Chapter 56 MICELI

The jet hasn't even touched down and I'm getting texts from Giovanna and Allessio.

PR Giovanna : Róise refuses to be there for the interview .

What the actual fuck?

Allessio : Róise can't leave campus before three o'clock .

Why the hell not?

Too tired for this bullshit, I go straight to the source. I call Róise but my call goes to voicemail.

Damn it to hell. I asked her if she had anything important to say when we were texting (in the middle of a negotiation with the Lombardi don) and she said no.

Her refusal to show up for the interview to announce our engagement is pretty important.

I text her.

Ares : Call me when you get this .

I give her the time it takes to deplane and text again.

Ares : Don't ignore me, Róise. This is important .

She does not reply by the time I'm driving back toward the City. Once I am don, I'll have to use a security detail like Sev does.

All the damn time. I intend to enjoy my freedom to drive my McLaren while I have it.

I use the hands free option to text my recalcitrant fiancée again.

Ares : You need to be at the hotel by 1:30. This is not negotiable .

We're doing the interview in a suite at the Ritz-Carlton – Central Park. No one else needs to know the significance, but Róise does .

I thought it would make her smile.

Guess I was fucking wrong.

She hasn't called me by the time I reach the Oscuro building. So, I send one more text.

As an afterthought, I add another text because plans have had to change.

Ares : We need to talk about living arrangements .

Thirty minutes later when there is still no reply, I text again.

Ares : You are being immature and stubborn. Sometimes you are more trouble than your worth .

Which is a fucking lie, but I don't like being ignored by her. I want to see her. I need to see her. If she comes into Manhattan early, we can have lunch together before the interview.

Or spend our time doing something else.

Clearly, that is not happening.

I should have taken her with me to Boston.

The knowledge she might have refused to go sends my already foul mood plummeting.

This obsession is only getting worse.

When my brother and cousin figure out how bad it is, and they will, they are going to laugh their asses off.