Chapter 4

Mia

Mother put as much effort into the sham of an engagement party as she had for Dario’s wedding. It was the news of the baby. No matter how she felt about the cartel entering her home, she would play the gracious host to keep Catalina happy. Mom wanted to be involved in the baby’s life. If she had to grovel and cater to the cartel to do it, then so be it.

I didn’t feel the same.

Not about the baby. I’d make a kick-ass aunt. I didn’t feel the same about catering to the cartel.

When the evening of my engagement drew near, I was contemplating any and all possible means for disruption. Maybe if I caused enough of a scene, Aléjandro would change his mind and decide I wasn’t worth the trouble.

The roadblock to my plan was being held in place by both my mother and brother. After allowing me to verbalize my displeasure, Dario made it clear that I would proceed with his plans, reminding me of my duty to the famiglia. He even allowed Mother and me to travel into the city, a scandalous thing to do while in mourning, to shop for a nonblack dress for tonight’s dinner.

Now, wearing the sage-green Mac Duggal sheath dress with the beaded floral appliqué, I stood before the mirror in my bedroom. It hadn’t gone unnoticed by Mom that this dress was a size larger than what I’d worn during Dario’s wedding. Despite having all the exercise machines that money could buy in the workout room on the lower level, I’d let my solitude, mixed with freedom of choice, change both my eating and exercise routine. The mountains weren’t a conducive place to hike in below-freezing temperatures with snow and sleet falling.

Now that spring had arrived in the Ozarks, I knew my schedule should change. Truth was, I hoped the extra pounds and curves would be another reason why Aléjandro may change his mind.

Nevertheless, my plan for disobedience didn’t come in the form of my attire. I was ecstatic to not be wearing black.

The thigh-high nylons added shape and a silky appearance to my legs. The dress had an open seam in the back that would show the tops of my hose. I’d also opted for a pair of Louboutin blush pointed-toe pumps with a four-inch heel. Rocco didn’t want me wearing too high a heel due to his height. If my memory served me well, even with the added heels, I wouldn’t come close to Aléjandro’s height. My hair was pulled back on the sides and curled to hang down my back.

As I was about to leave the bedroom, I remembered my wedding rings.

Why am I still wearing them?

I wasn’t sure of the answer. Habit maybe. I sure as hell wasn’t still wearing them out of some sentimental attachment. Looking down at the set, I wondered what I would do with them. Maybe I could pawn them. It could be Rocco’s final gift, some cash in my pocket that didn’t come from the famiglia or cartel.

Sliding the pair of rings off the fourth finger of my left hand, I stared at the setting. I always assumed that Rocco’s mother had a hand in choosing the rings. It seemed like the only engagement ring I’d ever have a say in would be that of a son’s if children were in my future.

Leaving the rings on my dresser, I headed toward the staircase. Dante, Dario, and Catalina were already present. Not only had I heard their arrival, but Catalina’s bodyguard was again stationed near the front door. As I turned the corner into the front parlor, I chose to try my plan.

Four sets of eyes turned my way.

Dario and Dante were holding crystal tumblers with bourbon, and Mom had a glass of prosecco. Catalina’s hands were empty.

Unlike the night of Dario’s announcement, tonight I was greeted with approving expressions. If I could surmise my stoic brother’s millisecond of expression, he was even relieved I’d not chosen my attire as a means of rebellion.

“Mia,” Dante said, coming toward me and kissing my cheek. His infectious smile curled as his dark eyes shone. “I’m pleased to be the one brother you don’t hate.”

My gaze quickly went to Dario and back to Dante. “Don’t be so sure. I doubt you went to the mat for me on this.”

“Oh, but I did.” He motioned toward Catalina. “She had to pull us apart. We were wrestling in the penthouse living room. It was awful.”

Catalina’s smile and the slight shake of her head told me what I already knew—Dante was full of shit. I rarely thought about the fact that he was also a stone-cold killer like Dario. Their personalities couldn’t be further from one another.

“I tell you what,” I said, looking at Dante. “If you unsheathe one of the knives you’re currently wearing and take Aléjandro out, I might decide not to hate you.”

“I’m sure she’s joking,” Dario said.

“Don’t be so confident.” I looked around for the bottle of prosecco.

“I had Rosa take it away,” Dario said with a hint of a smile. “You will be on your best behavior.”

“Oh hell no. I’m here, I’m dressed, and I’m not armed. Take your wins, brother.” I raised my voice. “Rosa?”

Dario came closer, towering over me. “Mia, as your capo, I’m warning you.”

