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“If you’re looking for Roman, then you’re talking to the wrong guy.”

“If I was looking for Roman, I would have called Roman.” Cool leaves brush past my bare legs as I wander between large potted plants and overflowing foliage boxes. “I want to talk to you.”

“Oh?” A slimy sneer slips into his voice. “Thinking of taking me up on my offer?”

It takes all my control not to sayew. “No, I’m here to talk business.”

“Marriage is a business.”

“Not the one I’m interested in. Your meeting with the Yakuza. I want in.”

“How do you know about that?”

“What, you think my father doesn’t educate his heir on the goings on within the family?”

“Well…you’re a woman, so honestly, no.”

“Really?” My initial impassive thoughts on Alto are rapidly veering toward the negative. “What century are you living in?”

“Don’t act like I’m in the wrong here,” Alto snorts. “You’re being married for business so get off your offended high horse. You know as well as I do how things work.”

“How have we been unable to wipe you lot out if this is the kind of backward thinking behind all of your plans?” My words lilt with humorless laughter, and I stop near a particularly large blooming flower with a sweet, nutty scent that almost makes my mouth water.

“Hard to believe,” Alto remarks. “Fine, you want to see how we’ve been staying one step ahead of you? Come to the meeting. You’ll see how gently we’ve been playing with your lot all these years.”

Alto reels off a time and a place for the meeting, then hangs up just as a pulse of irritation spreads like tingles across my shoulders. Infuriatingly, he’s not wrong. Being married off to keep one family from killing the other isnormalin this world, but it’s also so very strange in the wider view.

But it’ll be worth it. Alto can say whatever the fuck he wants. I’ve got my meeting with the Yakuza.

“You brought guards?”Alto’s narrow gaze darts back and forth between the men walking a few steps behind me as I approach him from the far end of the parking lot.

“Having a representative of my family here is important, but that doesn’t mean I’m careless enough to turn up here without protection. I don’t trust you and I certainly don’t trust the Yakuza.”

“And old Enzo himself couldn’t make it?”

Reaching Alto, it’s my turn to sound as smug as he did on the phone yesterday. “Your father doesn’t keep you up to date on what’s happening with the family?” I pout softly, faking sympathy. “Poor baby. Surely you know that our respective fathers are dealing with some of the more serious logistical challenges this alliance brings.”

Alto’s face remains blank, but he subtly shifts his weight from one foot to the other. “Course I knew. Just didn’t think you would.”

“Mm-hmm. So.” The parking lot is completely empty save for three cars belonging to Alto and his men, and three belong to me and mine. Being the third floor of a grand parking complex, I expected there to be way more civilian activity, but the place is completely dead.

Intentional? It has to be.

“So,” Alto repeats as he leans back against the hood of his car, crossing one ankle over the other and folding his arms. “Excited to be married to good oldRoman?”

“Excited isn’t the word I’d choose,” I reply, keeping my tone neutral. “But we all have to do what’s best for the family. And what follows the will of our fathers.”

“Ah. Yes.” Alto sucks on his top teeth then pops his lips. “Because this was absolutely our leaders’ idea and not one of Roman’s stupid schemes.”

“Surely if it was astupidscheme, your father would be hesitant to take credit?” My brow lifts. “Unless he’salsoone to make stupid schemes.”

“Hey.” Alto rises abruptly, and all five of our respective guards tense at the anger in his tone. “Watch how you talk about my father.”

I narrow my eyes and smirk. “Oh poor baby. Did I touch a nerve?”

“Hardly,” he scoffs, settling back down. “If it had been anyone else’s idea, they would have been smart enough to pick me. I’m the real heir. Thetrueheir. Only a foolish fucker would think marrying Roman carries any kind of weight.”

My dislike of this man increases. He talks like someone who thinks the world should know his name by birthright, the kind of man who skates by on the hard work of others and lets his money do the talking. The kind who needs to buy respect and friends because no one can stand to be near him without something to compensate for their time.