I sat up a little taller and really started paying attention when the mention of the police was brought up, how at all times I was to keep quiet, unless Rocco told me otherwise.
“Are you…involved in dealings you shouldn’t be?”
I didn’t expect Capo to be so candid, but he was. He nodded once without hesitation. “My hands are not always clean at the end of the day, Mariposa.”
“How deep?”
“Does the severity of the sin matter to you?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Would it lighten your conscience to know that I only act out of vengeance and not for business gain?”
“I want honesty,” I said. “At all costs. If…if I ask. I need you to be honest.” In that moment, coming close to his honesty overwhelmed me. If I had too much time to think, I would want honesty at the table, and that might cut whatever we had going. I wasn’t sure what type of person that made me, to refuse to consider that he might do terrible things out of vengeance, and I would overlook them to have this.
To have him.
I deleted the thought as soon as it came. There was no room for emotion at this table. I felt none from him. There would be none from me.
He nodded. “I agree.”
Rocco wrote something else down.
This was how the conversation continued. Rocco or Capo would bring up a term, we would discuss it, and then we would either agree or not. If we didn’t, we went back and forth until we were both satisfied.
Money. I would have access to all of his funds after we were married. The millions and millions he had. He set no limit. However, if I left him or wanted to divorce him, or broke the “central” rules of our agreement, I would get nothing. Not even a penny.
“Final,” Capo said, his eyes never more serious. “I don’t believe in divorce. You are mine until I die.”
“But what…what if one of us becomes unhappy?”
“This arrangement is not about love, Mariposa. You do understand that, don’t you?”
“Yeah,” I said, too defensively. “I do. You’ve said it. I’ve said it. I get it.”
His eyes challenged the statement, but he didn’t harp on it. “You take love out of this.” He motioned between the two of us. “Neither one of us will ever be unhappy. We have our terms, and those should keep us content. We both have a purpose for this marriage. I want loyalty. You want to live. Not all marriages are built on love. Love is a fragile house that crumbles. What we are building at this table will be untouchable.”
“Moving forward,” I said.
I’d receive a ten-thousand-dollar stipend until we were married. To buy food, clothes, and whatever else I’d need until it was a done deal.
We even touched on specifics such as: how many times we’d travel in the year. We could go over that, if we wanted, but not under it. Two, we decided, was an ideal number. He’d chose one place, I’d choose the other, and there was no three involved unless we went over that number.
The two men had been shocking me the entire time, so I decided to get one in on them. I told them that under no circumstance would I get ass implants. The idea was still fresh in my mind, and I made Rocco write it down. Capo grinned as he said, “I agree. No ass implants, or any cosmetic surgery, unless my wife requests it. However, I’d prefer if you didn’t. It would seem like a waste of money. Why paint the butterfly?”
After an hour went by, a knock came at the door. The three of us sat back, the conversation fading, waiting for Rocco’s secretary to take our lunch orders. My stomach growled loudly, and my cheeks flamed. Even though I had been staying with Keely, I hadn’t eaten much of her food, only when she made me. I was still helping her pack, but it never felt like enough.
Capo ordered for me. He ordered dessert for me, too.
“That was nice of you,” I said. I was too embarrassed to order for myself. I knew the food was expensive, and I’d never ordered anything like that before.
He nodded once and then grinned at me.
Rocco’s secretary became still. Watching him. She watched him until he turned his eyes toward her. “That’s all for my fiancé and I.”
She nodded, fixed her hair, and then smiled at him. She tucked the list against her chest when he turned away without a response. I watched her until she closed the door behind her. She was an attractive brunette, runway ready. Giada, Rocco had called her. She was someone I’d expect with Capo. She’d look right on his arm.
Giada & Capo. Their names even seemed right together.
Rocco suggested that we continue the meeting until the food was delivered. I couldn’t have agreed more.
I lifted my hand, like I was in school. “I want exclusive rights to you,” I said. “Starting now.”
“You will have to explain that in more detail, Mari,” Rocco said, shifting some papers around.
“She means,” Capo said, a slight grin touching his eyes. “She wants us to be exclusive. Right now.”
“A little ahead of me,” Rocco said, and I could hear the grin in his voice. Capo and I were staring at each other. “We were going to discuss this next.”
“However many times Capo wants to take me out on date night is fine by me.” I waved a hand. “Let it be a surprise, just not three times a week. But I’m ready to discuss these terms now.”
“We have arrived at exclusivity due to the lady’s urgings.” Rocco flipped a few more papers. He grinned again. I think he found me amusing. “Since you have declared your feelings on the matter of the two of you being exclusive, we know where you stand, but I feel it best to discuss the matter in detail. If you would rather not be intimate with Capo, you cannot expect him to be celibate. He would take lovers, but would be discreet, of course.”
“Discreet,” I murmured. “Of course.” And I’d be made a fool of. And even worse, I didn’t like the idea of the brunette secretary slipping in and out of his room while I slept next door, or wherever.
Rocco nodded. “Mari, you would have to be discreet—”
“No,” Capo said. “No one touches my wife but me.”
The room became exceptionally quiet. When I turned to look at Rocco, he was staring at Capo. Rocco’s face rarely showed any emotion, but Capo’s response seemed to take him by surprise. He wasn’t expecting that.
Was it not a big deal before? I had no reason to think they hadn’t discussed a few points of the terms ahead of time. I could tell which ones when Capo became firm on a few things before I even had a chance to think them through.
“It’s settled then,” I said. “No one touches me. No one touches you.”
“Esclusiva. Esclusivo.” Rocco wrote on his paper.
“Are you a virgin, Mari?” Capo asked.
“Why?” I blurted out. “Will it make my price go up? I don’t think it can. I mean, you’ve already offered me everything, money wise, as long as I don’t leave.”
I didn’t like the way Capo looked at me. He was trying to dig the information out by sheer will alone. Did he expect me to be experienced because I was a poor girl on the streets? Oh, that’s right, I thought cynically, I basically went to his club looking to sell my body for a dollar. Turned out, I was about to sell my secret in return for my life.