“You think you can threaten me? With what, Dario? Death? I’ll take that over the life sentence you’re giving me.”

The muscles in the side of his face pulled tight as he clenched his jaw.

“Mia, may we go for a walk?” Catalina asked.

I hid my relief. This had been my plan. I believed if Catalina sensed Dario was becoming angry, she’d step in to try to help. Now I had to assess if she would actually help. “I’m headed to the kitchen to find Rosa.”

Catalina came toward me. “I’ll go with you.” She shot Dario one last glance as we walked from the parlor. She waved off her bodyguard, Armando, as our high heels clicked on the shiny marble floor. Mother had the house staff working around the clock to make a positive impression on the cartel.

I looked toward my sister-in-law. In the two weeks since their last visit, she might have grown a small baby bump. That didn’t mean she didn’t look as lovely as always.

“I’ve known Aléjandro for most of my life.”

Taking a breath, I stopped walking. We were out of earshot of the others yet not near the kitchen. “Catalina, I don’t want this. I don’t like him.” Could I say I hated him? Not yet, but I was confident I would in time.

“You only barely met him.”

“Did you hear about the night of the wedding, after you and Dario went upstairs?”

She nodded. “Aléjandro and Dante got into a disagreement.”

“Do you know why?”

“No.”

“I came across Aléjandro with Jasmine in one of the servants’ hallways. I was trying to avoid people on my way upstairs.”

Catalina’s eyes were wide.

“I sent Jasmine away. Dante and Rocco found Aléjandro and me alone.” I quickly added, “Nothing had happened except tense words. And…oh, yeah, I slapped him.”

Catalina’s cheeks rose in a smile. “I’m sure he deserved it.”

I looked at my sister-in-law pleadingly. “Is there any way for you to talk to Dario? He won’t listen to reason.”

Her lips came together. “This wasn’t a hasty decision. Dario and Patrόn have been in talks for months.”

“But Aléjandro would rather marry Jasmine.”

“That’s not true,” she replied. “Aléjandro knew that bringing Jasmine to the wedding would upset Dario.” She shrugged. “That’s just who he is. He pushes boundaries, ignores rules, all in an effort to find others’ limits.”

“And you think I should marry him?”

“I married a man who does the same thing. If you haven’t noticed, Dario has done his share of rule breaking.”

I shook my head. “Now he makes the rules.”

“And so will Aléjandro one day. The cartel is strong, especially with this alliance. I admit that Aléjandro and I haven’t always seen eye to eye, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t a good soldier and a force for the cartel and now the famiglia. My brother likes him, and I trust his opinion.”

“You won’t help me.”

“I’m trying to help you,” she said. “You never deserved to be Rocco’s wife. I didn’t know him well, but he always gave me a bad feeling.”

She wasn’t wrong. Rocco detested the alliance and thus her.

“And,” she went on a bit more sheepishly, “Dario shared with me what you said about your wedding night.”

I looked down.

Inhaling, I looked back up and squared my shoulders. “I don’t want your or anyone’s sympathy or pity.”

“I’m not giving you either. I’m giving you respect, Mia. You survived a horrible marriage with a man who never deserved to marry the capo’s daughter. Aléjandro is a lot of things.” She smiled. “Arrogant comes to mind.”

That made me smile.

“He is also first in line to assume control over the Roríguez cartel. He never wanted to marry Jasmine. Neither Dario nor Jorge would allow that anyway.” When I started to talk, she went on. “Because as much as Dario loves Jasmine, and I do too, she isn’t part of the famiglia. Jorge didn’t see her as worthy for his son. He saw you as worthy.”

“Oh God. You’re not going to help me stop this.”

Catalina shook her head.

“Then at least help me find the wine.”

Catalina hooked her arm with mine. “I can do that.”

“Even though your husband told me not to drink?”

“I think you know what’s expected of you tonight. I see nothing wrong with a glass of wine to take the edge off. You can even have one for me.” She smiled. “Maybe you’ll even decide this marriage won’t be too bad.”

“Don’t get your hopes up.”

A few minutes later, Catalina and I returned to the parlor. I had my full glass of wine. Out of respect for my capo, I left the bottle in the kitchen. “Cheers,” I said as we entered.

Dario didn’t say a word about my wine. Instead, he looked down at his phone and announced that two cars of the cartel have passed the front gate.

“Dario?” It was my last plea.

His face was emotionless. “Mia, I know you’ll make the famiglia proud tonight and throughout your marriage.”

I sucked in a breath. “Is it easier to deal with the whores at Emerald Club or to make your sister into a whore?”

