Chapter One #2
I’m grateful when Ornella appears with the next course. She places a dish in front of me, roasted lamb, red potatoes and asparagus. One of my favorite meals. Mama obviously wanted to soften the blow of this discussion with delicious food.
“Everyone thought you’d marry Sandro and settle down.” Ginevra takes a bite of lamb, watching me as she chews.
“I never said I’d marry him.”
“No,” Ginevra agrees. “But you were with him two years. It seemed you might be headed in that direction.”
I grimace. “The break-up wasn’t premeditated. I didn’t plan on breaking up with him.”
Mama frowns. “No? Then why did you?”
I let out a tired sigh. “Unfortunately, Sandro started making demands, and it pissed me off. I don’t appreciate being threatened.” I cut into the lamb. The bite I take is tender, smoky, and delicious.
“I see,” Mama says. “What sort of demands did he make?”
I meet her gaze. “He gave me an ultimatum.”
Ginevra’s eyebrows go up. Noemi makes a small noise like oh.
“What sort of ultimatum?” Mama asks.
“He said he’d been patient long enough.” I chew another bite of lamb and swallow. “He said he’d waited two years for me to claim him and he was done waiting. He gave me until last Tuesday. He said if I didn’t come to him by then with a ring, he was done.”
“And you let the day pass,” Mama says quietly.
“Of course I did,” I grate out. “I don’t do well with ultimatums. I won’t be brow-beaten into claiming an omega.”
“Are you happy with your decision?” Noemi asks.
I shrug. “To be honest, yes. I didn’t make the decision lightly. I thought carefully about what life might be like with Sandro as my omega.”
Mama sighs. “But in the end, you didn’t give him what he wanted.”
“No.” I grimace. “And it wasn’t for lack of trying to talk myself into it.
The final night, I kept thinking how everything would be easier if I just went to him.
You’d stop worrying about me. Sandro would be happy.
I’d have an omega beside me and an heir would soon be on the way.
I knew if I gave the elders what they wanted, everyone would stop holding their breath. ”
“But you didn’t go to him,” Mama says.
“No, I didn’t. I couldn’t do it. It felt wrong.”
The room is very quiet as they watch me.
“Marcello.” Mama leans toward me. Her voice is so gentle it almost hurts. “Did you love him?”
“I was fond of him,” I say. “He made me laugh. He kept me company when I was lonely. And I wanted to love him. Some nights I almost thought I did. But when the clock ran out on his ultimatum and I knew it was over, I felt relief. Not grief. Not regret. Relief. And an alpha shouldn’t feel relief when he loses the omega he loves. ”
Mama’s face softens. “You’re right. If he wasn’t the one, then you made the right decision. Marriage is difficult enough without being tied to someone you don’t love.”
Ginevra makes a soft sound. “Mama, I had no idea you were such a romantic.”
Mama shrugs. “I have my moments.” Her tone is flippant but we all know she adored Father. There’s no doubt in our minds he was the love of her life and vice versa.
“But if you were fond of him, and he wanted to be with you, I don’t understand why you didn’t just claim Sandro and solve this issue.” Ginevra says. “Since you were apparently aware of what the elders wanted of you in that respect.”
“Perhaps he didn’t want to be stuck with just one omega the rest of his life,” Noemi says softly. “Maybe he wanted variety and he wasn’t ready to spend his life with only Sandro.”
Ginevra snorts derisively. “Most of the Foschini bosses had other omegas on the side. Marcello could have done the same.”
Mama scowls. “Papa never once cheated on me. The Foschini men take marriage very seriously.”
Ginevra looks unconvinced. “I know that Papa was faithful to you. But I’ve heard too many salacious stories about our grandfather and great-grandfather to believe they all were as honorable as Papa.”
Mama’s mouth is a grim line, but she doesn’t argue. She’s heard the same stories.
“Anyway, that isn’t why I broke it off with Sandro,” I say. “There were other more serious things that gave me pause about claiming him.”
“Like what?” Mama asks.
I hesitate. “Well, to be completely honest, it occurred to me that if I gave him a child, that child would be half Lucchese.”
Noemi wrinkles her brow. “Naturally.”
“The problem with that is the Lucchese family is power hungry.” I lean back in my chair. “They would have spent the next twenty years using that child as a hook in my mouth to drag me wherever they wanted me to go. Even if having an heir is important, who I give that power to is equally important.”
Noemi blinks at me. “But you have to eventually take an omega and have an heir.”
“Yes, but more and more I think that whoever that omega is, they shouldn’t be a part of one of the prominent families. They’re all too power hungry. They’d use the child to try and control me.”
Mama’s gaze is shrewd. “You’re probably not wrong.”
“No, he’s not,” murmurs Ginevra. “Your point is valid, Marcello. The problem is the senior capos and the more powerful families need you settled with an omega and an heir on the way to feel comfortable. They’re concerned about themselves.
It’s not really even about your love life per se. It’s about their security.”
I nod. “I know. That’s why it’s complicated.”
Ginevra sighs. “Since you dumped Sandro, all those old alphas see is you ended a two-year, seemingly stable, relationship without warning. Now you have no omega, no heir, no plan for what happens after you.”
Mama grimaces. “Yes. Now when they look at you, they don’t see the next thirty years of the Foschini name. They see a question mark.”
“Exactly,” Ginevra agrees. “And men like Salvatore Marchetti don’t put their money behind question marks. They put it behind a sure thing, and right now, in their eyes, you’re not that, brother.”
I scowl. “The idea I have to jump through hoops for these assholes is aggravating. I never even wanted this position. Adriano was born for this stuff as the oldest. It was supposed to be his role, not mine. Now he’s gone and I’m stuck trying to please men I barely respect just to hold onto something I never asked for in the first place. ”
Mama’s face is grim. “But you accepted the position, Marcello. And now you need to do what it takes to hold onto the position. Not just for yourself, but for our safety as well.”
My stomach churns because she’s not wrong. If I fail, the family fails. That could mean death if the wrong person steps into the position. “What do you think I should do, Mama?”
“I think you know what you need to do.” Her gaze is stern. “You need an omega, Marcello. And a child. ASAP. The elders want to see that you have a plan for the future, and nothing will shut down the chatter faster than a claimed omega and an heir on the way.”
I wince. “Mama, that’s easier said than done. I told you, I don’t want to breed with any of the powerful families. They’re too greedy. Grasping. I refuse to be under their thumb.”
“There is a way to give them what they want without losing our power.” She puts her warm hand over mine. “But you must be openminded.”
“Okay, I’m listening.” I’m willing to hear her out. I’m no fool. Mama is perceptive. Connected. If Mama is nervous about something, there’s a reason to be nervous.
“There’s a man,” she says quietly. “His name is Kessler.”
I frown. “Kessler?”
Ginevra’s head comes up. “The fixer Kessler?”
Mama nods. “Yes.”
Ginevra looks uneasy. “Isn’t he a little shady?”
Mama lifts one slender shoulder. “What he does is unorthodox, but I wouldn’t call it shady.”
“Who is this guy?” I ask, looking between them. “I’ve never heard of him.”
“You wouldn’t have.” Mama smiles. “He operates under the radar. He discreetly helps connect omegas with powerful alphas who want a child without complications.”
I laugh gruffly. “Is he a pimp?”
“God no.” Mama’s cheeks pink. “He arranges actual contract marriages between omegas and alphas. The omegas are officially claimed by the alphas, and in turn, the omegas give the alphas the heirs they need.”