“You have a board room?” she asks me with a raised brow but starts to walk anyway.
“It’s an old office that was made into one several years ago when our father started to include us in his decisions,” I tell her, almost with a sneer. Unlike Carmine who seems to have decided to make our decisions for us.
“Eivor rarely let’s me in on his decisions, but this one he did,” Rosalie admits as we get to the door. I look at her incredulously.
“Is that so?”
She locks eyes with me. “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t a choice.”
I open the door for her despite my irritation and watch as she walks in, but I don’t go with her.
“Soren, can we talk?” I hear her ask just before the door closes with me on the other side. I could stay and try to listen to their conversation through the door, but I have no interest in that.
The frustration is boiling up now beyond a level I’m able to maintain. I head for the back of the house with long strides and the second I’m through the double doors leading out into the yard I pull out a cigarette and light it up.
I’ve promised that I’d quit about a dozen times now, but I’ve never made it very far. There are worse vices to have, and…I have those too. This is just the easiest one to sate.
I light the thin clove-scented cigarette and take a slow inhale, feeling the smoke fill my lungs and the nicotine hit my blood stream almost instantly. Whether or not it actually does, doesn’t matter. It feels like an immediate relief regardless.
A cloud billows from my mouth around my head and face in the cold late-winter air. I don’t mind the chill that causes goosebumps on my arms, nor do I mind the wind that ruffles my long hair.
I stare out at the line of trees near the back of our home. The Dresvanni Estate. It’s been in our name since our great-great grandfather, Stephan Dresvanni. He built it with his own two hands…and a dozen others who he either paid or extorted for their work. The details are quite blurry, but I know Stephan was a cruel man who died long before I was born.
My father wasn’t an uncruel man, but the anger and violence did seem to temper with each generation. What would have ended in death with Stephan, ended in a beating with my father. Some things at least.
“It’s freezing out here, Alessio,” Tiberi’s voice comes from behind me.
“It’s boiling in there, so it evens out,” I reply as I take another drag.
Tiberi steps beside me and drapes a coat over my shoulders. He’s the tallest of us all, but he only stands a couple inches taller than me.
“You should know that I didn’t agree with Carmine’s decision,” he tells me.
I look at him with a tilt of my head. “Did you voice this or simply keep it in your head?” I ask him, a hint of accusation in my voice. I take another drag and let it cloud the space betweenus. I toss the end of the cigarette to the ground and ground it out with the toe of my shoe.
“I said I didn’t agree, not that I don’t. After some thought, I think it could be good for this family to combine with the Fiorellis. Officially. The town, and our allies, will see it as a move to continue peacefully rather than violently,” Tiberi explains. Always the strategist.
“Peacefully… What about their plan to overthrow several of our allies anyway?” I ask him as I shove my hands into my pockets. I brush my thumbs over the edges of the pockets where the fabric is raised. My initials embroidered into the denim with golden thread.
“We need to broaden our control, that is inevitable. We cannot remain strictly allies with everyone. If we wish to become more powerful, we need to take over the power of those who look down at us from above,” Tiberi tells me and waves his hand upward.
I furrow my brows. “We need to take over those more powerful than us, sure, I get that in theory, but what part of that can’t be done by just having an agreement with the Fiorellis?” I narrow my eyes.
“You know why,” he sighs.
I scoff. “Fine, you’re right. I do. Eivor wants control. Carmine and Soren are already together; he can’t force them to get married, but he can force Rosalie. It’s not about us needing to be together for the sake of our families, but for his sake. For his greedy need to be the lord of everything and everyone.”
Tiberi nods slowly. “That may be true, but if we want the added fire and social power of the Fiorellis, it’s what we have to do.”
I shake my head. “It’s what I have to do. Not you. You’re free to do as you please.” I turn around and start back inside. I let thecoat slip off my shoulders and fall to the cold hard ground. Tiberi brought it out, he can bring it back inside.
When I get to the library, with all its towering oaken bookcases filled to the brim with history, romance, and war novels, Rosalie is already there. She’s sitting on a window seat, on the velvet-lined cushion with the wintry sun peaking out from behind partially opened curtains. It illuminates her strawberry blonde hair and I have to admit that she’s beautiful. Her nose is small and upturned in a cute way, and her jawline is both soft and sharp. She isn’t looking at me, so I take a moment to admire her for another moment.
The dark red and black sweater she’s wearing only accentuates her gentle narrow curves, and her thighs appear plumper with the way she has her legs crossed.
If it weren’t for the fact that women aren’t even remotely my interest, I might not be so terribly off put by marrying her. I could even see myself growing to love her perhaps. If I were a different man.
“Are you just going to stare at me or are we going to talk?” Rosalie finally says and turns her head to meet my eyes.
