Page 5 of His Playground
“It will bring peace to our two organizations, Louie. Think about it,” Joey presses. “Antonia will be married regardless. It will either be to one of your men or someone from another family.”
My heart is racing.Someone from our organization, or someone from another family. There is no option here. Like fuck am I going to sit back and watch the woman I’ve loved from a distance be marry’d off to anyone who isn’t me.
“I’ll do it,” I say, keeping my voice neutral. Nonchalant.
Louie turns to look at me. “Excuse me?” He blinks, the shock evident on his face.
“I’ll do it. I’ll marry her. For the family. It’s a good idea.” I lift a shoulder, doing my best not to show just how much Iwantto fucking do this. Ineedto fucking do this.
“You want to enter into an arranged marriage?” Louie asks.
“Sure.” I nod.
“Fine.” He turns back to Joey. “Let’s make a deal.” The two men shake hands, sealing my fate.
My lips tilt up. I can’t fucking wait for Antonia to find out who she’s being offered to on a silver platter. I can already picture her reaction—and let’s just say she won’t take too kindly to the idea. No doubt she’s going to try to kill me.
In exchange for the union, Joey gave us his blessing to kill his guy. The old fuck claimed he had no clue as to what his staff was doing behind his back. Do I believe him? Fuck no. But I know when to keep my mouth shut, and this is one of those times.
As soon as the office empties out, we make our way down to the basement to deal with Marciano’s guy. “You really want to do this?” Louie asks me.
“Yep.”
“Why?” he presses.
“You said it yourself: I have a daughter now and every little girl needs a mother,” I lie. Antonia might become my wife, but I’d never try to replace Jazzy’s mother, whoever the fuck she is.
“That’s not a reason to marry a stranger,” Sammie chimes in.
“Do ya wanna take my place?” I raise a brow at him. Sammie is allergic to commitment and relationships.
“Fuck no.” He shakes his head.
“Didn’t think so.”
After Louie got a call telling him he needed to get back to Charlotte, we agree to leave the fucker in the basement on ice. Which means I’m able to return home earlier than I thought.
Lailani is on the sofa with Jazzy curled up on her lap. “Did she wake up?” I whisper.
“Yeah, she had a bad dream,” she says, keeping her voice low.
“I’ll take her back to bed. You can go home. Thanks for doing this,” I tell her.
“Anytime. She’s a great kid.” Lailani smiles down at Jazzy.
“She really is,” I say, scooping up my daughter.
Fuck, I’m still not used to that.Daughter. I have a fucking daughter. Never in a million years did I think I’d have a daughter.
Jazzy stirs as I gently lay her on her bed. “Carlo?”
“Yeah, it’s me, sweetheart. Go back to sleep.” I pull the blankets up over her body, tucking them in at the sides, exactly how she instructed me to do it her first night here.
“Will you stay? Don’t leave me,” she pleads.
“Sure. I’m not going anywhere. You’re stuck with me now, kid.” I sit on the floor next to her bed, and she closes her eyes.
I don’t know when I drifted off, but I wake up to tiny hands shaking my shoulder and a giggle so fucking innocent it’s intoxicating. There’s not much in my world that’s pure and good. But Jasmine? She’s all of that. Blonde curls, big green eyes, and a smile that literally brightens the room greet me as I look up at her.
