Chapter 50
Natale smiled gently at Alcer, “your fiancé was letting your father know to pay you respect. I take it he did not?”
“When would my father ever pay a woman respect?” Alcee grumbled. “You know yourself he’s misogynistic at best and a downright beast at
worst.”
“He called her a whore, more than once.” Torq’s finger tapped on his desk.
“And he lived?” Natale’s nostrils flared with anger.
“I have a plan and blowing his brains out in my office is not conducive to me getting the results I wish. He did mention, Orazio, you need to teach your daughters manners and then said his youngest son expressed interest in Amal”
“Alfio?” Orazio made a face, “no offense Alcee but your brother is a putz who cannot think for himself and follows the leader like a duckling. He wouldn’t know how to get her pregnant with an heir unless he father or eldest brother stood over him and told him how to do it.”
“Dad!” Amal made a face at him.
“Would you like to be introduced to him?” Orazio looked at her seriously.
“No, she would not,” Tito commented dryly and shot her a look.
Orazio looked at Tito with narrowed eyes, “is that how it is?”
“It is.”
“We will talk later. As Amal blustered, “with my daughter and wife present and if my daughter is not inclined to allow you to take her to dinner then the answer will be no.”
“Understood.” Tito winked at Amal, “I am confident I will win her over.”
“There is always the family tradition of locking people up for six months,” Natale grinned and when Amal jumped to her feet, he laughed, “I meant you could lock him up. We will get you big chains. You can use him how you see fit to see if he’s what you want.”
“You’re disgusting” Amal gritted out angrily. “You are talking about assault.”
“Ah,” Natalle held his finger up. “I promise you any time my wife has ever told me no, I respected her a hundred percent. However, I am a very sexy man who is adept at seduction. She doesn’t say no very often. Once, she duct taped my mouth,”
“Okay!” Susana gave a yell. “Enough.”
“This is a very different meeting than the one we were just part of Alcee commented with a smile. “It’s more relaxed.”
Torq nodded, “true. There are reasons we keep allies and friends in this business.”
“Did you girls sign off on your gift from Torq Natale asked them.
Susana nodded, “we did. We’re incredibly grateful for the gift. We would have supported Alcer without any kind of reward.”
“But
it a nest egg is nice,” Amal shot Torq a smile.
“My
My wife is donating bers to an orphanage back in Puerto Rico where she grew up. Orazio leaned back.“She said it felt weird to take gifts from another man and it felt important to give it back.”
am glad she accepted,” Torq said quietly. “It means everything to me the women in your family, and you both, stepped up and took care of my family before I knew who they were.” He gave a sad smile. “I lost a lot of time with them, but I will make sure that the rest of our lives, no time is
missed.”
“We will support you any way we can,” Natale said seriously.
“I am glad to hear you say this because I did piss of Don Mariani quite significantly today. His son also did not know the bride price was supposed to be paid to Alcee directly.”
10
Chapter 50
“It was?” Natale shifted in his
“My grandfather was a crafty bastard and put the clause in the contract probably to keep the money in our family. It was initialled and signed off Mariani knew it. He simply was going to take it from her. Mercurio was furious with him.”
“Greedy prick,” Natale shook his head, “I lost all respect for him when we picked Alcee up from the hospital after she’d been admitted after his abuse. She was twenty pounds lighter than the last time I’d seen her, she was bruised, emaciated and hurting and it was after she’d been treated in hospital
Torg turned to Alcee, “you said he locked you up, but you were this hurt?
“One meal of bread and water a day and it was the end of a loaf of bread.” Natale said seriously. “The fact she was able to even carry Antero after such trauma speaks to a strength. There was no way we couldn’t help her, Torg. She is strong.”
“Well now he’s going to want us all dead, strong or not.”
“We are ready.” Natale gave a careless shrug.
“My friend in Chicago will make a trip to discuss strategy as will my friend from Florida.”
“Jesus Barrone?” Octavio shot a look at Susana. “He’s making a trip to New York?”
“He said he’d be here if I needed him. I think after the way today went, we’ll need him
“He’s like a greasy spider monkey.” Natale gave a little laugh, “Ever watch him fight?”
“I enjoyed first row seats
ats to it.” Torq laughed as Susana pretended, she wasn’t listening. “He was in a cage fight once against a man four times his size. The guy was bigger than me. Jesus‘ mother bet on him and Jesus said he couldn’t let his mother lose any money, so he beat the guy into the
“He fights?”
7” Susana cleared her throat.
NEMA.” Torq commented.
Alcee snickered and leaned closer to Torg, “she loves a good fight”
“It’s why I wanted to introduce you, Susana but you said you weren’t interested in any kind of arrangement.” Her father shrugged carelessly. “You have a cousin who is of age and is open to conversation after her failed college romance.”
“I mean, meeting him might not be bomble. Susana acted nonchalant and moved to the window to look down over the city.
“Perhaps we can
She
we can host a dinner, Alcee, in our new home. We would wait until Antero is asleep of course not to stress him out.
shrugged, “we’ll see. I would like to get back to work. Are we almost done here?”
“Almost.” Torq
org nodded. “I asked Susana and Amal’s family here today to make sure they leave here today unharmed, I can’t trust your father isn’t going to retaliate against them for helping you. They are here to help me impress upon the three of you, for the next while, you need to obey the rules, stick close to your guards, and do not go anywhere without notifying your team.”
“I understand Torq.” Alcee nodded as she looked at him seriously. “I can’t risk not being there for Antero. If you say jump, I’ll say how high”
“We’ll listen but I don’t want any bullies locking me down in a house,” Amal shot Tito a glare.
“Understood, darling. We’ll eat dinner and then you can lock me up.”
When the room laughed and Amal flipped him off, Alcee felt a sense of unease fill her chest. She hoped Antero wasn’t going to be too put off by all the changes they were about to encounter. She was frightened things were going to get bad before they got good.
