Page 5 of Mafia Daddy's Christmas Bride
Of course he’d fuck her.
I watch Marco's face carefully. His initial disgust shifts. He’s clearly calculating, considering.
Then his eyes slide to me.
I shift, though I don’t know why I feel uncomfortable.
“I suppose there could be some advantage. What do they say? Keep your enemies closer?” Marco states. I’m shocked. He’s not seriously considering this, is he?
Hope blooms in Don Ferraza’s eyes again.
“But Roman would be a more suitable match," Marco continues, his tone matter-of-fact. "My most trusted man. My brother in all but blood."
Wait. What?
As cool and collected I can be, this throws me. My eyebrows must be up to my hairline as my gaze jerks to Marco.
All eyes turn to me.
"Roman would keep her in line, find out exactly what she's divulged to the Feds." Marco’s voice drops to a deadly, quiet tone. "And if she doesn't toe the line…"
The implication hangs in the air. If Isabella Ferraza can't be controlled, I'll be expected to eliminate the threat. Even as my wife.
Leonardo's face contorts briefly, his pride wounded at having his daughter handed off to an underboss rather than a Don.
“My daughter deserves?—”
“Your daughter betrayed us,” Marco snaps.
“If you want her to live, Leo, you should accept this offer,” Don Vitale says.
Apparently, desperation wins out. His daughter's life hangs in the balance, and he knows it. “Fine.”
"Roman is family to me," Marco adds, like he’s trying to soften the blow. "This union would bind our houses just as effectively." He turns to me. “Roman?”
Can I say no to this? It doesn’t feel like it.
I feel the weight of every gaze upon me, measuring my reaction. Inside, objections pile up.
Angelica, my freedom, the absurdity of marrying a woman I might have to kill.
But externally, I remain stoic.
“Angelica could use a mother figure.” Marco isn’t asking me to do this. It’s an order.
But he’s at least trying to offer benefits to the arrangement.
Of course, he doesn’t see how fucked up it would be if Angelica grew attached to Isabella and then I had to kill Isabella.
Angelica would essentially have lost two mothers.
“It’s a strategic match," I hear myself say. Keep Isabella close. Monitor her communications. Extract information about her handler.
“That it is,” Don Monti says.
"And if she proves loyal? If she was truly just a pawn?" I ask, surprising myself with the question.
"Then you'll have gained a wife to keep you warm at night and Angelica gains a mother. Consider it a bonus. I mean, she’s a beautiful woman." His casual tone masks the gravity of what he's proposing.
