Page 25 of The Arrangement

“No, being the executor of the will, I wasn’t required to make you aware until certain requirements were met.”

“Like a marriage,” she managed to grasp, her voice growing quiet.

Ivan glanced sideways from the corners of his eyes, nodding sharply. “Like a marriage,” he repeated. “Specifically, a marriage with Anton before your twenty-fifth birthday.”

“That’s …” Struck dumb, she fell silent, her mouth growing slack. “Who did it come from?”

“Not really important right now,” Ivan offered, sounding apologetic with a frown marring his features. “I’m sorry that I can’t explain more of this to you, but it is not in my instructions or orders to do so.”

Again, she grew quiet, needing to look anywhere but at the man sitting next to her. Anger was the first emotion to bubble up. They were hiding more things, things that directly involved her that would affect her future beyond her own choices. Not only did she not understand why they were doing it, but they wouldn’t give her the smallest of hints to work it out, either.

How was she ever supposed to trust them?

Standing abruptly, Ivan followed suit to her actions. “Don’t,” she mumbled through clenched teeth, a hand held out to ask him to stay. “I want to go for a walk, to think, or … something.” Cry, likely, that’s what Viviana wanted to do, but in private. She figured this was a better choice than yelling her anger out at Ivan, anyway. “Surely I can handle going for a walk without someone at my side, right?”

“Yes, of course.” He whistled low under his breath and Rocco was trotting back to them in an instant. Shaking water droplets from his fur, the dog waited patiently as his collar was unhooked. With his finger pointed at a dark sedan with tinted windows parked in the visitor’s section of the park, Ivan said, “That is the only car trailing you. They are your guards. Two other men are close by on foot, but I doubt you will notice them, and they will not approach you unless they need to. You’re safe to walk if you’d like, and I’m sorry that I upset you, Vine. It wasn’t my intention.”

Without a word, she turned and walked away. With no one at her side, Rocco stayed a good two paces ahead, his nose to the ground and ears twitching at every sound and movement surrounding them. Paying little attention to the pathways they traveled through the park, she only noticed that the deeper they went, the thicker the trees became. Joggers, mothers with strollers, and the occasional couple sauntered past, never paying her or Rocco any mind as they went. The dog barely acknowledged them either.

With a heavy heart, muddled up feelings, and a slow sense of being unsure about her surroundings, Viviana realized she didn’t know where in the hell they were. Stopping short, she peered around. Sunlight filtered through the pretty colored leaves all around, her flats crunching against the dried brush underfoot.

A quiet kind of stillness settled heavily on her senses as Rocco looked back, brown eyes wide and waiting, his tail standing high. Looking around once more, she didn’t see a soul following, and there was no way the car Ivan had pointed out earlier could have traveled down the path she took.

Oddly, her first thought wasn’t to run. It wasn’t that she was free of being watched, or that she was now available to make herself scarce if she wanted to. In fact, she didn’t think for a second that running now could be the one way out of the arrangement with Anton she’d agreed to … because Viviana didn’t want to.

What she wanted was Anton.

And she suddenly felt exposed.

Unsafe.

Unprotected way out in the open.

They’ll find me in the bay, she thought, with a bullet through the back of my head just like Roman.

Or maybe it’d be more like her mother and brother’s death, burned alive in a car that had apparently careened off a small cliff before catching fire, leaving them trapped inside. If anything happened to Viviana, she knew Anton would kill every member of the Cosa Nostra he could get his hands on until he felt the slightest bit better, even if that would only lead to his ultimate end.

Air caught in her throat, chokingly so. Turning sharply, her flats hit the ground faster than a walk but not quite as brisk as a jog. Rocco was fast to take the lead again. When the breeze shifted, her dog stopped, ears perking immediately. A tail lifted higher and a sharp, short bark fell from his muzzle, halting her as well.

Fear coursed through her heart, adrenaline spiking as she considered turning around again. Blood rushed her ringing ears, strumming hard and fast, echoing and overtaking the calm sounds of the park. Going back in the other direction would likely lead to her getting even more lost than she already was, but going forward only directed her to something the dog felt the need to alert her to.

Unsure, Viviana froze to the spot, her hand slipping inside her coat pocket to find the semi-automatic .40 Smith and Wesson pistol Anton had handed over earlier in the week. Illegal with the serial numbers filed off and no registration to show ownership, the gun was compact enough to stay hidden in a pocket or purse. She had to admit that the firearm appealed to a certain side of her, despite the initial reluctance she felt to carry it at first.

The small wag of Rocco’s tail melted her tension for only a split second. He wouldn’t show excitement in regards to danger, right?

A figure entered her vision from around the small bend of the pathway, the blurry form making Viviana realize then that tears had started gathering in her eyes. Blinking away the wetness and breathing deep as she took in the man walking closer to her, relief began to settle through her panic.

Wearing a dark suit with the jacket unbuttoned to show the pale blue dress shirt underneath, a grey scarf hanging untied around his neck, and a fedora tilted down on his face, all of her apprehension drifted away. A cigarette was tossed from his fingertips to the ground, smoke billowing out in a grey cloud.

That wasn’t what he left the house wearing that morning.

The very view of Anton’s confident, smooth stride as he came closer had the strangest effect on her lungs and heart. Butterflies were fighting their way up from her stomach into her throat, leaving Viviana unable to breathe or speak. Overwhelmed and on a sensory overload, her worry faded a little more.

Anton looked up from under the fedora, the side of his lips quirking into a smile, making her stressed shoulders ease up when he came to a stop by Rocco’s side. His hand found its way into the dog’s coat. “Lost, Vine?”

“No,” she breathed, and feeling stupid, she looked away. “Maybe a little. I thought there were men watching after me?”

“There are,” he said, smirking. “Ivan asked them to stay a few paces away to give you some privacy.”