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I know my cousins would never understand and would have preferred I waged a war against the De Luca’s but they already had my uncle and getting him back would have costs us more men. He made a decision to be a dumbass and I wasn’t about to endanger the rest of our family for his poor decisions. In fact, it made it all clearer that I needed to take my place as the don.
I stare at him intensely awaiting his response. Roman’s jaw practically grinds. “You want a marriage alliance,” he says slowly. “Marriage with who?”
I smile. “Me, of course. Last I checked, Rosario De Luca’s perfectly single.”
“You fucking bastard!” Tony yells.
Almost immediately, all hell breaks loose. Tony rushes at me, but I’m out of my chair in seconds. Before Jason can move forward, I have Tony’s arm behind his back and his face on the table. Roman gets to his feet, his gun out and pointed at me. Michael does, too. I don’t hesitate to grab the knife in the hidden pocket of my suit.
Tony lets out a slew of colorful words.
“Well... this escalated quickly,” I mutter, placing my knife against the pressure point of his neck. I look behind me at Jason, who hasn’t moved an inch. “Feel like contributing?”
He shakes his head and gives me a thumbs up. “You got it, boss.”
I roll my eyes, looking back at Roman. “Come on, let’s put the toys down.”
He looks furious. There’s even a tiny vein bulging on the side of his forehead. “You first.”
“I didn’t attack first, now did I?” I retort.
Roman looks at me, then at his brother who’s still struggling against me. Tony’s strong, but I’ve got several pounds of muscle on him.
“Fine,” Roman bites out, dropping his gun.
Michael follows suit. I remove my knife from Tony’s neck and move backward. He glares at me, but one look at Roman has him inching back to the wall.
“Now, can we have a civilized conversation?” I ask.
“Alright,” Roman replies, pulling back his chair and lowering down into it. “Have a seat.”
“No thanks,” I say with a small smile.
Roman smiles, too. He links his hands together and rests his chin on them. When his eyes meet mine, I know he has regained some semblance of control.
“Now tell me, why the hell would I let my sister marry you? In case you didn’t realize, your family’s the one in a life boat. The De Lucas are thriving. We don’t need you.”
I cock my head to the side. “Except that’s a lie. Isn’t it?”
Roman’s eyes flare. “What?”
“You lost your biggest source of funding when you broke your word and refused to marry Zanetti’s daughter. That’s a huge deal—one you’ve been trying hard to hide these past few months. You have a problem. Am I wrong?”
A muscle ticks in Roman’s jaw. “You know, you’re a fucking asshole, Russo.”
“No. I just know everything. And it’s pissing you off,” I state with a shrug. “Now, do you want to hear what I’ve got to offer in exchange for Rosa’s hand in marriage and an alliance between our families?”
“I’m not giving you my sister,” he grits out.
“Oh, come on. Families around here do it all the time. Take, for example, your bestie, Christian D’Angelo. He was in an arranged marriage with his wife, wasn’t he? And you weresupposed to be in an arranged marriage with the Zanetti girl. Before you broke it, of course,” I say. “In our world, it’s pretty normal.”
“I don’t give a fuck about normal. I’m not marrying my sister off to a fucking psychopath.”
I sigh. “Roman, you’re being really dramatic.”
Surprisingly, Michael speaks up. “What do you even have to offer? You keep talking about offering something in exchange. What is it?”
I give him a smile, glad to see someone’s priorities are in line with mine. Michael frowns back, his expression distasteful. I wave him over, and Jason places a file in my hand. I set it on the table in front of Roman and, after a second thought, return to my previous seat.
