3. Antonio
Chapter three
Antonio
I ’m tossed into a surprisingly comfortable chair, arms still bound in front of me with the thickest zip ties I’ve ever seen.
“Apologies, if I had known about this meeting, I would’ve put on my designer swim shorts,” I comment sarcastically. I’ve been in these stupid shorts for the entire eleven-hour flight. To say Marseille is cold compared to Mauritius would be an understatement. “At least this chair is more comfortable than the flight over,” I grumble.
“My apologies that our jet isn’t up to your billionaire standards. You must share your charter company with me and I’ll make sure to upgrade ours accordingly.” I hear a voice speak up. My eyes trace around the room to find its origin to be the large chair behind an equally large desk in the centre of the room.
The chair spins comically slow mimicking something out of The Godfather . But instead of Al Pacino I’m met with a face eerily similar to Mattheo’s, and a chill runs down my spine. Suddenly, even the ability to swallow is lost as my mouth dries up. It looks exactly like him—
“What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” the man taunts with a sly smirk on his lips. “I have always been told my younger brother looks almost identical to me.”
“Yeah, you both have the same dick head air to you,” I spit, regaining my composure. “What am I doing here? Who are you?”
A light chuckle passes his lips. “You don’t even know who I am, yet you insult me? I brought you here to offer you a deal for your safety.”
My brows furrow before I even have the chance to control my reaction.
“I should have had my men kill you on the spot for murdering my brother, but instead I chose to give you the option of life.”
“Am I supposed to say thank you?”
“That’s one place to start, especially since I’m not only sparing your life, but the lives of everyone in your family.”
“You leave them out of this!” I bark, rising to my feet, but a strong hand grips my shoulder and slams me back into the chair.
“Do not confuse me for a nice man, Mr. Vitale. I can, and will, have you executed if you speak to me in that tone again.” He picks up a cigarette and lights it, releasing its all-too-familiar scent into the room.
My father smoked. It’s a horrible habit Adriano inherited, and for a brief time, so did Valerie. It’s the kind of smell that sits with you for years, and it’s enough to stir up even the most suppressed memories
A beat of silence passes and I use it to try and survey my surroundings while simultaneously trying to get my rapid heartbeat to calm down.
It’s a fairly large study—one that’s clearly a library, as well, by the amount of books lining the walls. It’s dark aside from the one large window behind the main desk in the room. Its large curtains barely let in any light and I get the feeling that may be their purpose. No light in, no light out. The smell of smoke pollutes the air, and with another exhale, the man in front of me shifts, drawing my eye towards him again.
“Now that you’ve calmed down and I have your attention, allow me to introduce myself.” He kills the cigarette in a shell-shaped ashtray.
“I am Gabriel Auclair, the leader of the French cartel, and you and your brothers have heavily disgraced me with your recent actions.”
“Well, your brother was stalking and harassing my best friend.”
“Ahh yes, your best friend , my ex-sister-in-law, and apparently your new sister-in-law,” he jabs.
“And he threatened to kill my brother.” I skip over his statement.
“Hmm, but from what I understand, your brother is the one who drew his weapon first.”
I fall silent at his point. As much as I hate Mattheo for what he did to Valerie, I can’t lie that Ambrose wasn’t the one who pulled the weapon first.
“You’re so loyal to your little family. I find it quite cute considering how much pain both Ambrose and Valerie have brought you,” he starts.
I look down at my hands as they tremble against the tight restraints. Slightly cut and bruised from the fight I put up once I woke up from my little slumber.
“They honestly make an adorable couple. I should send them an engagement gift.”
My eyes flash up to him. “What are you talking about?”
“You didn’t hear? They had their engagement party today. It’s probably why no one has noticed that you’re missing from your little island holiday yet.” He stands and starts pacing behind the desk. “What a shame, I left them such a cute note, too.”
No. This can’t be real.
My entire body is shaking now. “You’re lying,” is all I manage to grumble.
As selfish as Ambrose is, he'd never go this far. He’d never purposely exclude me from something like this.
“Oh, what a shame.” He fakes a pout and walks towards me.
As he steps closer, I can take in more of his features. His sharp nose is the main feature I notice before taking in just how old he looks. He looks like he could easily be in his late sixties by his nearly full grey beard, which is a stark contrast to his skin. The greys highlight the reddish-orange hues of his brown skin. His hair, although quite short, is a similar grey colour made up of soft curls.
“I was hoping I wouldn’t have to show you.” He extends his phone screen out towards my face and presses play on a video.
My heart shatters as I watch the scene unfold in front of me. Valerie and Ambrose stand in front of a huge crowd in the backyard of our villa. A crowd that not only includes Valerie’s family and friends, but also includes my brothers, Mamá, and even Kaia.