“Mia,” Mom chastised. “You’re an adult. Start acting like one.”

“And spread my legs?”

“You’re not a whore,” Dario said. He’d said the same thing the night he gave me the news. “And without question, you’re more trouble than all the whores at the club.”

I’d take the small victories where I could.

I lifted my glass to my lips, hiding my smile.

“Jorge,” Dario went on, “wasn’t able to make it tonight. He and his wife will be at the wedding. Catalina’s parents and brother have accompanied Aléjandro and his brother Reinaldo.”

By the smile on Catalina’s face, she was already aware of her parents’ arrival.

“Do they know about the baby?” Mom asked.

“My parents do,” Catalina said. “Em doesn’t nor do the Roríguezes.”

“That’s the answer,” I volunteered. “Let’s forget the engagement part of this evening and spend our time celebrating my new nephew or niece.”

“Tonight is about you,” Catalina said.

On that note, I finished the rest of my wine.

Mother went to the front doors, ready to greet our guests. While Dario and Catalina went with her, I stayed back in the parlor, regretting that I didn’t bring the wine bottle with me from the kitchen.

“Dario wouldn’t have agreed to this,” Dante said, “if he didn’t know you could handle Aléjandro.”

“I don’t hate you.”

Dante wrapped his arm around my shoulders and squeezed. “I’m too personable to hate.”

I gave my brother a sideways grin. “I’m certain the enemies you interrogate feel otherwise.”

Dante shrugged. “Can’t win ’em all.” He reached for my shoulders and turned us face-to-face. “You look very pretty. It’s nice to see you not wearing black.”

“Thank you.”

“Six months ago, I would have gone to the mat with Dario on this.”

“But not now?” I asked.

Dante shook his head. “Maybe it’s Catalina. I don’t know. I just know that deep down, we aren’t that different. When I first met Aléjandro at Dario’s wedding, I was ready to take him down a few pegs. I did.” Dante flashed his grin. “Time has passed, and he’s proven himself in our alliance. I believe if Catalina can melt the heart of a man like Dario, there is probably hope for all of us.”

“When are you signing up to marry one of the cartel women?”

He opened his eyes wide. “Single for life.”

“Or until Dario decides otherwise?”

Dante released my shoulders as we both turned at the sound of voices. I sucked in a breath at the sight of the man in the foyer. I’d picked him out of the crowd during Dario’s wedding. And tonight he was here to choose me.

First, Dario shook hands with Andrés Ruiz, Catalina’s father, and then with Aléjandro, who was only slightly shorter than my brother. I tried to look at Aléjandro without my prior prejudices. There was no denying he was a handsome man. He carried himself in a way that said he had confidence. His complexion was the color of the desert sand, the same as his brother and lighter than his father. Probably it was more than his looks although he was kind on the eyes. Tonight, he wore black pants covering his long legs, coupled with a white button-down shirt. No tie or suitcoat like Dario was wearing. His shirt was crisp and bright, contrasting his tawny skin. His hair was dark and wavy, and his brown eyes were round as his gaze found mine. His self-assuredness no doubt had to do with what Dante and Catalina said about him being a good soldier for the cartel.

I knew from experience, confident made men had an air about them.

As if sensing our awkward stare-down, Dario patted Aléjandro on the shoulder and spoke to him. They both smiled as they turned and came my direction. Aléjandro’s gaze scanned me from head to toe in a way that made my stomach turn—as if he had won. Consolation prize or not, I was being handed to him on a silver platter.

Dario made the formal introductions, “Let me introduce my sister, Mia Luciano.”

It was curious that in Dario’s mind, I’d already given up my last name of Moretti.

“Mia.”

My name rolled off Aléjandro’s tongue with a hint of his accent as I caught a whiff of his sandalwood cologne, warm and woodsy with a hint of leather. I offered him my hand. Instead of shaking it, he turned it over in his grasp, bowed at the waist, and lightly brushed his lips over my knuckles.

The electricity surging through my circulation was inappropriately startling. While my mind was convinced that this marriage would never work, my body was a traitor to his obvious adoration.

How long had it been since Rocco had shown me even a fraction of this attention?

“Aléjandro,” I said, retrieving my hand. “It’s nice to formally meet you.”

A lopsided smile grew. “Formally, yes. I remember meeting you here. The first time was by the pool. No?”

Warmth came to my cheeks at the memory. “And again at the wedding and afterward.”

“Qué demonios?”

We all turned to Catalina’s brother’s remark, seconds before he and Catalina embraced.

“Any idea?” Aléjandro asked.

“I’d guess that she just told him she’s expecting a baby.”

