To do that, I needed her to agree to marry me.
To have a marriage, I needed the Capribella Family to acknowledge her existence.
To do that, I needed Layla to formally claim Angelo Sebastian Capribella as her biological father.
For any of this to happen, I needed Layla to trust me.
Whether she liked it or not, she was the great-granddaughter of Victor Capribella. Therefore, she was entitled to inherit the mantel of the entire Capribella Family. When she formally took over the family, she would control what they did. When we married, we would officially be joining both families together. Together we both would stop her father and Bianchi. Adverting a war and bloodshed.
But none of this would happen if I didn’t get her to agree.
It was a domino effect.
One couldn’t happen without the other.
It wasn’t the best of plans, and anything could go wrong, but I couldn’t do anything until I had Layla by my side.
The joining of two prominent families was a significant undertaking and one not taken lightly. Many discussions would take place before the marriage would even be considered. Then once everything was agreed upon and the marriage scheduled, because Layla’s family was in Sicily, the marriage would take place on her family’s land. The whole process generally took months to plan, but we didn’t have that kind of time. I needed to make both sides understand the severity of the situation and agree to this union immediately. It wasn’t going to be easy, but it would help if I could get Layla on the same page.
As the head of the Capribella Family, her word would be law, like mine. Both families would have no choice but to fall in line.
Though I wasn’t happy with how our marriage would start, it would allow me to keep my promise and make sure she was safe.
It wasn’t going to be straightforward combining both families. Both still held decades of animosity towards each other, but I was willing to compromise for the safety of both families. I was betting that the Capribella’s would too. Joining both families was the only way to stop this war from happening.
“You can just turn around and leave me alone. You have nothing to say that I want to hear.”
Smiling, I stopped, putting my hands in the pockets of my trousers.
God, she was stubborn.
I stood there watching her move about the garden, smelling and touching all the different flowers. She was stunning in the sunlight, and if I had more time, I would love to just stand there and watch her all day.
She was that mesmerizing.
On the other hand, she would be a handful. I had met many stubborn women in my life, but none compared to Layla. She was everything. Beauty, brains, strength, determination, and yes, even a fragility uncommon in today’s women. There were moments when I just wanted to hold her, then the next…all I could think about was strangling her. She was opinionated, willful, caring, loving, all wrapped in one extraordinary woman.
She would keep me on my toes, that was for sure.
But regardless of her stubbornness, she needed me.
I just needed to make her see that.
“Why are you still standing there?” she asked stubbornly, turning to face me.
“Just looking at a beautiful woman.”
Rolling her eyes, she walked towards a rose bush. Leaning over, she smiled as the fragrance of the roses wafted around her. “How can something that has a strong, distinct smell be so delicate and fragile?”
“Beauty generally does. It doesn’t matter how beautiful something is. There is always a quiet gentility.”
“I can’t marry you Gio.”
“Why?”
“Because we just met. You don’t know me.”
“I know more than you think.”