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“Everything okay, Boss?” Marco asked, meeting me outside the room.

“We’re leaving. Get my things while Enzo gets the car.”

“Don’t do this, Don Giovanni. Stay—it was only a suggestion.”

“I already warned you about this, and yet you blatantly disregarded my wishes. We have nothing to discuss privately. Excuse me.” I left immediately. My steps out of the house were measured and firm, leaving them no question that I meant business.

He’d lost a contact by aiming for a bigger payout. A marriage alliance held a lot more value than a simple deal that could be squashed at any time. The intertwining of families was gold to men like him.

I considered my relationship to that piece of shit Rosetti. Sure, I was uniting our families, but it had nothing—and would have nothing—to do with business connections. He was scum. Lower than scum. Still, he had something I wanted, and I’d get it too. Our marriage was a trade—blood for blood.

As we pulled out of the massive driveway, Marco said, “I booked the hotel in the next town over.” I nodded and looked over the hotel check-in information. We had planned to stay at a hotel in town. Unfortunately, our meeting ended poorly, and I didn’t give my enemies an easy way to attack. Although most of these men operated with their guns and balls, I enjoyed dropping their funds first.

My men walked beside me as we entered the hotel. Eyes were on us instantly. “Keep your eyes to yourselves if you don’t want to lose them,” I stated, moving to the front desk. The girl at the front desk kept her head down as we approached.

“Beautiful, you can keep your eyes on me,” Enzo told her. She nervously lifted her gaze. Her hand shook on the keyboard, so Enzo grasped it and said, “Calm down. He’s only vicious when needed.” She met his face with a little less fear, so Enzo continued, “Are you married?”

“No, signore.” She shook her head while refusing to make eye contact with Enzo. He grasped her chin and tilted her head to face his unwavering gaze.

“Good. Please sign us in and then give me your number.” She nodded, his grip still holding on. “It’s under Enzo Morello.”

He released her so she could do her job. “It’s done.”

“Good girl.” Her color changed to a burning pink shade on her cheeks. Damn, I needed to take a lesson from him. That was how you made your claim.

“Enough. We have matters to handle, Enzo.”

I had to get back to Mariana even faster than before. Would she blush for me? I had a feeling she wouldn’t be that submissive. No, the woman wasn’t like that. I’d had the family watched from a distance when my men brought me footage of the young Rosetti daughter. One clip of her defiance and I knew my queen had been selected. The revenge plan had been to off the family with slow pleasure, but I changed my mind in those few minutes. She would be mine.

“Sorry, Boss.” He winked at the woman, and then we headed to the suite. The entire ride up the elevator had been silent. “I meant no offense.”

“You didn’t offend me. I want to get home sooner, which means I need some damn sleep before our next meeting.” The elevator door opened, and we entered the hallway to the suite, Pio rolling my suitcase while I hung on to my laptop bag.

“And if that asshole gives me trouble, I might put a bullet in his head.”

“That might cause a war,” Enzo warned. None of them were stupid enough to tell me what to do, but my capo was always attempting to guide me.

“Then they better not cross me,” I replied, deadly serious. He took a step back and nodded. These bastards were keeping me away from my future bride, and all were playing games with me. I’d never minded long weeks of business taking me away from home, but now it was unbearable.

“No interruptions tonight,” I snarled, heading to the master bedroom. I showered quickly and made it to bed in just my boxers. With my sidepiece settled on the nightstand, I closed my eyes and thought about my future bride.

Chapter Two

Mariana

I got out of bed later than normal, hoping to avoid my family. My brother was back from his latest escapade in LA, which meant that he’d probably come back with a bad attitude and I would end up receiving a thorough beating. After his incident that left a man dead, he’d been even worse than normal, and everything became my fault. His addictions made him unrecognizable, and yet, he was still my father’s favorite child.

When I closed my bedroom door behind me, my father’s head of security, Dom, was standing across from me, leaning with one leg pressed against the wall, smugness written all over his face. I used to find him attractive, but the way he cowered to do my father’s bidding made him one of the biggest pussies around, and that was disgusting.

“Is there a reason you’re creepily stalking me?” I asked the tall prick who hovered too closely.

He scoffed, like I was reading him wrong. “Your father has been waiting for you to come down to breakfast.”

“And he couldn’t send someone to knock on the door or something?” I questioned. Why was he guarding my door?

“Relax, princess. I was about to knock, but then I heard you moving about.”

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t listen too closely, lackey; you might not appreciate what you hear.”