Page 21 of Ties That Bind Us

“Of course.” I agreed, nodding. Did I? Honestly, this was the first I had really ever heard of it. I always assumed we were safe; I didn’t know why now was any different. How was a treaty with another family, one my father historically hated, going to do to help?

“Your father is right, Ava. This would normally be the last thing we would do, but with the Russians moving in—”

“She doesn’t need to know the details.” My father cut Gio off before he could explain any more, glancing around the room to make sure no one had heard. We were in a pretty remote corner of the restaurant, but it was still packed with people. It was unusual for them to be discussing business in a setting as public as a restaurant.

“What exactly do you need me for?” I asked curiously, the anticipation burning a hole in my chest.

My father sucked in a sharp breath. “Ava, Nick is Gio’s oldest son and set to take over the Caponelli family. You are going to marry him.” A smirk spread across Nick’s lips as my dad spoke, and I felt a wave of nausea crash into me. What?

“You . . . you want me to get married?” I stuttered, looking back and forth between all three men. “To him?”

Nick

If I had any doubts that Ava knew about any of this before, the look on her face told me everything I needed to know. That motherfucker hadn’t even warned her. He was marrying her off and hadn’t even given her the courtesy of letting her know it was happening.

The fury on her face hurt me at first. I guess I had some half-baked idea of what this would be like in my mind. In my fantasy, she would be elated with the deal. She would be excited at the prospect of marrying me and we’d ride off into the sunset together. That was before Alessandro had royally screwed everything up. Now, she was going to take some convincing. I’d have her either way because of the treaty, but I would prefer her to marry me willingly. I was all for domination in the bedroom, but forcing a girl to do anything against her will wasn’t my thing.

“Yes,” Alessandro said without any further explanation.

“You can’t just write a treaty and be done with it?” Ava’s breathing hastened, and I could see it was taking all of her strength to maintain her composure. It was impressive, really. I tried to imagine being in her shoes—hearing this without any kind of consideration or even a warning—and I would have lost my mind.

“No,” Alessandro answered adamantly. “Your marriage is the only way. It’s not open for discussion.”

My father and I both cringed at the way he spoke to her. Alessandro had next to no respect for his own daughter, and it was infuriating. Women in our family were treated as equals, but apparently Moretti didn’t have that same philosophy. From what I had seen of Ava already, I fully expected her to lose her mind. She didn’t seem like the type to take any of this lying down. What happened next, though, shocked me.

Ava opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. I was waiting for her to yell, to cause a scene, to have a loud and pointed reaction—it was that fiery spirit that drew me to her. Instead, she took a deep breath, refusing to meet my eyes. “Okay.” The meekness in her voice was new to me, and I realized it had everything to do with her father. She didn’t want to rattle his cage in any kind of way, and her submissiveness didn’t sit right with me. She was almost emotionless. Eventually, I’d get to the bottom of it, but for now, I needed to put my attention on the arrangement being set forth.

That was the last that was spoken of our marriage over dinner. Dad and Alessandro carried on, and I interjected a few things here and there, but I spent most of my time studying Ava. She refused to meet my eyes, no matter how desperately I tried to get her to look at me, but I could see the wheels turning in her mind. She was blindsided and hurt, and this was not the way I wanted to start things off with her.

“Who wants dessert?” my dad asked, scanning the menu once we were finished. Ava had picked around her meal most of the night without taking so much as a bite. She wasn’t taking this well. The Ava I knew was not the weak and obedient girl sitting in front of me, and I hated this side of her. I could only imagine what her life had been like to think that this was her place in the world, what Alessandro had put her through to make her react so submissively to him.

This was certainly getting more complicated by the second. I hadn’t been able to convince her to like me again when we weren’t engaged; now it was going to be nearly impossible.

“Actually, I think I’m going to head home,” Ava said suddenly. “I have to be up early tomorrow, and I’m exhausted.” She stood up and grabbed her purse, not giving anyone an opportunity to object. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Caponelli.” She smiled and extended her hand to my father. A smug smile blanketed Alessandro’s face, sickeningly proud of how polite and obedient she was being, just like he had groomed her to be. Personally, I wanted to shake the politeness right out of her and find the girl I had first met.

“It was wonderful to meet you, too, Ava. I am looking forward to getting to know you,” my dad said as I stood up next to him.

“Nick.” She gave me a tight-lipped smile and offered me her hand stiffly, as if she hadn’t held my package in it a few weeks ago.

“Let me walk you out,” I offered, setting my napkin down on the table.

“That’s not necessary,” she said quickly and defensively. I knew the last thing she wanted right now was to be alone with me, but she needed to know that I had only found out that I was to be part of an arranged marriage this morning, and that I’d had no idea she was Alessandro Moretti’s daughter until I’d walked in here tonight. She needed to know that I hadn’t set her up.

“It’s late, Ava. Let him walk you to your car, you never know what is lurking around this side of town. I’ll see you at home,” Alessandro said, the discussion over just like that.

She huffed discreetly and turned to the door. It took me a few paces to catch up to her.

“Ava, please, just wait,” I called after her as she rushed through the door.

“You knew about this, didn’t you? When you told me you had a fiancé?” she asked, big, angry tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

“I knew that I was here to meet the girl my father wanted me to marry, yes. But I had no idea it was you. That you were Alessandro Moretti’s daughter. I mean, fuck, Ava.” I ran my fingers through my hair roughly. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“Because that’s not something I go around bragging about, Nick. And besides, it didn’t seem to matter to you whose daughter I was when I was naked in bed, now, did it?” she snapped. There was that fire I loved so much.

“Look, I had no idea this was going to happen, and honestly, I don’t like it any more than you do.” Sympathy was not really my thing; I wasn’t sure how to pacify her.

“Oh, I’m sure you don’t!” she hissed. Several people in the parking garage were looking at us now. I gritted my teeth, trying to ignore the way she was speaking to me. Normally, I wouldn’t tolerate it, but after all the revelations tonight, I knew she needed someone to take her frustration out on. I could be that for her if that was what she needed.

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