
To say I’d been entranced was a fucking understatement.
Which led me to where I was currently.
Married.
With the plan to be a widow before the year was over.
Istoodinmyoffice watching the party take place outside on the back lawns with a sour mood threatening to pull me under into an even more terrible one.
It wasn’t because I’d planned on being a bachelor my entire life yet now stood as a married man either. Marrying Arianna Rosetti hadn’t been any real hardship on my part, to be honest, it wasn’t as if my lifestyle needed to change just because of the change to my marital status.
Arianna was breathtakingly beautiful; I’d realized that in Milan and that alone had spurred me into allowing the union to take place. But more than that, she was… entrancing.
I watched her at the gala from across the room and witnessed her charm diplomats and businessmen firsthand who hardly ever batted an eye at anything that wasn’t cold hard cash. Though for her, they not only paused, they also hung onto her every word.
She drew them in dutifully with her mother or father at her side pulling her strings, and she was outstanding.
