Page 12 of The Agreement

“Pleasure to finally meet you, Valentina.”

“Likewise Johnny. Seen you around of course, but never really introduced.”

“Such a shame; maybe I could have caught your eye before Vinny did.” With that, she glanced at Vinny. Seems like even his closest friends didn’t have the whole truth behind this agreement, and she was okay with that. And she knew exactly what these introductions were, these were his closest circle, those he trusted most and who she could trust if she needed. And only these people.

“I don’t know Johnny, I remember hearing things around school and I’m not sure you could be what I needed you to be.”

“What a burn,” someone else said which caused Johnny to laugh but nodded at her, a sign of respect and Vinny chuckled next to her.

“And that loud mouth is Francisco, but we all call him Frankie.” She held out her hand to the man who made Johnny laugh, his build giving him away as to his job in this inner circle. He took her hand and placed a kiss on the back of it.

“Ciao a una bella donna, sei sicuro di voler rimanere con lui(hello to a beautiful woman, are you sure you want to stick with him)?” She laughed and looked at Vinny who was glaring at Frankie.

“He is also a major flirt,” Vinny grumbled. She put her hand on Vinny’s arm.

“I can tell, Vinny.”

“Where is Carlos?” Vinny kept looking around before looking back at the guys.

“Who is Carlos?”

“The other half of this club owner, Vinny’s right-hand man, and a dear business partner for him,magnifico(gorgeous). And you,” the young man said as he walked up behind them and took her hand, kissing the back of it again, “must be his fiancé.”

“Valentina.”

“I’m Carlos.”

“Pleasure to meet you.”

“Believe me,magnifico(gorgeous), the pleasure is all mine. We all wondered who would make Vinny take the plunge.” Someone snorted from behind them and she turned to look at the woman who was standing up and walking over to the group.

“You all make her sound like a saint, but you all were just talking about her not long ago. In fact, Carlos, wasn’t it you, who just the other day, was sending your condolences to Vinny about having to marry the De Luca snob.” Valentina stiffened at those words. “And wasn’t it you, Frankie, who told Vinny that you would buy him a heater so he could thaw Valentina’s frozen heart?” If it was possible, Valentina’s back got even straighter.

“Celeste!” Carlos said, walking over to her, trying to get her to shut up.

“No, don’t tell me to shut up. You can all pretend to her face that you think the De Luca whore is perfect but you all don’t like her any more than I do. She’s not anyone that will demand respect.”

“She’s my future wife, so yes, she will demand respect.”

“Does your precious wife need to be told that you were in my bed last night, fucking me?” And before anyone could stop her, Celeste flew at Vinny, wrapped her arms around his neck, and shoved her tongue in his mouth, claiming his lips. Everyone stood shocked for a moment, trying to process what they were seeing, but it was Valentina who finally moved.

Valentina was not going to take being disrespected; especially to her face. And even if her words were true about last night, that was not something that needed to be aired. But before Vinny could shove Celeste off, Valentina had roughly grabbed her arm and hauled her off, spinning around so she was looking at Val.

“I don’t care who you think fucking are, Celeste,” her nails digging into Celeste’s arm, blood slowly oozing out, “ma io sono una dannata principessa mafiosa(but I am a God damn mafia princess) and don’t doubt that I have the means and capabilities to make you disappear.

“You don’t have to like me, which is fine because I don’t fucking like you, but you will not, and I mean EVER, disrespect me again. Mi dico chiaramente(do I make myself clear)?”

“You’re hurting me.” That only made Val dig her nails in even more, a brow slowly being raised in threat.

“Do I make myself clear?” Val repeated the question, her voice dropping lower and there was no mistaking the threat that was there and only a fool would disobey.

“Yes.”

“Good, now go. I don’t want to see you at the moment.” Celeste looked from her to Vinny and Val followed her gaze and she swallowed hard at the cold face of Giovanni. Shit, did she mess up by not being the proper woman like he wanted?

~ Chapter 11 ~

Salvatore looked between the couple and saw the hard glint in Vinny’s eyes. Yes, Valentina maybe shouldn’t have been so forceful and left marks on Celeste, but Celeste shouldn’t have disrespected her either; and everyone, including Celeste, knew that. Val did what any princess would have done, stood up for herself. And he had to make Vinny see that; after all, he was the only one who knew the terms of this agreement. So, he grabbed Carlos and told him to take Val down to the dance floor while he took Vinny to the office. Once Carlos took her, much to Vinny’s annoyance, Salvatore grabbed his arm, “let’s go.”

---