I narrowed my eyes. “Watch your tone, Danilo. I realize this is a difficult situation but I expect respect nonetheless.”
Danilo glared down at his fist, which held the ring. “I’m not going to settle for less than a bond with your family.”
“You can’t have Fina!” Samuel repeated, taking a step forward, anger twisting his face.
I motioned for him to stay back.
“You can’t have Anna either,” I said sharply. I wasn’t sure if that was what he’d been hinting at. But I wouldn’t promise my daughter to Danilo, not looking into his haunted, angry eyes, not when I knew he wanted Serafina.
Danilo stood. “You need my support in this war. You need a strong family at your back.”
“Is that a threat?” I snarled.
Danilo smiled bitterly. “That’s a fact, Dante. I think you’re a good Capo but I insist I get what my family deserves. I won’t settle for less.”
“I won’t force Fina into a marriage, not after what she went through,” Pietro said.
I nodded. “I agree.”
Danilo shoved his hands into his pockets. “We’re at an impasse then.”
I exchanged a glance with Pietro who briefly closed his eyes. He shoved to his feet and turned his back on us. “Is that what you ask of me, Dante?”
I was being selfish but I couldn’t promise Anna. I just couldn’t. Not now. “Pietro, if we follow the rules, Danilo could demand to marry Serafina. They were engaged.”
Samuel glanced between us, his brows pulling together.
Danilo waited calmly.
Pietro turned around. His eyes were hard and full of warning as he leveled them on Danilo. “I will give you Sofia.”
Danilo scoffed. “She’s what, eleven?”
“Twelve in April,” Samuel corrected, scowling at his father. His hands were curled to fists.
“I’m ten years older than her. I was promised a wife now.”
“You’ll be busy with this war and establishing your reign over Indianapolis. A later wedding should be of advantage for you,” I said. I could tell that Danilo would agree eventually, but he wanted something else.
Danilo glanced down at the ring once more, lost in thought.
“Danilo?”
“I have one condition.”
“What condition?”
Danilo motioned at Samuel. “He marries my sister Emma.”
Samuel’s eyes widened in shock. “She’s in a—”
He stopped himself with a grimace.
Danilo looked murderous. “In a wheelchair, yes. Which is why nobody of worth wants her. My sister deserves only the best, and you are the heir to Minneapolis. If you all want this bond, Samuel is going to marry my sister, and then I’ll marry Sofia.”
“Fuck,” Samuel muttered. “What kind of twisted deal is that?”
“Why?” Danilo growled. “Your father has been testing the waters for possible brides, and my sister is a Mancini. She’s a good match.”
Samuel exchanged a look with Pietro then he looked my way. The Mancini girl wouldn’t find a good husband if not for Danilo’s bargain.
Samuel took a deep breath then he nodded. “I’ll marry your sister.”
Danilo smiled darkly. We all knew this was a deal made in hell.
“Then it’s settled?” Pietro asked. “You’ll marry Sofia and accept the engagement cancellation with Fina?”
“It’s not what I want but it’ll have to do.”
“It’ll have to do?” Samuel growled, stepping forward with narrowed eyes. “That is my baby sister you’re talking about. She’s not some fucking thing you accept as a consolation prize.”
Danilo laughed again. “You might want to remember that as well when you meet my sister.”
“Enough,” I growled. They were riling each other up on purpose when their anger was directed at Remo not each other.
“The wedding will have to wait until Sofia is of age,” Pietro said, looking tired.
“Of course,” Danilo said. “My sister won’t marry before her eighteenth birthday either.”
Pietro nodded.
“Then it’s decided,” I said.
“I have to return home now. We can settle the details at a later point.” Danilo glanced at me for confirmation and I gave a terse nod. “Just one more thing. I don’t want word about Samuel’s bond to my sister to get out yet. She doesn’t need to know this was a deal in exchange for Sofia.”
I nodded again. It really didn’t matter when we’d announce it. People would talk anyway.
He turned and stalked out but Samuel rushed after him.
I hoped they wouldn’t get into a fight but I didn’t bother getting involved. Instead, I walked up to Pietro who held onto the edge of the desk. “Ines will be furious.”
“Danilo is a good catch for Sofia.”
Pietro jerked his head up, angry. “He’d be a good catch for Anna too.”
I couldn’t deny it. An Underboss was the best possible match for my daughter at the moment.
“But you couldn’t let her go, could you?” Reproach carried in his voice, and it wasn’t unfounded.
“It makes sense to give Danilo your other daughter when Serafina cancels the engagement.”
“You can turn it whatever way you want. You didn’t want to give up your daughter. That’s all. Instead you force me to give up mine.”
“You agreed to a bond with Danilo years ago, Pietro. That wasn’t my doing. You wanted a bond between him and Serafina.”
Pietro sighed and straightened. “You are right.” He shook his head. “This feels as if I’m betraying Sofia anyway. Danilo isn’t the boy whom I gave Serafina. This ordeal changed him.”
“He’s not a man who’d abuse a woman, no matter how changed he is by what happened.”
“You’re right. But Samuel marrying the Mancini girl? I don’t know. I feel pity for the poor girl but Samuel needs to produce heirs. Can that girl even bear children?”
I didn’t know, but Carla had been infertile as well and I hadn’t loved her less because of it. “There are other options if it’s the case.”
“I hope now that this is settled we can all return to our normal lives. Ines has been suffering so much. She needs a break.”
“Serafina will heal, and with it our family.”
I wished my words had proven right.
A few months later, Serafina told us she was pregnant with Remo’s child and any hope to forget what had happened was crushed forever.
PART EIGHT
Valentina
We’d all secretly prayed that Serafina’s twins wouldn’t show any resemblance to their father. It was our only hope at this point, our only chance to give these kids a future in the Outfit.
Ines called me shortly after Serafina gave birth to a son and daughter, Nevio and Greta.
Her breathing was labored, her voice low and desperate. “They look like him.”
I held my breath. “His hair?” I’d seen photos of Remo Falcone, the dark hair and even darker eyes.
“The hair, the eyes, everything. Especially the boy. It’s as if Remo modeled him after himself to torture us.”