Page 56 of The Agreement

"Madre(mother)," Vinny scolded his mother but it didn’t stop the older woman one bit.

"What? It's true, even you said it before. So, what now that you've been between her legs, your tune is changing?" Val paled at those words. If ever there was a doubt about his mother's feelings towards her, it was answered there. Val sized up the woman and gritted her teeth. She was trying her best to be respectful but being insinuated that she was a whore was testing her limits.

"Sofia," Donatello said and everyone looked at him, "don’t be crude. Val wouldn’t do that and she’s far from some spoiled princess. Unlike most of his women, she has a head on her shoulders. However, I do think it might be time that you, Val, and her mom got to planning on this." Val’s eyes opened wide. No, she was not going to sit around and spend some fucking afternoon tea time playing nice with this woman and planning what was to be her wedding day.

"When I get home with Vinny," Val said, trying her best to relax her jaw, "I'll discuss the date with my husband-to-be and then work from there. I promise you'll have that soon."

"Along with your bridal party. I need to know simply how many people we are looking at," his mom said and Vinny shook his head.

"It’s a huge wedding in Chicago, two mob families coming together, mother, I think it’s going to be pretty big."

"Which is why this must be perfect! Are you really so dense girl as not to see that?"

"Mother, please stop with the insults! What has Valentina ever done to you? You don't even know her." Sofia looked at Val and Val looked right back.

"No, Mrs. Constantini, I'm not that dense, I'm aware that every eye will be on us, as it always has been. I know the meaning of this marriage is an end to a feud that came years before us. I know that neither my father nor Vinny’s father found a way prior to placing both of us on the table to stop this war for them. But since I did not get to choose my husband, I would very much like to choose my own God damn wedding date along with my own fucking wedding party." She felt Vinny pull her closer to his side and without looking, she could tell he was smiling and that made her lift her chin up a notch, letting his mother know she was not going to be intimidated by her.

"Very well, you can pick it. Pick any date between now and six months from now." Val so badly wanted to pull her phone out and calculate six months exactly and that last day would be their wedding day, but she wasn’t so catty or petty.

"Thank you; I'll have one for you soon."

"Where are my sisters?" Vinny asked, surprised to not hear the chatter.

"Out, this was a private dinner," Sofia said as she stood up and checked the time. "Dinner is ready, let's go sit down." They followed her into the dining room and Val took the seat that Vinny pulled out for her.

"We are sitting without this other guest?" Val questioned, finding that both odd and rude. One never did that and Sofia waved her hand.

"I trust she’s around the corner." The word ‘she’ wasn’t lost to Val and the nerves shot up again. She was struggling to deal with Sofia, she couldn't add in another viper now. The cook placed a bowl of soup before her and Val smiled in a way of thanks. Vinny squeezed her leg under the table, giving her his strength before picking up his own spoon. Val took a breath and did the same. But it clattered back to the bowl, splattering her top as she looked at the person who just walked in.

"Sorry I'm late, Sofia, traffic was horrible," Celeste said as she kissed the woman’s cheek. "Oh look, the chair next to Vinny is open."

~ Chapter 43 ~

Valentina watched as Celeste pulled the chair out next to Vinny and she watched as the bitch patted Vinny’s arm. Val was thankful that Vinny had his hand on her leg and his arm covering hers because she was more than tempted to jump over him and play smack a bitch. Forget manners or playing nice with Celeste right now and Vinny knew that, she knew he could sense it.

Celeste looked over at her, a smug smile in place but Val knew better. Let her think that she could win Vinny’s affections, Val knew better. Besides, there was a war that was currently under a cease-fire till a marriage certificate was signed. So if Vinny decided to walk away from her to go to Celeste’s bed, Val’s dad would stop the cease-fire, no matter how upset he was with her.

"Celeste, how has school been going?" Val snapped her head up to look at Sofia before looking at Celeste. Celeste in school was news to her and she was rather surprised by that. Val’s head turned back to look at Sofia. Her eyes narrowed as she took in the older woman, understanding now that nothing she could do would make Sofia happy with her. She was going to be entering a marriage where her mother-in-law didn't care for her at all.

"It’s been going good, thank you. I’m wrapping up finals shortly so hopefully I'm graduating early."

"What a smart woman. Did you hear that Val? Celeste will be done early, why aren’t you?"

"Because a business degree is a five-year study and can’t possibly be done any faster."

"I don't understand why you went into business, it's not as if you need to work," Celeste told her as she slurped at her soup. Val finally managed to get the stain out of her blouse and looked at Celeste.

"Because I have a job that requires me to have a degree. Because I chose not to rely on my husband to provide for me when I have the skills to help him."

"What can you possibly be helping Giovanni with? He’s a smart man who knows his business," Sofia asked and Vinny squeezed her leg.

"Actually, mom, Val helped me with a deal. She read over a contract and found a few holes and questioned them that I never would have. Her mind is amazing with numbers and business."

"A business meeting should never have a woman in it," Donatello stated and Sofia nodded in agreement.

"Quite right. I think you should learn your place, Valentina." Val pushed her bowl away and took a deep breath.

"Well, just so you don’t condemn me further, Vinny asked me to go to this meeting, he asked me to look over the contract and asked me if I saw problems or if I had questions. I didn’t just force myself in there."

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