3. Alessandro

Up close, Evelyn Rossi has the cutest constellation of freckles spread across the bridge of her nose, just under those radiant green eyes. They"re wide with fury at the moment as her supple, dark pink lips fire off one foul word after another. I grip her by the arm, which forces her to snap her face at me.

"Get your fucking hands off me right now." Her commands are just like her freckles, cute. The same tall gentleman from the viral video steps forward to enforce her command, but I shoot him a look, daring him to try. He cracks his knuckles, moving his neck from side to side, preparing for what he thinks is going to be a fistfight.

"No, no, no. Stand down, Lurch. We"re not going to tear up Father Andrews's church. My wife and I are going to have a sit down to hash out these details. Father Andrew?" I call over to the priest, who"s shaking with fear a few feet away from us.

Father Andrew trembles as he replies. "Uh, um, yes, Mr. De Luca, sir?"

"Can you please bring us somewhere private? I"d like to have a talk with my wife."

"Stop calling me that, and get your filthy fucking hands off me," Evelyn hisses beside me. She tries to shake loose of my grip. Her breasts jostling under the cream-colored silk blouse makes me wonder what she looks like out of her clothes.

For fuck"s sake. Now"s not the time for this. It"s even worse with her in front of me. At least on a phone or TV screen, I can change the channel, scroll by, or my all-time preference, shut it off. In front of me, my sweet Evelyn is irresistible, devastating, and a distraction in a way neither Family needs.

Father Andrews nods and shows us into his private office. I finally release my hold of her. Evelyn rubs her arm and sits down on the sofa in the office. Now, why does a priest have a couch in his office?

That"s none of my concern, but at least it"s convenient. Don Rossi and Oz follow us into the room, where they each take a seat. I choose to stand, leaning back against the desk while Evelyn rocks her knee up and down, pouting and cursing under her breath.

"You really should watch your language, mio dolce. You"re in a church," I tell her.

She snarls and glares at me before sliding the back of her hand under chin toward me, cursing me with a very familiar gesture anyone would tremble for making.

"Evelyn," Don Rossi sighs. He"s got dark brown eyes that seem set in a permanent scowl.

"You lied to me. Shay knows what"s going on and I don"t? This doesn"t make sense. One of you had better start talking or I start walking." She"s adamant about that, and I"m ready to stop her, but she stays in her seat.

Oz starts, telling her, "Both of our Families have suffered losses recently. Don De Luca is ill, and well, your pocket politician is on the run."

"That"s not telling me anything about why he insists on calling me his wife. Shana told me about a treaty, not a marriage."

I fold my arms across my chest, stroking my beard and thinking of the next time I can get in to my barber. This idea of a treaty isn"t mine, but my loyalty to my father, to my Family, is the only reason I"m going along with this nonsense. However, not telling Evelyn about the setup is a stupid idea, and it"s wasting time.

"The marriage anchors the alliance between our Families," I tell her. "We don"t have time for this. In order for both of our organizations to work together, everyone has to see that this isn"t some ploy to keep the jackals off our territories."

"What"s happened so far?" she asks, her eyes softening as they shift between us.

Her father speaks up. "The reason Shana knows so much, it"s because she was attacked."

"What? I was just with her. She didn"t say anything. She looked fine, wearing makeup and everything. She said she was okay." Evelyn"s confusion isn"t enough to distract me from the smirk spreading across her father"s face. He"s obviously proud that Shana is taking things in stride. Still, the Don"s son-in-law is a piece of shit, and that"s nothing to be proud of.

"Where is she?" I ask.

"Top Gott," Evelyn replies with the nickname given to the female prison on Staten Island. "I thought she was supposed to be with the non-violent offenders."

"She was," Don Rossi says. "I mean, she will be. I had to pull every last favor I had with the Department of Corrections. But it wasn"t bad. Supposedly, one of the Montegna girls got to her, told her to deliver a message. They"re taking over, and we"re all supposed to fall in line. Luckily, it"s just a cut to her side, but more of a bruise to her ego. She"s got protection now. I made sure of that."

"I can talk to some of the guards and make sure it stays that way," I tell them. Don Rossi and Evelyn eye me with surprise in their expressions. I shrug it off. "I don"t want her sister to be a distraction. The wife of Alessandro De Luca needs to focus on being the face that represents the Rossi Family aligning with ours. Everyone we do business with needs to understand that crossing either organization means crossing both of them."

"Why would the Montegnas break up La Familia like this?" Evelyn sighs, resting her forehead on her delicate fingertips.

Oz speaks low, desperately trying to keep his anger in check. "After Don De Luca suffered his heart attack, we tried to keep it quiet. He"d only been in the hospital a few hours before the news got out. They know that both our Families are in rough transitions and felt like La Familia was no longer necessary. They want to take everything from us. We need to work together."

I still don"t know how much of that information is true. I trust Oz to an extent, but I know he"s willing to exaggerate threats in order to push whatever strategy he wants in place. Normally, it"s to the Family"s benefit. But with my father in the hospital for the past two weeks, the De Luca Family's foundation suddenly has cracks in it.

"I need to speak to Evelyn alone," I announce to the room. "Have Father Andrew ready to proceed in a few minutes."

They leave us, and Evelyn is still cross with me. I slide a chair in front of her, sitting down so we"re face to face.

I"m adamant as I speak to her. "You have to go through with this. I can see you"re already thinking about bolting through that door."

"I don"t have to do anything. Marrying you is definitely not on my list. I can"t believe Shana let me walk into this shit."

I chuckle. "Would you have let Lurch bring you here if she told you the truth?"

