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“And the others?”
“Just one more. I’m moving up the timeline on an important matter.” He pauses, eyes locked onto mine. Despite his frail appearance, his gaze remains steady and scrutinizing. What is he hoping to find? “Isabella’s upcoming marriage,” he continues after bit.
“To Angelo Scardoni?”
A smile pulls across his face. “To you.”
I close my eyes, then open them widely. They said it was his heart, not his brain, that was going bad. “Isabella is nineteen,” I say. “I’m not marrying a child.”
“She’s not a child. Her mother married at eighteen. I don’t see a problem.”
“Well, I do. I could be her father, technically.”
“You’re not even thirty.”
“I’m thirty-five.” And he knows that very well, but he just waves his hand through the air like it’s nothing of importance.
“Isabella is a good girl, maybe a little stubborn sometimes, but she’s extremely clever and very well versed in social interaction and Family affairs. Not to mention exceptionally beautiful.”
That she is. I’ve seen her quite often, and I can’t deny the obvious. With her long chestnut hair falling down her back in soft curls, a pert nose, and huge dark eyes that are almost too big for her face, she is stunning. She isn’t very tall, but she has an amazing little body, a ridiculously tiny waist, and the most perfect ass I’ve ever seen. And the fact that I’ve noticed a nineteen-year-old’s ass at all is all kinds of fucked up. I’ve also known Isabella since she was a kid, and the idea of marrying her sounds completely insane.
It seems that Giuseppe doesn’t catch my reluctance because he continues speaking. “She’ll be a good wife to you. And if you let her, a good partner.”
“Partner in what?”
“In life, Luca. When you’re in a position of power, a wife you can lean on and trust is indispensable. For men like us, it’s rare to find a partner with whom you can share the good, as well as the bad. And there will be a shitload of bad, trust me.”
I shake my head. Who would have thought the don would be romantic. “The only person one can truly trust is themselves, Boss. And, sometimes, his closest blood kin. I’ve learned that lesson well.”
“Not all women are like Simona.” He reaches with his hand to take a glass of water from the desk, and I can’t help but noticethe way his fingers are shaking. “What happened between you two? I know you never got along well, but a divorce?”
I recline back in the chair and cross my arms in front of me. “I caught her giving her bodyguard a blow job. In our bed. I suspected it for quite some time, so I set up a camera in the room.”
“Christ. Is he alive?”
“Nope. And she barely escaped the same fate.”
“I wondered why she went along with the divorce so easily. How’s Rosa dealing with the situation?” he asks after a pause.
“Simona was never interested in her. Rosa was only a means to an end. A tool to make me marry her.”
“I’m sorry. I hope Isabella will get along well with your daughter.”
“So you’re serious about the marriage thing?”
With his head bowed slightly, the don looks at me over the rims of his glasses. He opens a drawer, takes out a stack of papers, and throws them onto the desk in front of me. A marriage agreement. I can’t believe I just managed to get rid of one wife, and he’s saddling me with a child bride before my divorce is even finalized.
“What am I going to do with a nineteen-year-old, Boss?”
“Whatever you do, you will do it with respect. Isabella might be young, but she’s still my granddaughter, and a person who will help secure your place as the new don. Keep that in mind.”
I stare at the stack of papers in front of me. Clenching my teeth together, I give him my resigned nod.
Chapter 4
Is it possible for the same day to be the happiest and the saddest of my life?
I tilt my head and regard my reflection in the mirror while standing on a small stool as two seamstresses kneel on the floor, adjusting the length of my wedding gown. There wasn’t enough time to order a custom dress, so my mother took me to the most prestigious wedding salon in the city and picked the most expensive dress available. It had to be adjusted to fit my rather impressive behind.