Page 39 of Red Retaliation
“I can’t bring Steve back,” I say. “I wish I could.” I cut Liam a look. He should know when to pull his head in. I’ve got enough on my plate without his fucking whining. He’s already weighed out five hundred quid getting a posh crown fitted over the remains of the tooth I shattered, but if he doesn’t shut the fuck up about Arianna, he’ll need all his teeth replacing.
“Who was that woman I saw you talking to in the lobby?” Liam presses. “Is she something to do with the funeral? You must know who I mean? About fifty, wearing enough slap to stock a teenage netball team’s makeup bag!”
I inwardly sigh. There’s no time like the present to deliver the bombshell. At least Del’s kept his gob shut on this, giving me time to get things in place. “That woman is a personal shopper from Harrods. She’s brought Arianna more clothes.”
“More?” Oscar rolls his eyes. “Fuck me! Wasn’t the other shit you got delivered to her liking? Used to Gucci labels only, is she?”
Swallowing my brewing irritation, I smile coldly. “Actually, it was me who insisted.” I steeple my fingers together on the gleaming surface of my desk. “Arianna needs suitable clothes for functions.”
“Functions?” Liam’s whiskey glass stops halfway towards his mouth. “What functions? Am I missing something?”
“She’s also being measured up...” I continue, “...for a wedding dress ready for our marriage.”
I expect the room to implode the second my words hit home, but there’s an unexpectedly long pause before Liam breaks the silence.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding?” He slams his fist on my desk, his face incredulous. “Seriously, I don’t believe it! What the fuck, Red?”
Liam’s outburst kickstarts Oscar. “You can’t do this, Red. Keeping the woman here for leverage is one thing, butmarryingher is another!”
My eyes harden. “Regardless of what you think, this is the best way.”
“This was the reason you abandoned shooting the fuck out of those bastards last night?” Liam shakes his head in disbelief. “Forthis? Fuck me sideways! Is retaliation for Steve not worth more than dipping your wick?”
“Steve is worth a thousand times more thananyonein this fucking room!” My fist crashes onto the glass top of my desk much harder than Liam’s effort. I expect it to shatter, but it doesn’t. “The marriage is happening,” I seethe. “It’s nothing to do with ‘dipping my wick’, as you so succinctly put it. I don’t want my cock anywhere near a Galvatore or, even less, a Galvatore who’s had a Bristoni in it! This is pure payback!”
Except that isn’t entirely true...
I stand up from my desk and stalk over to the decanter for a refill before I shove the thick crystal tumbler I’m holding into my brother’s face. “I shouldn’t need to underline this, but I will. I won’t be physically involved with Arianna.” I keep my back to the room so no one can see my face. “As I already said to Del, this marriage will be inname onlyand nothing more.”
“Wait! Del knew about this before us? Your own brothers?” Oscar barks.
I top up my glass for the third time. “I needed someonerationalto discuss it with.”
“But youwillbe involved because you’ll give her your name -ourname,” Liam sneers. “Whether it’s in name or body, that’s still ‘involved’. It’s a fucking marriage, for God’s sake!”
I swig my whiskey. Liam is correct on that point, but that’s the part I’m struggling with. I don’t want to be involved with Arianna. That’s what I keep telling myself. So, is my decision to wed her to torture myself or because I want to keep her around?
Leaving my nagging question unanswered, I turn back to my brothers. “What I’ve planned will have the best effect on our enemies, therefore I’ve arranged for the wedding to happen tomorrow.” Pulling plenty of strings to organize things at such short notice cost a pretty penny too. “The quicker this marriage happens, the better the effect.”
“Tomorrow?” Liam rakes his fingers through his thick hair so similar to my own. “For Christ’s sake!”
“Are you sure about this?” There’s a pleading tone in Oscar’s voice. “There’s other ways of dealing with this. Plenty of other ways - ourusualway, for a start.”
“I’m sure,” I nod. “But this way inflicts the most damage and sets ourplace for all to witness, as well as exposing those cunts for what they are.” My eyes gleam at the thought of unraveling the lies that pair of shitelords have thrown about for years while we’ve waited in the sidelines.
“This is the opportunity we’ve been waiting for,” I continue, “just in a way we didn’t expect. I’ve already invited the press here after the ceremony tomorrow to announce the marriage and, by doing that, the Bristoni account of everything will be exposed as bullshit.”
Oscar and Liam exchange looks and then Oscar expels a long, hissed breath. “Well, I suppose we should thank you for warning us that the shit will nowreallyhit the fan.”
CHAPTER
27
Arianna
IDON’T THINK I could feel any more humiliated if I tried. Having had only a couple of hours to get my head around that I’ve somehow agreed to marry my family’s arch-nemesis is so impossible that I’m nowhere near processing it. But to discover the wedding dress I’ve just been measured up for is required fortomorrowis something I must ignore. It’s the only way I can cope.
It’s also the only way I stand a chance of hiding that this unexpected news was something I was utterly unaware of. I’m unsure whether I succeeded because this Harrods woman - Sylvia - has looked at me suspiciously more than a few times.
