2. Matteo

2

MATTEO

" H ave you spoken to Mancini about the impending nuptials?" my younger brother, Enzo, asks over the pounding bass of the music at Fierce, a high-end nightclub I own in the heart of New York City.

"He rescheduled that meeting to Sunday," I say as a group of ladies led by a familiar-looking blonde with long pin-straight hair, and even longer legs, make their way toward our VIP lounge.

"Incoming, Boss," my guard, Rocco, says, nodding to the entrance of the room that is now occupied by the three girls. They're each wearing the same style dress, just in different colors. Short enough that they barely cover the curve of their asses, and tight enough that their tits nearly pop up over the edge of their tops.

Gianni, who's standing guard at the entrance of the squared-off room, glances back at me for confirmation, to which I give a slight nod, signaling him to allow the girls in.

The cushion of the black velvet couch sinks when my brother leans over, lowering his voice so only I can hear him. " You're entertaining this?" Enzo scoffs. I'm sure he recognizes the blonde who hasn't taken her eyes off me since she got up here, just like every other time she's been at my club for the past month.

Angling my head toward my brother, I smirk as the blonde makes herself comfortable between Rocco and I while her friends flank him and my brother's sides.

"Thanks for letting us join you," the blonde next to me squeals, making me regret this decision. But there's a purpose for her tonight, and until that purpose is fulfilled, I'm stuck with her.

Glancing over, I take in her bright-blue eyes and red lipstick. It could've been worse. At least the girl is hot—when she doesn't speak.

"I'm Ashley." Her hand slides up my thigh, and I instinctively grab her wrist. She's more eager than I anticipated, but I guess that's to be expected coming from a girl who eye-fucks me every chance she gets.

Her eyes widen as she tenses, so I loosen my grip on her and extend my other arm around her shoulder while caressing her fingers on my leg. If I'm going to lead the girl on, the least I can do is not be a complete dick about it.

She relaxes into me, and her overly sweet perfume assaults my nostrils. Great, just what I need. To smell like a damn stripper.

"What's your name?" she asks, pressing her fake tits into my side. I'm not an idiot; she's been asking around about me and knows I own this club. I can't stand when they act dumb, but it's almost 11:00 p.m., so I'll entertain this for a couple more minutes.

"Matteo."

"Matteo," she purrs as her glistening eyes dart to my lips. Why do women make it so damn easy ?

"I have to admit, I've noticed you around." She bats her fake lashes at me.

Look at that. Honesty. Say it ain't so.

"Have you now?" I ask, disengaged.

Before she continues, I feel Rocco's eyes shift toward me, likely trying to get my attention, which means someone else has finally found their way to our lounge.

Right on time.

"Yeah, I was hoping you'd?—"

"What exactly is going on here?" a nagging voice interrupts from across the room.

I side-eye the source of the noise. "Giuliana," I acknowledge, my tone reflecting my relaxed demeanor. I feel my brother's gaze settle on my face as he puts together why I've chosen to entertain these girls tonight out of all nights.

Giuliana looks cute in her tight little black dress with her pin-straight dark-brown hair hanging down just past her shoulders. I'll even go as far as to say she's hot, but this thing about her irritates the hell out of me, and if I'm going to be stuck with her attached to my name the rest of my life, it's about time she understands where she stands.

"Who is this whore that's saddled up next to you with her talons glued to where they don't belong, Matteo?" she sneers, crossing her arms and giving each of her friends who flanked her sides a smirk.

Ashley caresses my inner thigh, clueless to what she's become a part of, and while I'd feel bad for her. . . well, I just don't. Sympathy isn't a trait I possess for meaningless women.

Nodding toward Ashley, I give Giuliana the introduction she asked for. "Ashley, Giuliana, Giuliana, Ashley."

Giuliana's dark eyes snap to Ashley's before she puts on a pristine smile, like a trained pageant queen. She glides toward us and extends her hand to Ashley. "Nice to meet you, hun . "

Ashley stiffens next to me, surely not expecting Giuliana's one-eighty. Too bad for her it's all a ploy. She lifts her hand from my thigh and goes to shake Giuliana's.

Foolish girl.

Before Ashley can reciprocate the fake pleasantries, Giuliana takes her hand and jerks her out of her seat. She stumbles over her five-inch heels, falling to the floor. Yanking her up, Giuliana pulls Ashley toward her while I remain seated, intrigued in seeing what Giuliana thinks she can do in this situation.

