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Jovan frowned a little. “Yes, Ardian, after what happened with Kavan… you are my most trusted right hand man, and my daughters, they are everything to me-”
Carmelo had to stifle a snort of derision himself. His daughters were everything to him… they meant so much Jovan married them off young, that seemed to be his go-to parenting move at the moment. Carmelo styled it out as a cough but Ardian flicked his eyes up to Carmelo.
“But… I can’t go to babysit Pina for six whole months! To Vegas! I don’t even like Vegas-”
“I don’t want Ardian trailing around after me! He’s so annoying, Daddy, I won’t have any freedom-”
Jovan clapped his hands once, a loud, firm clap. Both Ardian and Pina fell silent, looking chastened.
“Yes, Ardian you will go and chaperone Pina in this getting to know Tigran period. Pina, you will be his ward, you will do as he says, you will obey him-”
Pina huffed like a spoiled toddler.
Ardian looked like he wanted to murder someone.
“I will sleep soundly at night knowing Ardian is guarding you, keeping you out of trouble. Pina, this is serious business. You aren’t to play any of your usual tricks on Tigran, marriage requires respect, obedience, Pina.”
Carmelo actually couldn’t argue with that one. He caught Lena’s eye, and she smiled back at him gently.
“Your party girl ways must end, Pina, you can’t mess about with Tigran, this is an important business arrangement and the prosperity of both out families depends on it-”
Pina looked like she wanted to cry.
Lena cleared her throat. “Er, Daddy, I think maybe this is all a bit much at this stage-”
Jovan frowned. “Honestly, you girls, one minute you want something and then it’s suddenly too much!” He roared, shouting, getting red faced. Camilla was looking down at the ground, spaced out and disconnected. Lena and Pina looked down at the ground, too, reaching out their hands to grasp each other. Carmelo had a little window into their family life, their dynamic, and what he saw, he didn’t like. He was glad he could take Lena home at the end of this and give her all the love she needed.
“It’s done. Ardian and Pina will go to Vegas, Pina will marry Tigran, and we’ll be the largest and most powerful group in the southwest corner of America. And the biggest Armenian family in the US, too. So, that’s that.”
Jovan glared around at them all and none of them answered. Even Ardian stood there, tail between his legs.
Jovan turned and marched off. Camilla gave them all a glare and swept herself up to follow her husband.
Ardian dropped the plate on the floor and marched off.
Pina stomped off in the other direction.
Lena looked again at Carmelo and took a breath to say something.
“So good to catch up with the Zakarian’s,” he said, with a smirk and a wink.
She lightly punched him in the stomach but let a small smile onto her pretty, lipsticked lips.
“Oh, I can’t even begin to comment on my family’s new plan-”
Carmelo waved one hand and pulled her in for a kiss. “Then don’t, honestly, it’ll be fine,” he said, off-handedly.
Lena let her body melt into his, he found himself taking more of her weight, she snuggled deeper into his chest than he had imagined. He would love every inch of her, hard and true, that night when they got back, so she didn’t feel as scared and alone as she did right now. And that he could do that for her, felt like he was the one with the villa in Tuscany and the Ferrari’s. He felt like a million dollars.
“Hey you two, before clothes start coming off and things start getting down and dirty…”
A voice from beside them pulled them apart momentarily. Carmelo swiped the back of his hand over his lips, wiping off Lena’s dark red lipstick. He turned and Rita was there, grinning at his side. A female member of the Black Coyotes MC, pole dancer and stripper and part-owner alongside her twin brother Rafe of The Glasshouse, the MC’s high-end strip club. She had a bright red lollipop in her mouth and had her hand on her hip. Lena had met her very briefly when Rita had brought her a second Martini in the clubhouse.
“Oh, hey Rita.” Carmelo gave her a nod, Lena smiled a greeting.
“…We’re planning a black tie fundraiser for the town. Can I give you some flyers to put up in the police station, Sergeant?” Rita repositioned the lollipop in her cheeks and Carmelo saw a flash of her tongue piercing. Not to mention her lip piercing, an unusual one, straight through her actual bottom lip. A vertical Labret.
“Oh, yeah, sure.” Carmelo tried to pivot to work mode, difficult with a semi in his pants after the kiss with Lena.
