Page 3 of The Arianna Arrangement

He eyed me for a moment before giving a quick nod and turning to Don Vitale. “Excuse us for a moment.” We stood and walked out into the hallway, making sure the door shut behind us, then walking further away for some privacy. “I hope this is important. He could take this as an insult.”

“Ari’s afraid of him. Is there some way we can make sure she’s safe, so she doesn’t have to worry?”

His eyebrows almost hit his hairline. “She told you she’s scared of him?”

I shook my head. “No. I could just tell by the way she spoke.”

My dad sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Apollo and I made a plan. He told me exactly what to ask for and what to negotiate. Going off script could mean we can’t get everything we planned.”

“Does that really even matter? You both said there will be no way out of this. If I have to marry her, what does any of the rest of it matter?”

“You don’t understand everything yet, son. You’re too young. But we’re trying to help you out.” I could see in his eyes that he was going to cave. It was the same look he gave Aunt Silver when she wanted to go home for her cousin's funeral.

“I don’t care what it means for me. As long as she’s safe.”

He let out a sigh and gave me a nod. “I don’t have a lot of wiggle room here. A lot of things I could negotiate in Crestwood would be considered an insult here, but I’ll do the best I can. You have my word.”

We walked back into the room and took our seats, my father speaking first, to smooth everything over. “I apologize for that. In our family, we make decisions and negotiations as a family, but we’d previously explained to Tucker that’s not how things worked here, so he thought maybe pulling me aside before we began would be more respectful.”

Don Vitale smiled as he looked at me. “I really think I’m going to like you, son.” He looked back to my father. “Let’s hash out the details and get this contract signed, shall we?”

“Absolutely.” My dad crossed one of his legs, resting one ankle on the knee of the other, as he brought his hands together in front of him. “I’ve reviewed the suggested contract you sent over, but I would like for us to go over it together, with the boys, and I have a few changes I’d like to propose.”

“Of course. I would expect nothing less.” Don Vitale leaned back in his chair, mirroring my fathers position. “The terms as they stand right now, boys, are that Arianna will spend every summer in Crestwood, starting this summer. After Tucker graduates high school, he will spend a year here, living with us, being initiated into the Vitale family.”

My father stiffened. “That was something I wanted to negotiate. In our original discussions, this wasn’t mentioned, but I saw it in the proposed contract.” He shifted his position, which looked natural, but was a sign to me that he wasn’t comfortable right now. “Why is he expected to be initiated into the Vitale family if he is not going to be one of the leadership as he’s the heir to my family?”

“Just marrying my daughter isn’t enough for us to build trust with him. Going through initiation will do that. It is a very necessary process, but I would be willing to lessen it to six months since he will also be needed for your family business.”

My dad’s jaw tensed slightly, but I wasn’t sure if anyone else noticed. “He will be attending college after high school. Expecting him to spend six months here will delay his education, and that’s not acceptable. My counter offer is that he spends the first two summers after high school here so that his education isn’t affected.”

Don Vitale smiled. “I think that is very acceptable.”

“He will also have a representative from our family here with him, as well as Givenchy security.” This was something that Apollo said we needed to demand, and he offered to be the one to come with me.

“Of course. I would expect no less.” When my dad didn’t add anything else, he continued. “She is expected to be a virgin on her wedding day.” His focus turned to me. “You will be allowed to hold her hand, hug her, kiss her, things of that nature, but you can not have sex with her or do anything that takes away her purity until the wedding night, understood?”

“Yes, sir.” In preparation for this meeting, Dad had the sex talk with me. It was very uncomfortable so I didn’t ask any questions, but now, I had a lot of them. I knew what having sex meant, but what else did people do that might take away her purity? What even was her purity?

“Good. I understand that as a man you have needs, and since you won’t be able to take care of those with my daughter until you’re married, you are able to meet those needs with others, under the condition that you are discreet, and that it is nothing other than physical. If an emotional attachment is formed, I will consider that offensive and the deal will be off.”

What in the world did that mean?

“I am uncomfortable with that.” My dad moved again. “Our family has very firm beliefs when it comes to the sanctity of marriage. If he is intended for Arianna, having sex with other women would be disloyal to her and unacceptable. We do not have firm beliefs that women need to be virgins when they get married, so we’re willing to drop that stipulation from the contract in exchange for them being able to let their relationship develop naturally.”

“Absolutely not. If we allowed that, he could ruin her then refuse to marry her. That would make her useless to me as far as building another alliance. If he wants to save himself for his wedding night to be with her, then so be it. But I will not budge where her purity is concerned.”

My dad let out a deep breath, and I knew he was agitated, even though I didn’t understand why. “Okay. I can agree to that. In return, I want Arianna to move to Crestwood for high school. This will allow them to build that emotional relationship and cut out any chance of him forming an emotional connection with someone else. She can live with my parents, or if God forbid something has happened to them at that point, my youngest brother and his wife.”

“Ah. The one we killed and you brought back to life.” What the hell did he mean by that? For the first time, Don Vitale seemed irritated by what was on the table. “I must say, I didn’t expect this as a request. I’m not sure I like it, but I will agree if they are engaged before he starts his senior year and married before he starts college.”

“She wouldn’t be out of high school yet.” My father pointed out.

Don Vitale waved him off. “That’s not a big deal. She’ll be eighteen.”

“If we’re going to require a wedding before he starts college, I feel the initiation should be cut down to one summer. They would get married at the end of that summer. It would surely be uncomfortable for a couple in their first year of marriage to be living in her fathers house. And hopefully by that time they’ll be expecting or have a newborn.”

“Touché. They will be required to consummate the marriage on the wedding night and my family's traditions will be followed. If we’re satisfied with that…” His eyes flicked between my dad and me and Dad gave a nod. “The alliance will be fully enacted after she has become pregnant with an heir. Until that time, you will be under our protection, but not part of our business.”