“ We gathered you all here for a very special announcement ,” Ambrose says as he beams down at Valerie, who looks up at him as if he put the stars in the goddamn sky. She’s wearing a floor-length pink sundress—looking as beautiful as ever.
“ We’re engaged !” She holds up her left hand, putting the giant diamond ring on display for the whole crowd to see before Ambrose pulls her into his side.
My eyes burn, tears prickling at the brim of them, but I can’t bring myself to look away. It’s almost torturous, the way I can’t stop staring at how happy they look. Especially the way everyone is celebrating them, all while I’m here. All while I’ve been stuck on a fucking island for the last three months.
Ambrose’s name flashes across the screen, and Gabriel whips it away.
I blink back the tears and look at the bookcase, trying to not let my emotions fully flood to the surface.
“It took you long enough. I was starting to worry you’d miss my note,” Gabriel says. I can feel his gaze on me as I try to stifle back my tears and regain my composure.
He actually did it. They did it. And no one even tried to call to let me know.
“Sure, you can speak to him—but I’m not so sure he wants to speak to you,” Gabriel says, and my eyes widen as I look up at him.
He clicks the phone over to the speaker.
“Antonio?” Ambrose’s voice echoes through the room and I’m in two minds about answering. Maybe I should let him think I’m dead, or worse, that I’m just missing and he has no way of finding me. Then he’ll be able to go on pretending I don’t exist.
A click followed by something cool being pressed against my head shuts up all those thoughts.
“You had an engagement party without me?” I ask, my voice cool and stable.
“It’s not what you think—”
“After everything?!” I cut him off, my voice cracking towards the end.
The grin on Gabriel’s face tells me I’ve played right into the trap he’s set for me, but I couldn’t care less.
“I can explain…” Ambrose trails off.
“How do you explain something like this?”
Gabriel clears his throat and both Ambrose and I fall silent. “As much as I love watching sibling rivalry, that’s not what we’re here for today.”
“Okay, and what do you–” He cuts the call with Ambrose and slips the phone into his back pocket.
“What are you doing? Why did you end the call? I thought you’d want to negotiate.” I think about rising to my feet again, but the gun pressed to my head makes me stay seated.
“I do, but I’m done negotiating with Ambrose. He irritates me. You’ll have plenty of time to discuss the terms with your brothers, but this initial discussion will be between us.”
“Yeah. Us and whatever lackey has a gun to my head,” I quip.
Gabriel looks behind me and the gun is briefly pushed further into my head before it’s removed. I hear footsteps and then a door shuts.
“As I was saying, between us.” He walks to the edge of his desk and sits down, facing me. “Your little shoot-out has made my entire family look incapable in the eyes of the other cartel members, and you understand that I can’t have that.”
“Obviously,” I say sarcastically, but Gabriel seems less than impressed.
“I can’t have a few little boys in suits shooting major members of the cartel without any repercussions.”
“Obviously,” I repeat, shrugging. I can’t figure out why I’m choosing right now to test my sarcasm skills, but it doesn’t seem to be bothering him too much, either.
“Do I have to remind you that your entire family’s safety is in your hands right now? I’d shut up if I was you.”
I swallow and nod. Maybe it does bother him.
“The only logical way to fix this is to send a message to the rest of the world.”
I open my mouth, tempted to say it again, but bite my tongue when he shoots me a glare.
“You’ll be marrying my eldest daughter.”
Like a record scratch, my mind stills and every ounce of sarcasm leaves my body. “No,” I say without hesitation.
I don’t even consider it for a second. That’s way too big. Not only would it send waves running through every avenue the Vitale name has a foot in, but all things considered, with the Valerie situation, a relationship, forced or not, is not something I want nor need right now. Knowing we’d be publicly tied to the French cartel would surely ruffle feathers in Italy, and since we’re still dealing with the aftermath of Enzo and Vitale Insurance, this is the last thing we need.
“I know that you’re fond of rash decisions, but I urge you to think this over,” he tosses something in my direction, and I just barely manage to catch it.
My phone.
“Consider it a peace offering. Call your brother,” he says, and stalks towards the door of the study.
“Don’t mistake my kindness for weakness, Antonio. I am watching your every move.” With that, he exits the room.
Without hesitation, I dial Adriano’s number.
“Are you okay? Why did that son of a bitch hang up—”
“Adriano, shut up and listen. He wants me to marry his daughter.”
“ Merda .”
“ Merda, indeed. Are you with everyone?”
“Is that him?” I hear Ambrose’s voice in the background of the call.
“Hold on,” Adriano says, “you’re on speaker. Ambrose, Gus, and Mattia are here.”
“Tell that motherfucker if he wants to fucking play—” Ambrose starts.
