02.

༒ ℜ𝔞𝔣𝔣𝔞𝔢𝔩𝔢༒

Family dinners like this were always the same, just dressed differently depending on who was sitting at the table. Expensive food, polished smiles, conversations layered with meaning that no one said out loud. I sat there, glass of wine in hand, barely touching it, already counting how long I had to endure before I could leave without it causing a problem.

Across the table, the Garcinos were doing what they did best, talking business without actually calling it business, every word measured, every smile calculated. My grandfather looked pleased, which told me everything I needed to know about how this night was going. It was exactly what he wanted.

My gaze shifted to the side when I felt eyes on me.

Her.

My fiancée.

The moment I looked at her, she smiled like she had been waiting for it, soft and practiced, her fingers brushing through her hair in that shy, flirty way that was supposed to draw me in. I almost laughed. Instead, I just scoffed quietly and looked away, not giving her what she wanted.

I didn’t hate her. I didn’t feel anything for her at all, which was worse in some ways. She was just… there. A piece in a deal that had already been decided. The alliance between the Morettis and the Garcinos needed to be sealed, and I was the one expected to do it. Being the eldest came with that kind of responsibility, whether I wanted it or not.

My parents had died when I was young, so there was never really a question of who would take over after my grandfather. It was always going to be me. Everything I did, every move I made, was already tied to that future. This marriage was just another step in that direction.

Didn’t mean I had to enjoy it.

I leaned back slightly in my chair, my attention drifting away from the conversation at the table. The voices blurred together after a while, becoming background noise I didn’t care enough to focus on. I caught bits and pieces of information about expansion, territory, shipments but nothing I hadn’t heard before.

Then her hand brushed lightly against mine under the table.

I stilled for a second, then slowly pulled my hand away like the contact didn’t even register. When I glanced at her again, she was still smiling, but there was something tighter about it now, something slightly forced.

Good.

Let her feel it, I wasn’t going to pretend for her comfort.

Dinner dragged on longer than it needed to, and by the time it was finally over, I was already done with the entire night. But of course, it didn’t end there. It never did. The real conversations started after the plates were cleared, when everyone moved to the sitting area and the tone shifted from polite to intentional.

Business.

I stood near the window, half-listening as my grandfather spoke, my mind already elsewhere. I needed to leave. I needed something that wasn’t this suffocating atmosphere, something that didn’t feel like a cage slowly closing in.

My phone vibrating in my pocket pulled me out of my thoughts. I took it out, my expression not changing as I saw the name.

Vinny.

I stepped away from the group before answering. “What is it?”

“Boss, we’ve got a problem,” his voice came through, tight and urgent. “The warehouse on the east side just got hit.”

My grip on the phone tightened slightly. “How bad?”

“It’s on fire.”

For a second, everything around me faded into the background.

“Anyone inside?” I asked, my tone sharper now.

“No. We cleared out before it got worse, but whoever did this knew what they were doing.”

Of course they did.

I exhaled slowly, already turning back toward the room. “Stay there. I’m on my way.”

I ended the call and walked back toward my grandfather, not wasting time. “I have to go. One of the warehouses has been attacked.”

His expression shifted immediately, the calm authority in his eyes sharpening. “Go. Handle it.”

That was all I needed.

I didn’t bother with anyone else. No explanations, no goodbyes. I grabbed my keys and left, the air outside hitting different the moment I stepped out of that house. Fucking easier to breathe.

I got into my car and drove without hesitation, my mind already running through possibilities. This wasn’t random. It couldn’t be. No one touched our property without knowing exactly what it meant.

By the time I got there, the flames were already high, bright against the night sky, smoke thick in the air. I stepped out of the car, my jaw tightening slightly as I took in the damage.

Vinny walked up to me immediately. “We’re trying to contain it, but….”

“Who?” I cut him off.

“We don’t know yet.”

I didn’t like that answer.

“Find out,” I said, my voice calm but carrying enough weight to make it clear it wasn’t a suggestion. “I want names.”

“You’ll have them.”

I stood there for a moment longer, watching the fire, the heat reflecting in my eyes. Someone thought they could send a message, that they could get away with it.

They were wrong.

And now they're going to feel the wrath of the Moretti’s so next time they'll stick to whatever sewers they crawled out from. My phone buzzed again, pulling my attention away. I glanced at the screen, irritation already settling in before I even opened it.

A message from my grandfather.

‘My engagement party has been scheduled, one week from now.’

I let out a short, humorless laugh, shaking my head slightly. Of course it had. Why wait? Why give me time to breathe when everything could just be pushed forward at once?

I slipped the phone back into my pocket, my jaw tightening.

This night just kept getting fucking better.

Between the warehouse and that message, the irritation sitting in my chest had already turned into something sharper, something heavier. I needed to get rid of it before it built into something worse.

And I knew exactly how I usually did that.

I got back into my car after giving Vinny a few more instructions and drove off, not heading home, not heading anywhere that had expectations attached to it. I just needed a distraction, something simple, something that didn’t require thinking.

By the time I stopped, my mind was already made up. I pulled out my phone and opened the site.

It didn’t take long before I started scrolling, my expression flat as I went through the profiles. Faces I recognized. Names I’d seen before. People I’d already had in my bed at some point or another, men and women alike. None of them interested me enough to stop.

I kept scrolling, and then I paused.

It wasn’t the face that caught my attention, because there wasn’t one, not fully. It was the body. The way it was captured, not trying too hard, not overly posed, just enough to draw attention without begging for it.

Something about it felt different.

I tapped on the profile, reading through it briefly before my gaze dropped to the price. I let out a quiet laugh, leaning back slightly in my seat.

“That low?” I muttered to myself.

It was almost ridiculous.

Either he didn’t know what he was doing, or he was desperate.

Maybe both.

I looked at the picture again, taking my time this time, noticing the details I had skipped over before. There was something there, something subtle but enough to hold my attention longer than anything else had. Without thinking too much about it, I pressed the order button.

Then I added more to it.

A lot more.

If he didn’t know his worth, that wasn’t my problem, but I wasn’t about to pay something that low either.