"Jenkins does whatever my father tells him to do, but I"m sure I would have ditched him to avoid this fuckery."

"Why are you still in New York?" I ask her. "If your Family keeps you in the dark like you won"t get your hands dirty, why stay?"

"Why should I have to leave? The only thing I want is for them to stop treating me like I"m some eight-year-old spoiled princess. Especially when it comes to ruining my life."

"Believe me, mio dolce, being married to me isn"t going to ruin your life. However, I have a certain reputation that needs to remain intact. You need to behave, Evelyn. I"m going along with this sham of a marriage because it allows my Family to recover from my father"s setback. For a while, we weren"t sure he was going to recover at all."

"I"m sorry about your father, Alessandro."

Oh, the way my name comes off her lips makes me think about the many ways I can come off her lips. Shit. I"m not supposed to like this, her, or the idea of her becoming my wife. She"s a distraction, a weakness. If I enjoy any minute of this, Evelyn is going to be a target for anyone looking to cripple the De Luca Family. We can"t risk another blow when it already feels like someone has targets on our backs. I have to keep my head on straight and my other head flaccid.

She doesn"t deserve my ire. I nod, accepting her sympathy. "Thank you. Are you going to marry me or not?"

"Do we have to go through all of this? Why can"t we just say we"re married?" she asks, shaking her head with her eyes locked onto the door.

"We should because if we announce it and it comes out that the marriage isn"t real, can you imagine the blowback? People need to believe we were so in love that we rushed into this church to have Father Andrews marry us. I"ll make sure no harm comes to you or your family during this treaty. I have more pull than the Rossis right now, anyway."

"How do you figure that?" The insult to her pride flashes across her eyes.

"Mio dolce, my father is sick, not dead. There are no rats on our side of this. We don"t have any politicians on the run after beating a bunch of charges. Charges which he buried his wife under. Your vineyard is drowning. I have friends in places La Familia would never go and could never be allowed to enter. Behave, Evelyn, and I will keep you all safe."

"What if I don"t? Behave?" she asks. The challenge in her tone tells me she"s ready to throw her life away to simply not be held down or back.

"If you don"t, Evelyn, then your behavior as this spoiled fucking brat is going to end your Family. No additional protection for your sister, and we let the Montegnas ruin your organization. You"ll take what"s being given to you and hope you have your lives in-fucking-tact by the end of this shit."

"This isn"t a treaty. It"s a hostile fucking takeover."

"Better me than dealing with Don Montegna, mio dolce."

"There"s nothing sweet about any of this. Stop calling me that," she hisses. Again, cute.

I stand up from my seat, offer her my hand, and like a good little girl, she takes it.

The minute we step out of the office, Oz smiles, Don Rossi nods solemnly, and Father Andrews? Well, he looks like he"s about to puke. Lorenzo stands beside Jenkins, that smug motherfucker who"s liable to make this marriage harder than it needs to be.

Evelyn"s stiff beside me, standing a few feet in front of the altar as Father Andrew recites passages for weddings, talking about the sanctity of vows and marriage. I can"t stop myself from dragging my gaze down the contours of her silhouette.

Her hair looks soft to the touch and her scent is something sweet. I can"t place the aroma, but it"s reminiscent of candy with a hint of something floral. The arch in her lower back dips in just enough to show me she"s working with a nice ass, probably a nice set of tits to match.

I don"t need this kind of distraction. If she"s as smart as I think she is, she"ll use this marriage against me, somehow. Isn"t that what love is all about? Letting love or anything of the sort near me is a death sentence. All anything like that does is leave me open, vulnerable, with a weakness to exploit.

I can"t have that. I won"t.

"Alessandro De Luca, do you take Evelyn Rossi as your lawfully wedded wife? To have and to hold, for richer and poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do you part?"

I look at Father Andrew, beads of sweat pouring down the side of his face. He"s trembling because if I don"t go through with this, it"s highly probable that his life"s in danger simply to keep this shit quiet. However, I"m a team player, loyal to my Family, and I won"t go back on this decision. Especially hearing Evelyn already agree to the vows.

"I do." I say the words to the relief of everyone around this altar. "And now, do I kiss the bride?"

Evelyn scoffs, rebuffing the very idea of putting her mouth on mine. Still, I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her in close.

"Come on, mio dolce," I coax her. "We gotta sell it."

While her expression remains icy, her posture softens just enough for her to lean closer to me. She turns her face toward mine, and I claim those supple lips like they"ve always belonged to me. The tiniest moan seeps from her throat and forces me to pull away. She"s not to enjoy this. I have to keep her on her toes or else that means the end of me.

My eyes shift from Evelyn to her father, then to the man called Jenkins. "Now that this is done, we can focus on getting our house in order. My first task is to make sure the Rossis' baggage doesn"t taint the De Luca Family."

"What does that fucking mean?" Evelyn snaps as she snatches herself out of my grasp and takes a step away from me.

"That means making sure no rats get next to me. The way I do that is by making sure everyone around me is vetted. Your guy, Lurch, Jenkins, whatever the fuck his name is over there. He"s off your detail, mio dolce."

"Absolutely not!" Evelyn contests my decision, and I have to make sure she understands that my word is final.

"You will learn to honor me as my wife in public, Evelyn, or you will fear me in private. He"s gone." I reiterate the words to everyone in the room.

The darkness of my tone leaves no room for negotiations. Everyone nods in acceptance, but Evelyn, her steel resolve tightens even though she keeps her mouth shut. That"s okay, it"s better for her to keep it shut unless, of course, I have something better to stick in it.