Fuck.
Don’t get me wrong.
I like women just fine.
I gave my sister a great deal of involvement in the family business because I respected her intelligence.
Granted, I fucked up when I tried to marry her off to Maksim.
It’s why she’s in Chicago with her husband and new son working with Luca.
What I don’t need is to be permanently attached to a woman.
What is the point?
I have staff to care for the house and make any social arrangements.
If I need to fuck, I can find a woman or my hand will do. I don’t need children, as my siblings clearly plan to have broods.
But if this gets my elders off my back, gives me eyes on Marco and the time I need to rebuild, I’ll marry Isabella Vitale.
3
ISABELLA
The summons comes after breakfast. Giuseppe, my father's bodyguard, appears at my bedroom door with a terse message. "Your father requires your presence."
I follow him down the winding staircase to the study.
The space is suffocating—heavy curtains drawn, keeping out the sun, antique furniture from the old country, and air thick with cigar smoke.
My father sits in his leather armchair, tumbler of scotch balanced on the armrest.
My mother stands beside him, hands folded in front of her, eyes fixed downward.
"Isabella." My father gestures to the sofa across from them. "Sit."
I obey, smoothing my skirt beneath me.
My mother doesn’t look up once.
She’s like a statue with perfect posture, perfect hair and makeup, perfect docile demeanor.
Most see a perfect wife and miss the emptiness in her eyes.
She’s a shell of a person, and I’m terrified I’ll become her.
Was she ever different? I search my memory for traces of personality in her past. Nothing comes. Just years of "yes, Marco" and "of course, Marco" and "whatever you think best, Marco."
"The arrangements have been made," my father announces, swirling his scotch. "You'll marry Alessandro Dante at the end of the month."
Though I've been expecting this, hearing it stated so plainly is a shock. "Don Alessandro has agreed?"
"Of course he has." Father's smirk holds an air of triumph, as if he’s beaten Don Dante. "It's a sensible arrangement for both families."
I notice Mother's fingers tightening almost imperceptibly. It’s the only sign she's even listening.
"You understand what's expected of you." Not a question but a statement. "You'll be his wife, but you're my daughter first. Your loyalty remains with this family."
