I fold the piece of paper in half, place it on top of my laptop, and lean back in my chair. My hands rest on my lap when I say, “I have to say that I’m impressed.” Costa’s face contorts into confusion. “You were so quick to jump ship with the Di Marcos when I came to you with this proposal of the idea of merging our families together to be one powerful entity.” I pick off a piece of imaginary lint from the sleeve of my jacket. “Now, if you would have taken a closer look at the contract I had given you, you would have noticed that the signature on there is not mine.”
His eyes narrow at me, nostrils flaring.
“The thing is, Don Costa, I wanted your daughter. I knew that if I had presented you a better deal, you would snap it right up. Your greed is what drives you. It’s not family or others. No, it’s only about you.” I pause. “The hatred for Ian Di Marco that made this an easy plan.” I lean forward in my chair. “To kill Ian Di Marco and marry Isabella.” I stare at him as his face becomes redder by the second. “There has been no denying that you have wanted to be a part of the businesses my family has created for years.”
I push down the smile that wants to pull at my lips at the sight of Costa squirming in his seat. The anger on his face as he grips the arms of the chair, making his stubby hands turn white is one of my favorite images.
“You son of a bitch, Ricci,” he booms. My face is blank as I watch him come undone before me. “You did all this to marry my fat, pathetic, lazy, worthless daughter?”
My ears ring, my vision tunnels at hearing him speak about Isabella. I’m on my feet before I know it, storming around my desk and my hand wraps around his throat, squeezing as hard as I can. My focus is only Costa, and I know Angelo is right behind me. Costa’s eyes bug out of his head, he scratches my wrist toget me to release my grip, but it does nothing. He opens his mouth to try to breathe, but again its useless as I press harder and harder against his windpipe. He starts to turn blue. His eyes begin to turn red.
“If you thought coming into my home, questioning me about a fucking contract that was never going to be put into action, and then speak about my wife,” I growl through my teeth, “you apparently are dumber than I fucking thought.” My thumb and fingers press harder, just enough where his vision is starting to blur, and he has a few moments before he stops breathing. “There will never be any merging or working together. I don’t want to be in business with a snake like you or with someone who cannot respect my wife.”
I release my hold from his neck, he drops to the floor, hands flying to his chest as he coughs uncontrollably.
“Angelo, get this bastard out of my office and out of my home. I don’t need Isabella seeing her worthless father looking like that or him speaking to her.” I tell Angelo as I turn my back and head back to my desk, open my laptop, being look the documents I was reading before Costa showed up.
Angelo is guiding them out when Costa’s strained voice tries to yell at me, “This is not over, Ricci.”
I was in the kitchen making another cup of coffee when I hear loud voices coming from down the hall where Enzo’s office is. My hand freezes when a familiar voice hits me, making the hair on the back of my neck stand at attention. My father’s voice has always been the one that haunts my nightmares with his coldness, anger and his absences toward me and my other siblings. As I stand there, I hear some commotion going on and my mind rushes to the thought of him hurting Enzo. I abandon my coffee and make my way down to his office toward the back of the house.
When I round the corner, the sounds have grown. I hear my father utter, “You did all this to marry my fat, pathetic, lazy, worthless daughter?”
I wait for the sting of the tears to form and fall down my face, but they don’t come. No, anger consumes me. I have spent my whole life hearing from both of my parents criticizing my body about how I will never be good enough as a wife, as a mother, or as a woman in today’s world. His words don’t affect me anymore with calling me at because I have learned these past few months to start to love my body. The way he has touch my body. The way he has kissed my body. The way he has made me see that I am beautiful has made me feel stronger and powerful.
But something my father said takes a moment for me to understand. He asked my husband something regarding me marrying Enzo.
“If you thought coming into my home, questioning me about a fucking contract that was never going to be put into action, and then speak about my wife,” Enzo growls.
A contract? I know arrange marriages are a thing in our world, and yes there are some contracts, but Enzo has never made it seem that way. He has told me repeatedly that he went to my father because he wanted me.
I strain to listen as my heart feels like it’s about to fall out of my chest with how fast and hard it’s beating.
Shit, I missed the rest he said when I hear his deep voice boom with footsteps approaching. “Angelo, get this bastard out of my office and out of my home. I don’t need Isabella seeing her worthless father looking like that or him speaking to her.”
My feet are glued where I’m standing when I hear my father yell to my husband that this is not over, and finally, my feet get the message, and I dart into the doorway to avoid being seen by my father. That is the last thing that I want to do today is have him berate me. I peak around the door and, watch as Angelo follows my father out and his second, Leonardo. He is sleazy just like my dad and thinks my dad walks on fucking water. The sound of banging gets my attention and my head whips in the direction it was coming from.
Without even thinking, I make my way back to Enzo’s office and peer inside to see my husband leaning back in his chair, dragging his hand over his handsome face. I watch as he reaches around his back, pulls out his gun, opens a drawer with a beeping sound, and places it inside.
“Isabella, I know you’re there.” His voice is soft but hard when he says my name. I rub my lips together and enter his office slowly.
“Shut the door.”
I turn, place my hand on the knob, and push the door closed until I hear it click. Still rooted in place, I ask him with my voicesteady. “Why was my father here, and what did he mean by ‘the contract’?”
His gaze flicks to mine with apprehension. “Isabella.”
I ignore the way my name rolls off his tongue and ask him again with my voice louder and stronger. “Enzo, what contract?” My feet carry me closer to his desk.
His nostrils flare takes in a deep breathe looking defeated, angry, and hot all in one.
“Our marriage contract, amuri mui,”he confesses, and his words hang in the air. “I wrote up a contract for me to marry you at the hands of merging businesses with your family.”
I inch closer to him, listening to every single word.
“It was never my intention to merge or do anything with your father because he and I don’t see eye to eye on many things. One, being you and how he treats you. And two, I believe that family comes first before anything else in the world we live in.” I stop at the edge of his desk, close enough where he could reach out and grab me. “Your father is not a smart man and never cared to look over the contract to see I never truly signed it. The whole thing was invalid. I could not risk him knowing and letting you marry Ian.”
I swallow before I ask, “What did you promise him?” My body feels hot awaiting his response.
