“You want to work with us?” Gabriel asks. “We don’t know you. We don’t trust you.”
“Then let’s build trust. Arranged marriages are common. Great ways to forge bonds. I will marry whoever you choose to show that you can trust me. This seems much more reasonable than shooting at each other.”
“There’s no one,” I snap. “Why would we give a woman to you? I don’t know you.”
“There is someone,” Gabriel says. “Alessandro’s daughter. Emma.”
My head whips around to stare at Gabriel. What the fuck is he doing?
“I heard you had taken his daughter,” Matteo says.
“Yes. We’ll give her to you as a sign of good faith. You get Alessandro’s daughter and we get peace.”
“She’s my wife,” I growl. “You can’t just give her to this man.”
“Divorces can be easily remedied,” Matteo says. “I like this deal, Mr. Romano. It’s only fair that Alessandro’s daughter go toone of his most trusted men. I will marry her as a sign of good faith. No war has to happen.”
“Let’s talk more,” Gabriel says, extending his hand to Matteo this time. They shake on it.
Matteo holds his hand out to me but I don’t move a muscle. With a smirk, Matteo walks out of the office.
“What the fuck?” I hiss at Gabriel. “Emma is my wife. You can’t just give her away like that. I purposely married her to prevent anyone from taking her.”
“You never should have married her in the first place. She wasn’t yours to claim. Now she will be used to help prevent another war from happening.”
“Emma doesn’t deserved to be used her entire life like this. I promised her that she wouldn’t be hurt. I promised her that she was no longer a prisoner. Forcing her into another marriage isn’t what’s best for her.”
“Maybe not,” Gabriel says in a cold tone. “But it’s what’s best for us. We didn’t know what to do with Emma before but now we do. She can be returned to her side of the family. Be made to make peace for us.”
“I won’t let you use Emma as another pawn.”
“It’s her fate in this world, Leo. Accept it. She was the daughter of our enemy. Nothing more.”
“You can be a cold, fucking bastard sometimes, you know that?”
“I didn’t get to the top without being one. You know this better than anyone else. You’re my closest friend.”
“Give another woman to him. Rocco’s daughter. Luciana. She’s an adult now. She can be used to build trust. But not Emma.”
“Rocco will not go for that and you know it.”
I huff. “You care more about your friendship to Rocco than you do me? Emma is my wife.”
“And Luciana is Rocco’s daughter, who he has raised and loves. Emma was just a woman you stole to get revenge on her father. She is just a woman you married to upset her father. She is not a woman you love. So you can give her up for peace.”
“I am not giving Emma up for anything,” I growl. “So don’t even try to take her from me. Find another girl to give Matteo or kill him. I don’t fucking care. But you are not taking Emma.” I storm out of the office before Gabriel can say anything else. As my best friend, Gabriel and I have been through a lot together but sometimes, he is good at pissing me off and this moment is one of those times.
I will fight to keep Emma with me even if I have to hurt my best friend.
Chapter Fourteen
Emma
I’m outside in Leo’s back garden when he comes out, looking angry. The sight of him storming towards me makes my heart skip a beat.
“Leo?” I ask but he doesn’t give me a reply. Instead, he grabs my face and pulls me in for a passionate kiss. My mind wanders back to our last conversation. How I told him I wanted my own freedom. That is true but whenever Leo kisses me like this, I forget all about that and want to sink deeper into him.
The reality is: I feel safe with Leo now that I’m no longer his prisoner. I don’t want to leave him. I just want to find my own independence.
