Page 73 of Vows of Silence

This time the screen filled with my father’s office. And there he was, my own father, sitting with Adrien Vescari.

“This isn’t something you enter into lightly, Vittorio.”

“I’m aware.”

“So why now?”

“Why not now?”My father chuckled. He leaned back in his chair and gestured around the room.“I have everything here. Every house in this city is under my influence. I’ve expanded throughout Europe, and I have ties in America. I’ve done all I can with real estate.”

“It’s quite the leap to go from real estate to drugs.”

“Is it? It’s swapping one type of brick for another,” my dad laughed.

Oh, lovely. A drug joke,I thought to myself.

Silas’s gloved thumb gently stroked over my knuckles, as though he could sense my growing anger.

Adrien smirked faintly, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes.“And what exactly makes you think I’d be interested in bringing you into my business ventures, Vittorio?”

“Because I know this city better than anyone. Every major development, every luxury apartment, every hotel chainexpansion in London passes through me somehow. You already have money, yes, but money is no good if it’s dirty. I can help you with that. I can offer another legitimate business to clean it. Expand it. Hide it where nobody thinks to look.”

Adrien leaned back in his chair, looking bored already.

My father kept talking anyway.

“I’ve built an empire much like yours, Adrien. We both have a public image to maintain. And I can offer you one way to do that. No one would think twice about merging my company with yours. And whilst I have nothing but respect for you and what you’ve done for the Vescari name, I do have one thing you don’t have—connections. Politicians aren’t touching you. I’ve sold them houses. Property investment groups think you’re powerful enough. I own most of them. And if I don’t, I have them over a barrel. You want doors opened to you without a single question? I can help with that. Think about it, Adrien. Where do those girls go once they’re brought in?”

For a second, Adrien almost looked startled. But he covered it quickly when my father chuckled again.

“I know all about the girls. Sign with me, I could have you a safe house with fifteen bedrooms like that,”he snapped his fingers together.

Adrien gave a quiet laugh beneath his breath and stood from the chair smoothly, buttoning his suit jacket as though the meeting had already concluded.

“You’re not offering me anything I couldn’t achieve on my own, Vittorio. You think there’s not other real estate agents ready to get their hands dirty?”

“None as wealthy and as connected as I am.”

“Interesting you should bring that up—let’s talk wealth for a second. How’s that second mortgage treating you?”

Second mortgage?

“How is Sophie handling her new weekly allowance? How much did you cut it by? 50k?”He sucked his breath in between his teeth.“That’s quite the downgrade. It seems you need me more than I need you. Come back to me when you have something interesting to offer.”

My father’s expression shifted instantly.

Panic.

Real panic.

This wasn’t going the way he planned at all, and he was on the verge of losing it.

“Isabelle,”he called out suddenly, stammering over the word.

Adrien paused near the door.

“Isabelle,”my dad repeated, sounding much more confident now.

Slowly, Adrien turned back around, and my stomach twisted at the smug satisfaction on my dad’s face.