Page 45 of Beauty and the Daddy

Hell, I pick her side, too.

"Sorry, pumpkin. Belle, can I talk to you?"

"Sure," she stands, wiping her hands down those jeans that cling so tight to her thighs.

She walks closer, and I lead her outside.

"What's up?"

My hands ache to reach for her; I keep them at my sides.

"Pack a bag. We fly to Italy tomorrow. You're meeting my family."

9

BELLE

Apparently, my new reality is packing for Italy with the same notice normal people give for brunch.

Now that I'm engaged to the Beast of New York, and playing stepmom to his adorable daughter, I'm apparently being whisked off to Italy to meet his mob family.

This is fine. Everything's fine. I'm totally not freaking out or anything.

Yeah, right.

"Come on, Belle," I mutter to myself. "You've got this."

But I've not got this. It's past midnight, and we're set to fly in six hours.

Luca's sent over so many clothes, and my room looks like the wardrobe exploded all over it.

And none of these things look cheap. I didn't even know Pucci was a thing, and apparently, Gucci's for amateurs.

Real players toss around Loro Piana like it's pocket change.

"Ugh," I groan, and throw a black Hermès into my suitcase. Probably a cardinal sin, but I don't even know what it costs, and carrying it feels… ostentatious.

I'll bring it when I meet the Council, if anyone needs impressing, it's them.

Luca says we're flying to Rome to meet five guys who basically boss around every family.

My brain when he calls them the old guard council? Immediately screamed cult, cult, cult.

So, Sofia, the canine, and Meatball stay back here with the staff, while Luca and I will fly across the ocean to meet the mob version of the Supreme Court.

I groan again and Meatball judges me from the bed.

"Don't look at me like that," I tell him. "You're not the one who has to impress a bunch of gangsters."

Meatball blinks slowly, which I take as his way of saying: "You're screwed, lady."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," I mutter.

When I agreed to marry Luca, I never knew impressing the old guard came with the deal.

Had I known, I might've started therapy.

Needless to say, I don't sleep a wink that night, tossing and turning and wondering what happens if they don't like me.