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“You’ll have to change your name to Corsi. None of my men will follow your lead if you aren’t willing to take the blood oath. This isn’t how it’s usually done. For generations, the role passed on through blood from father to son.”
He pauses as if the next part hurts him to say. “But my son was killed, along with one of my daughters and my wife—leaving me Rialta. I should marry her to someone within the family, but I won’t do that to her. There is no one worthy of her in our family.”
I suspect he won’t ever think anyone is worthy of Rialta. But it’s still shocking that he hasn’t found a man within his ranks he trusts. I suspect it’s because he thinks one of his own men is a traitor. He thinks one of his men killed his children and wife. He thinks one of his own men has been trying to kill Rialta her entire life.
He doesn’t trust them. Beckett gained his trust, but then he fell for the wrong woman. He fell for River instead of Rialta.
Corsi doesn’t trust anyone. But he knows what has to be done, so he’ll agree to this. He doesn’t have much choice.
“My name already is Corsi as far as I’m concerned. I’ll take whatever blood oath you want me to take. I want to be a leader of a strong organization like yours. The Retribution Kings have failed me too many times. I want this. I was born to lead. I know I’d make a good mob boss and husband for your daughter.”
Corsi doesn’t say anything. He’s back to just staring at me, trying to read my mind. But he won’t be finding the truth. No one knows the darkest secrets of my soul, and he sure as hell won’t figure it out in this meeting.
Protecting Beckett, Ri, Hayes, and Gage are only a small part of my reasoning. But even if that was my only motivation for marrying Rialta and becoming a powerful mob boss, it would be more than enough.
Corsi does know what I’m protecting. My true loyalty is to my friends that are more like family.
“What makes you worthy of my daughter?” His stern look tells me this is the question he cares most about. He doesn’t care about the Corsi organization. He doesn’t care about my leadership skills. He cares about his daughter. I respect him for that.
“I’m not worthy of your daughter. No person alive is, but I hope with time I will prove worthy of her. I will say this, though: I’m a skillful fighter, intelligent, level-headed, calm, disciplined, focused, and honorable. And above all—I’m fiercely protective. I’ve protected my brothers Hayes and Gage more times than I can count.
“You’ve seen how I’ve already protected Beckett, Ri, and Rialta. If you are in my circle, I’ll protect you with my life too. I know you want Beckett and Ri to continue protecting Rialta. I’ve already worked with them, so we’ll continue to be a good team to keep her safe. Hayes and Gage are loyal to me and will help protect her as well. I promise you Rialta will be safe with me. I’ll never hurt her or let anyone else hurt her. I’ll protect her with my life.”
It’s not a lie, but it’s also not the whole truth.
Vincent Corsi knows that.Is it enough to convince him?
“I’ve tried to find a man for Rialta before. I held a contest, a competition where men were willing to risk their lives to have her. Beckett won, but he didn’t love her. The only way a man will truly protect her with his life is if he loves her.”
My eyes widen in shock, and my mouth falls agape. I wasn’t expecting to have to profess my love for Rialta. “I…um…I…” I stutter, unsure of how to convince him that I love Rialta.
“I know you don’t love her, but I hope that changes. So my challenge to you is to figure out how to love her. That is the only way I will let you marry her, the only way I’ll turn this job over to you someday.”
“And if I don’t convince you I’m in love with her?” I ask, apprehensive of what he’s going to say.
“Then you can try to persuade me in a different way—by finding the man responsible for the deaths of my children and wife. It’s the biggest threat to Rialta—find him and bring him to me. Then convince her to marry you and produce an heir together. Only then will I step down and give you my job.”
“So my options are: prove that I love her or find the man responsible for your family’s destruction? A man that no one has been able to find for twenty years?”
Vincent Corsi nods with a slim smile. “Yes. I don’t know why you really want this, but I don’t care as long as Rialta is taken care of. She will be protected if you fall in love with her, or she will be taken care of if you eliminate the one man who wants her dead. Either way, she’ll be safe.”
I swallow the hard lump in my throat.
“Falling in love with Rialta or finding your enemy will take time. It might be a long time for Rialta to be unmarried and unprotected. The men might grow restless and try to prove themselves worthy of being your heir. A civil war could be started again in the meantime.”
I need this settled as soon as possible. I don’t have time to deal with his ridiculous stipulations.
Corsi nods. “Which is why you’ll be married as soon as it can be arranged.”
I sigh, relieved at how easily my plan came together.
“But my conditions remain. If you want to take over my job, then you must fall in love with Rialta and produce an heir or kill the man who wants to end the Corsi line. You have one year. If you fail, I’ll kill you. You’ll have to take an oath at your wedding in front of my men, vowing as much.”
My heart beats erratically. This just became a suicide mission. I can’t win. I can’t fall in love with Rialta, and finding and killing her mysterious enemy is impossible. Producing an heir with her might just be the only part I can muster.
One year.
Being married to her with access to the Corsi men for a year should be enough; it has to be. But when my time is up, I’ll be hunted by some of the most dangerous men in the world.
