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“I have my terms, and I’m afraid I’m not moved to negotiate on them.”
“Oh?” Alessandro asks, cocking his head to the side. “That doesn’t seem to be in the spirit of unity.”
“I want to unite our families through an arranged marriage,” he says, locking eyes with me.
I don’t look away, his bright eyes seem to drink me in, and I almost feel lost in them.
“Who do you want to marry your daughter off to, then?” Alessandro asks. I’m sure it’s more out of curiosity than anything else.
“I’m not marrying my daughter to anyone,” Ivan says. “I want to marry Vittoria.”
“Never,” Alessandro doesn’t even wait for him to finish his thought. “I will never agree to this.”
“You don’t have a choice, Don Sorvino. You have two weeks. I will plan the entire wedding. We’ll have the reception at a place of your choosing. If Vittoria doesn’t show up to marry me, I will systematically kill off everyone in the Sorvino family and anyone affiliated with them. Do you understand my meaning?”
“I could declare war,” Alessandro snarls, clenching his fists. “You don’t just come into my home and make demands as though you own me.”
“Let me be clear, Sorvino, you wouldn’t even have time to declare war before each person you love would be dead. Besides, I don’t want to own you, but your family is getting too big for its boots, and someone has to put you back in your place. We will evenly share the territories between our two families as payment for the wedding. Consider it a deal you shouldn’t want to refuse.” Ivan looks at me again. “Be there, Vittoria, or I will fulfill my promise.”
Ivan turns and leaves, and I am not sure what’s wrong with me when I admire his tight ass as he strides out of Alessandro’s office even after hearing what’s he willing to do to my family.
My desire to prove myself and to protect my family is stronger than fear though, so I turn to my cousin. “Alessandro…” I begin, but he cuts me off.
“Not now, Vittoria. We need to meet with the family,” he says.
“I want to be in on that meeting,” I say sternly. “It’s my life.”
Alessandro looks at me and then puts both hands on my shoulders. “I’m not marrying you off to that monster.” He hits a button on the phone on his desk. “Carmine, summon everyone in the family to meet in half an hour at the bistro. Close it to other customers. This is urgent.”
“Yes, sir,” Carmine's voice comes through the speaker.
“Come,” Alessandro gestures for me to walk ahead of him. “We need to get there as soon as possible.”
I get in Alessandro’s car, feeling nervous. I don’t understand why Ivan insists on marrying me specifically. I mean, he must be like twenty-plus years older than me. I think of my father in his medically induced coma in the hospital, and my blood boils. How dare this Russian asshole assume he can own me on a whim?
We reach the bistro and don’t have to wait long for the rest of the main family members to arrive. It’s mostly immediate family from Alessandro and my side, as well as my cousins from my Aunt Louisa’s side. Once everyone is settled, Alessandro stands to speak.
“The Volkov family insists that Vittoria marry Ivan Volkov in two weeks, or they will attack our family.”
There is an uproar from everyone, some of the family members look at me, and I blush slightly, feeling once again like an outsider. Although I want my opinion to carry weight, I’ve always felt socially awkward, even with my family. As though I don’t belong here.
Alessandro holds his hands up. “Obviously, we’re not going to allow that to happen, so we must prepare for a war against the Volkov family.”
“Alessandro,” Luigi stands up, “it’s going to be hard to fight a war against them. They’re a powerful family.”
“So are we,” Alessandro says, “and I’ll be dead before I let that man lay his hands on your sister.”
“Yes, but maybe we should make them think they’ve won,” Luigi says, glancing at me. “Tori is smart. She can handle herself. She could feed us information about their operations, affiliates, and territories, and we could break the Volkovs from the inside out.”
“Are you mad?” Dominic roars. “You want to put Tori in danger in the hopes she can gather information from a dangerous man and feed it back to us.”
Luigi holds his hands up. “I’m just saying that Tori could help us end this without bloodshed. On our side anyway.”
I incline my head, and as everyone starts grumbling, Alessandro shakes his head. “I’m not placing your sister in the hands of this madman in the hope we can win that way.”
“I can do it,” I say, sounding more confident than I feel. “It’s just like a court case: taking what the opposition has and using it against them. It’s strategic, and Luigi is right. We could avoid so much bloodshed this way.”
Alessandro looks into my eyes. “Tori, I’m not arguing with you over this.”