“I didn’t call to speak to you, so shut up,” I grit out and silence takes over the call. “So to catch everyone up, his condition for all of your safety and to forgive what happened to Mattheo is for me to marry his daughter as some stupid ploy for power.”
“I mean, it’s smart,” Mattia says. “It’ll show the world that you’re just another pawn he controls.”
“It’s a very strategic plot for power, using the Vitale name would open up doors for them,” Gus agrees.
“It’s suicide,” Ambrose and I say in unison. I want to scream at yet another reminder of just how similar we think.
My entire life I’ve been moulded to be exactly like my father, which in turn made me exactly like Ambrose. Every strategic move I make is usually one he would, too. We’re both rash when making decisions, and it’s our biggest weakness. That and our loyalty to our family.
“It’ll just cause more waves around the company. Imagine what investors would do if the news came out,” I say.
“When the news comes out,” Adriano says.
“What?” me and a few other voices ask.
“You’re not seriously considering letting him go through with this?” Gus asks.
“What if we got—”
“No. The lines are tapped, they can hear everything. No planning anything, it's too risky,” I cut Mattia off.
Silence again. I wonder what the point of this call was. It was basically either going to be, Hey, I’m getting married or Hey, I’ll get them to send invites to my funeral .
The amount of run-ins with death I’ve had in the last year has got to be comical. Valerie really did bring hell back to Tevici with her.
As if summoning her with my thoughts, I hear her voice call Ambrose in the background of their call.
“Hey,” Adriano says suddenly, and I assume the call isn’t on speaker anymore. Whether it’s because he knows that whatever they’re saying will hurt me or to hide even more, it’s probably for the best.
“Do it. It’s for the best. We’ll take care of any fallout from this side.”
I sigh. Every nerve in my body is burning with the reality of having to marry some stranger. Having to risk my entire family on a stupid marriage.
“Okay,” I say, because as much as I hate it, I know I have to trust them to get me out of this. Adriano is too cunning to do nothing, and I’d like to think the others love me enough to help him figure it out. One thing I swear to myself is that no matter what, I can’t let her get too close to me.
“So when’s the wedding? Are we invited?” Adriano quips, and I want to roll my eyes as I walk to the door of the study.
“I don’t know anything. I don’t even know if the girl is hot—” My words lodge themselves in my throat when I step out into the hallway and see Gabriel speaking to who I assume is his daughter.
“I’ll call you back when I know more.” I end the call.
She’s not hot. Not in the slightest. She’s gorgeous. Breathtaking, even. The kind of beauty Aphrodite would’ve kept under lock and key. Anyone with eyes would keep her locked up, so why is her father offering her to me on a silver platter?
Her hair cascades down her shoulders and onto her back in gentle waves that mimics a softer version of her father’s curls, with a baby yellow headband that shows off the highlights of her brown hair. The golden hue of her brown skin is another differentiating factor from her father—a trait she must share with her mother. She does, however, have her father’s height. Although shorter than me, she’s tall for a woman. Her body fills her black mini dress in a way I’ve never seen before, in the most beautiful way possible. My eyes travel further south and land on a platform pair of Dr. Martens.
They look so out of place on the otherwise innocent-looking woman in front of me, and they tell me just what I need to know about her: this girl is not as innocent as her father would have her seem.
“Good, you’re done. Antonio, this is my daughter, Theresa,” Gabriel introduces her.
Then, like the idiot I am, I meet her eyes without saying a word. And even though there’s only ice behind her brown eyes, they still radiate warmth.
I stretch out my still bound hand to her, but she only scoffs before walking off, leaving me and her father in the hallway.
I drop my hands. “She looks happy.”
“She’ll come around,” he says, looking back at where his daughter disappeared.
“I’ll do it,” I say. His face doesn’t even flinch with surprise, as if he expected me to agree all along. “Under a few conditions.”
His brows raise a fraction. “You’re not exactly in the position to make demands, but let me hear it.”
“My family has to be allowed at the wedding.”
“Obviously,” he mimics my sarcasm from earlier. I want to chuckle because at least the old man has a sense of humour. “They have to be there for this to be believable. What else?”
“We’re not staying here after the wedding, I need to be able to go back home occasionally and Nico needs to be let go.”
“You can stay anywhere as long as it’s in the borders of France–wouldn’t want the Cosa Nostra getting involved if you headed back to Italy. Nico is already in your beloved home city. He was our message to your brothers. As for going home, unfortunately, that can’t happen, but feel free to bring home to you. Your family is welcome to visit you at any time.”
I guess that will have to work.
“Deal.” I extend both my hands.
In one swift movement, Gabriel has a knife and slits through the bonds of the zip ties. I rub the raw skin around my wrists. “Thank you.”
“I look forward to doing business with you.”
“Likewise.” I smirk, hoping to make it seem like I have a plan when God alone knows we have nothing.