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“I would love to take you to meet Emilia,” I say to Angel, realizing that I’ve hesitated too long. I lace the words with warmth to convey how genuinely happy I am that she’s here. “But first, how do you feel about helping me choose a suitable dress for this event I’m to attend with Rio this evening?”
The resultant squeal confirms that Angel does, indeed, wish to help me, and for the first time since Rio fetched me back here from Cleveland, the underlying dread that sits within me begins to ease.
It will be so much more fun having another young woman here to hang out with.
Angel jumps to her feet and rushes over to my dressing room to peer through the assorted dress choices. And even though her presence has lightened my mood, there’s still a niggle at the back of my mind I try to ignore.
Why has Rio felt the need to bring Angel back here at this time? Is there a new threat looming that I’m not aware of?
A shiver of foreboding works its way down my spine.
* * *
“Did you enjoy my little surprise?”Rio asks, as the private jet in which we’re traveling to Washington prepares to land.
It has taken less than two hours to get here, but every step of the journey has been pure luxury, from the Rolls-Royce that collected us at the estate, and now this leather-seated plane with attentive waitstaff and expensive canapes to keep us from starving to death on the short journey.
“Do you mean Angel?” I can’t help smiling at the thought of the young chatterbox. “She’s lovely. Will she be living at the estate with us from now on? She mentioned that, but it was amongst a whole lot of other chatter, so I wasn’t sure if I’d heard her correctly or not.”
“Yes, indeed. Angel talks far too much. That will be a factor in the marriage negotiations, no doubt.”
“I…What?”
“I have already told you. It is my responsibility to find my sister a husband, but I will need to highlight her attributes to counteract the negative regarding how much she speaks.”
I open and close my mouth a few times, unable to think of anything that isn’t either a swear word or an insult to Rio. Every time I start to soften my attitude toward him, he says something that snaps me back to reality.
This male-dominated, misogynistic Mafia world…
Finally, I settle on, “Angel has every right to speak as much or as little as she wishes. I think she’s utterly charming. Unlike her brother.”
He narrows his eyes, but I’m not finished.
“And she’s, what? Eighteen? Honestly, that’s far too young to be considering marriage, Rio. Especially if someone else is planning to pick out a husband for the poor girl.”
His mouth thins. “Angelica is now nineteen. And she has known about—and accepted—the arranged marriage situation since the moment she could walk and talk. She will be married before she turns twenty-two.”
“You can’t ‘accept’ a situation like that when you’re just a child barely able to talk. She wouldn’t even have understood what she was agreeing to!”
“It is how things are done, Bianca.”
“Maybe in your world,” I mutter, turning my head to stare out the window.
The lights of Washington stretch out below as far as my eyes can see. Focusing on a place I’ve never before visited is far preferable than getting into an argument with Rio right now.
Because I know I’m correct, but I cannot win against him. He’s so set on tradition, and he believes he is helping his sister toward a better future, not harming her. The frustration roils in my gut, churning up the sparkling water and caviar blinis I’ve consumed during the flight.
“It’s your world, too,” he says softly, but there’s an edge to his tone that tells me I’ve riled him.
Good. He’s riled me up, too.
I am damn sure not letting him do that to our Emilia, though I’ve got a few years yet to make him change his mind. Maybe I can add that to the list of challenges, the main one being to steer him toward decisions that are less…illegal.
And pigs might fly, I think, looking out at the clear and completely pig-less sky.
“Well.” I turn back to face him and allow my annoyance to show, flashing him a wide, fake smile. “It’s going to be a great night for sure, isn’t it?”
“It will be…interesting,” is all he says before his expression closes down, and he shifts his attention to a report sitting unread on the fold-out desk in front of him.