"Listen here, you twat. Matteo is my fiancé. So unless you want me to arrange your sudden disappearance, I highly recommend you keep your trashy ass hands off him. Got it?" she snaps.

Giuliana and I have grown up in the same crime-ridden life, her father being the head of one of the four crime families in New York, so violence is something she's used to. She's only twenty-two, seven years younger than me, and was never my first choice for marriage, but her family has control of one of the two ports in the city, which is something I need.

Her father and I are signing a contract that will give me control of his port upon our marriage as long as I give him seventy-five percent of the proceeds. It's a fucking greedy ass deal, but I don't need the money. I need to control who has access to the port. Having control of both ports in the city is crucial.

"I-I didn't realize he was engaged," Ashley says. The poor girl seems to have lost her confidence just as quickly as she lost her balance when she was yanked up by Giuliana.

"That's because I'm not," I interrupt, my gaze placed firmly on Giuliana's. The flame in her eyes she had moments ago has extinguished.

"As of right now, you and I are not engaged, Giuliana, and even if we were, you must be confused as to how this marriage is going to work."

Her eyes widen. "Matteo?—"

I hold up my hand, silencing her.

"If you think you have any say in what I do, you're sorely mistaken, so I highly recommend you let go of Ashley and take yourself the fuck away from me before I decide to find another bride."

The meaningless threat lingers in the air as I glance back at Ashley and give her a grin that immediately relaxes her. She returns it with that same glisten in her eyes she had before we were interrupted.

"Someone more accommodating maybe," I add with a smirk before returning my attention back to Giuliana whose lip is curled and eyebrows are drawn close together.

She reluctantly releases Ashley's hand and steps back. "I apologize, Matteo," she says, her tone soft, no longer displaying that edge she had upon walking in here. She eyes me, waiting to see if I'll say anything else.

I don't.

When she finally realizes I'm done speaking to her, she turns to her friends and nods toward the door, exiting without another word.

Ashley returns to her seat next to me on the couch, placing her hand back on my thigh as if it never left, and I let her.

"Well, that was quite the show," Enzo says from next to me with a dark chuckle. "So what do you want to do now?"

"I'm not quite sure what you're going to do," I say as I rest my arm over the back of the couch, "but I'm going to take Ashley here back to my office and let her suck my dick."

Her eyes gleam at the excitement of finally getting what she's wanted for the past month. It's predictable. Boring. But it'll get the job done .

"I need to prove a point to Giuliana, and I'm going to use Ashley to prove that point. You don't have a problem with that, do you, Ashley?"

Her smile widens as she responds all too eagerly. "Not at all."

I prefer a chase, something that gets the blood pumping, but I can't remember the last time I felt that way regarding a woman. I enjoy sex like any other guy, but the push and pull makes it a little more exciting for me. It's always the same old thing—easy, and that gets boring real fucking fast.

"And what is that point exactly?" Enzo asks, pulling me out of my thoughts. I turn my attention back to him with Ashley's brunette little friend still glued to his side.

"That no one dictates my life. Her father and I might be signing a contract that involves us getting married, but she's fucking delusional if she thinks I'm going to allow her to have any say in this marriage of convenience."

Chuckling, Enzo shakes his head as he twirls his index finger in the air. "So, that's what this was all about. You're asserting your dominance."

He posed it as a statement and not so much a question, which requires only a slight nod of my head, confirming the accusation.

"This engagement is about to become a whole lot more real, so I needed Giuliana to understand that she's nothing but a business transaction to me. A means to an end. She needs to understand the role she's going to be playing in my life."

Standing from the couch, I pull Ashley up with me and glance back at my brother who looks awfully comfortable for someone who didn't want to entertain these women not too long ago. "I refuse to deal with a wife who thinks she's anything more to me than a name on a piece of paper when we have far bigger issues to work out with this merger. "

Enzo raises his hands. "Hey, you know I'm here for the bigger picture."

After saying our goodbyes, I lead Ashley and I toward my office, and just as I predicted, Giuliana's eyes are glued on me from her VIP table in the corner.

I knew she wouldn't leave the club unless I ordered her to, and that would've defeated the purpose of allowing her to show up here tonight. I want her to see me bring Ashley into my office. I want her to know she'll be getting me off tonight. Because the sooner she understands this upcoming marriage between us means nothing, the better it'll be for both of us.