Aléjandro’s eyebrows shot upward. “They didn’t waste time.”

“Anything to cement the alliance.”

His deep voice lowered an octave. “Without the alliance, I never would have seen your beauty at the pool or felt your flames after the wedding. For that, I’m thankful. Our future is about more than the alliance.”

Our future.

My stomach twisted.

“Voy a ser un tío.” Emiliano announced, proclaiming he was about to be an uncle and saving me from thinking about the future.

“Dinner will be in a half hour,” Mom said to everyone. “Why don’t we go back to the living room and let Aléjandro and Mia spend some time together?”

When Rocco proposed, both our fathers were present. It was deemed inappropriate for the two of us to be unsupervised. Ten years and the loss of my virginity created different guidelines as the room around us emptied, Dario closed the French doors, and we were left alone.

Dario wouldn’t help me.

Catalina wouldn’t help me.

That left one person.

As Aléjandro pulled a velvet box from his pocket, I blurted out the truth. “I don’t want to marry you.”

He took a step back, his grin still in place as he tilted his head. “I wasn’t expecting you to say the quiet part out loud.”

“Shouldn’t we be honest with one another?”

“Sí.”

I let out a breath. “It’s nothing against you.”

Aléjandro scoffed. “That’s code for it is.”

I shook my head. He was right. I didn’t want to marry him. I also didn’t want to marry—period. “It’s that I’ve been married since I was eighteen.”

“To a prick.”

My neck straightened. “You can’t say that.”

“Then you should. I only had the displeasure of meeting him a few times. I doubt more interaction would have changed my mind. The rat was a prick.”

I nodded. “You’re right. Can you see now why I don’t want to be married again?”

“Yet, your brother—”

“My brother and your father want to build on the alliance. You didn’t want to marry me. You were at the wedding with Jasmine.”

“Had I known killing your husband was an option, I would have done that in order to take you to the wedding.”

I couldn’t come up with a response.

Aléjandro reached for my hand. “Mia, I’m not Moretti. The capo will marry you to someone. I want that someone to be me.”

My speechlessness continued as Aléjandro fell to one knee and opened the velvet box, revealing a solitaire diamond ring that was easily twice the size of the engagement ring upstairs.

His large brown eyes stared up at me. “I will make you a promise. I promise if you say yes, you won’t regret being my wife.”

Tears prickled the back of my eyes. “You’re asking me even after what I said?”

He nodded. “The only answer that matters is yours, not your brother’s nor mi padre’s.”

My hands began to tremble. “I regretted my first marriage from the moment he put the ring on my finger.” 

Aléjandro stayed poised on one knee.

“I’m not a virgin.”

He laughed. “Neither am I. And if you were, your first husband would have been more than a prick. He would have been insane.” He lifted the ring from the box. “Will you wear this?”

I was desperate to make him understand. “I don’t like sex.”

Aléjandro’s eyebrows went up. “Because you were with the wrong man.”

Arrogant asshole. “Do you have an answer for everything?”

He nodded. “Give me the rest of our lives to prove that to you.”

I wiped a rogue tear from my cheek. “Till death do us part?”

“I’m not planning on dying anytime soon.”

Finally, I nodded. “I’ll wear the ring as long as you understand I don’t want this. I’m being forced to agree.”

Sliding the ring over my knuckle, Aléjandro smiled. “I’ve wanted you since the night of the wedding. That desire is enough for both of us.”

He stood, capturing my cheeks between his large palms and bringing his lips down on mine.

Unnerved by his advance, I should have backed away. I should have slapped him as I did months ago. This never would have happened with my first engagement. A woman raised in my world was supposed to have her first kiss during her wedding, not at the engagement. Those thoughts came and evaporated as I lingered in the fruity-sweet and earthy taste of Aléjandro.

His confidence caught me off guard. There was no hesitation, his approach was no doubt well practiced on many women, and yet my hands slid to the front of his shirt, feeling the beat of his heart, and my body leaned into him. Nerve endings that I was sure had dried up and died were resurrected. My flesh tingled as I pressed against his hard, muscular body, feeling his solid torso and even his weapon beneath his shirt. His hands didn’t move from my cheeks, and I found myself wishing they would.

My nipples grew hard as I imagined what it would feel like to have his strong hands on my body, to move lower, and wander over my skin.

I stifled a moan as his tongue slid past mine, bringing more sweet flavors.  By the time our kiss ended, I was uncomfortably aware of the dampness between my legs.

Aléjandro grinned. “You won’t regret this.”

I was pretty sure I already did.