I held out my hand for the contracts, gently pushing Sofia back to a sitting position, studiously avoiding my father’s eyes. I couldn’t face his guilt, if there was any, and I couldn’t face his nonchalance, if there wasn’t.
I flipped through the terms, my breath shuddering and my heart racing. My father really had intended to sell my sister not just into marriage, but into a polyamorous relationship involving sex games she’d never even heard of, much less wanted, in exchange for financial support and—my heart dropped—security. Protection from the Russians and the Nigerians.
What the fuck had my father done to piss off so many people?
2
RIAN
The three women in the room could not have been more different. Patti Russo, the matriarch, was slim and elegant, a perfect picture of a mafia wife. She ignored her husband’s infidelities, hosted lavish events, and ruled the family with an iron fist. She wasn’t blind to her husband’s faults. No, she benefited from them. Raised to be the perfect Italian-American queen, she excelled at her role as a mafia wife.
The youngest sister, Sofia, was a photocopy of her mother—blonde, blue eyed, and fucking gorgeous even when she cried. Her parents protected her from the worst of their world right up until the moment her father decided to sell her for his own financial and physical security. When presented with an opportunity to escape her family, she crumbled.
Ginevra, on the other hand, was fucking steel she didn’t bother to wrap in velvet. She looked just like her father, from her almost black hair, to her chocolate eyes, to her olive skin, tanned by the California sun. Their eyes were the same too, strangely blank, emotion banked and hidden behind calculating cunning. I couldn’t get a read on her.
Cormac eyed her like a predator, itching to snatch up a juicy morsel and devour it. Although he was pissed about the younger sister, I could see the possibilities turning in his head.
“We’ll take the older sister instead. Same terms,” Liam said, catching the attention of the entire room. Easy for others to forget that behind that carefree attitude, Liam hid a sharp mind.
Ginevra’s eyes widened for a fraction of a second before she carefully turned her face blank once again. In that moment, I saw her fear, her fury, and what I hoped was a hint of heated desire.
She let us stew in silence while her younger sister sniveled on her shoulder. Neither of her parents said anything, apparently willing to let her take the hit for their mistakes.
When she squared her shoulders, I couldn’t stop my eyes from tracing down the v-neck of her amethyst colored shirt, over the soft curves of her breasts.
“I’ll do it,” she agreed, her words barely a whisper. She didn’t look at her father, but I caught the grim pride in his eyes before his own mask slammed down over his face. In our months of doing business together, I’d never seen him look at Luca or Sofia like that.
“I’ll do it,” she repeated with more confidence. “But I have my own terms.”
I leaned back in my chair, taking back control of the conversation. “I don’t think you get to dictate anything, princess. Your father fucking owes us, since the Russo he promised us got herself knocked up.”
Ginevra ignored me, while she glared at her father, fury transforming her face. “Sofia goes to college.”
Oh.She wanted her pound of flesh from her father, too.
“And you make me acapo. Luca remains your heir, but I’m your new right-hand woman.”
Antonio raised his hands, about to protest, but she cut him off.
“I made my bones when I was sixteen years old, Papà. Did you forget?” she snarled.
I looked at this fierce woman with new respect as she haggled with her father. She’d killed a man for her family at sixteen and then walked away from it a few years later.Why?
She turned toward the three of us. “We don’t get married. Instead, we sign legal documents making us a polycule, naming each other as next-of-kin with all the same rights as spouses, and an airtight prenup that keeps your dirty fucking hands off my company.”
I raised my eyebrows in surprise. That wasn’t nearly as difficult a negotiation as I expected. “Everything else remains the same?”
Ginevra licked her lips, the first sign of nerves she’d shown so far. I admired her giant brass ovaries. “I haven’t had enough time to read the entire contract, let alone show it to my lawyer.”
“I’m talking about sex, princess.”
She looked at me, her stare flat and unimpressed.
“The sex is non-negotiable,” Cormac added, his voice equally flat and unimpressed. “Ten million dollars and a long-term security upgrade doesn’t come cheap. Your pussy better be made of fucking diamonds.”
Patti Russo gasped, her face contorted in disgust at his crude words.
Ginevra chuckled to herself, the sound more sad than amused. She stood, and the room stood with her. When she walked over to shake our hands, she said, “Then we agree in principle. I’ll have my lawyer update the contracts and send them to yours.”