Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 125243 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125243 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
I look away. “She wants Antonio.”
“No,” he says again, shaking his head. “That isn’t what I see when I look at her.”
My breath stutters, and when he sees it, he presses harder.
“Play along. Make this engagement believable. Protect her. Then maybe you’ll see what I see.” He steps closer, blocking Azra from view. “Her presence here is valuable, my boy. It could benefit us. Her loyalty—if earned—could shift alliances for centuries to come. You’ve just got to pull your head out of your ass long enough to see that.” His eyes dance between mine, chocolate brown versus murky blue, before he pulls the rug out from beneath my feet. “If you won’t do this for your brothers and me, do it for your mother. You owe her that much.”
My stomach sinks to my feet. He doesn’t remind me often how much I owe her, but whenever he does, it feels like a chain around my throat.
I stare at him, breathing hard, fury burning under my skin, but unable to speak.
“Return to the negotiations,” he says, speaking to the little boy who’d give anything to take his mother’s place. “And tell her you agree to her terms.”
Confident he’s got me by the throat, he turns and leaves.
After a beat, I turn my gaze toward Azra, who’s peering at me with cautious hope.
I’m reluctant to give her any, but I don’t have much choice. I’m not a good man. I sin enough to make the devil blush. But I occasionally mix things up by doing a handful of good deeds, hopeful they’ll outweigh some of the bad enough that a son will have a chance to visit his mother one final time before he’s sentenced to hell.
“Fine,” I mutter, voice flat. “We’ll do it your way.”
The relief flickering across Azra’s face is short-lived.
“On one condition.”
Even from a distance, her huff fans my cheeks. “I have no interest in sucking your dick.”
I smirk at the dishonesty in her tone before I say, “Again.” She rolls her eyes. They only make it halfway around when I state my terms. “The only term I want added is that if Antonio touches you, in any form, I get to remove the offending hand… as I did his father’s for hitting you.”
I study all her expressions when I cross the room, holding out my hand in offering. She’s calm and collected. The sole cause of the tremor running through her is from the spark that shoots up her arm when she slips her hand into mine. “Deal.”
Chapter 6
Azra
My suitcase wheels rattle behind me as I follow a maid down the long hallway. My uneasy steps echo off the polished floors and tall ceilings, and my heart races faster than it should. It’s too reckless and unstable for someone who strategizes every move.
I must still be reeling from the aftershock of Matteo’s agreement.
I didn’t think he’d go along with my plan. I thought he’d laugh in my face, toss money at me, and send me away.
Honestly, if it had gone that route, I would have deposited the money back into his account the first chance I got. I don’t want anything from him. I merely need leverage to get Antonio to look at me like he did when his father arranged our marriage.
As I shadow the maid through the grand Caruso family estate, the memory of a phone call earlier today presses in, sharp and unwelcome, like a scab I can’t stop picking at.
Vivienne, the wedding planner, called while I was still at the private airstrip. Her voice was breathless and frantic, and my stomach dropped before I even understood why she was reaching out.
“Azra, I can’t believe it,” she said, her words tumbling over each other. “Antonio contacted me only minutes after dismissing me.”
I remember gripping the phone tighter, my pulse spiking. “About what? Are they still upset that you’re refusing to refund their deposit?”
Don Adami is cheap. Even with Vivienne’s cancellation fee at only ten percent, he hesitated to sign her on as our wedding planner. He claimed that he should not be held responsible for any payment if the event was canceled. I guess he forgot how much time Vivienne puts into each event.
“No. Quite the opposite, actually. Antonio paid the entire invoice. In full.”
My lungs took stock of my oxygen levels, and the world tilted. Not a lot, more like the ground wasn’t as solid as I thought.
Vivienne adopted the tone wedding planners use when they know they’re saying something they shouldn’t but can’t help themselves. “You couldn’t have picked a better man to make Antonio green with envy. I’ve worked with the Adami family for years. Antonio doesn’t like sharing, but he doesn’t want what everyone else has either. He wants what Matteo has. Always has. He’s been jealous of him since they were boys.” Her next words landed in my stomach like a stone, heavy and cold. “If you want this wedding to go ahead, keep working the angle you are. You’ll be Mrs. Azra Adami before you know it.”