Chapter Two - Fletcher

She would do. She would have to do. Finding a bride this quickly was a necessity, and not because I was desperate by any means. It wasn’t as if I’d agreed to this auction because I couldn’t find a date. I had plenty of dates in my life and women who hung around the restaurants with the hope of gaining my attention. It wasn’t every day you ran into the son of a Mafia King or a family with more wealth than they knew what to do with. This wasn’t for a date. This was for life. For marriage. For family. The Capellos had made a pack with my father in his youth. If his eldest son hadn't married by the time he turned thirty-five they would arrange a marriage between me and their eldest, Heidi Capello. I'd rather eat nails than marry that twit. The number of opposing mafia families in the area that wanted me to marry their daughters was sickening. Being we were the most powerful family in Houston, it wasn’t a surprise. However, my father would rather die than have me accept a marriage proposal from one of his enemies. Marrying a random woman from an auction was better than being tossed into the drama of merging families. I rolled my neck, attempting to release the tightness that I carried from the weight of the day. The life I had wasn’t an easy one by any means. I’d sacrificed a lot of things to follow in my family’s footsteps. My choice of love being one of them. Because in my family there was nothing more important than one another. It hadn’t been love at first sight when I first noticed Charlotte Terry. She looked oddly out of place, to be honest, though she fit in physically. Something about the way she carried herself was off. Her lack of confidence. Her lack of etiquette while eating. The way she held her fork. I wasn’t sure who bought her that expensive gown or those heels, but my gut told me it wasn’t her. Identifying someone with money was easy for me. I’d grown up in it. It oozed off people we called ‘new money’ and Charlotte Terry didn’t ooze. My driver glanced over his shoulder and asked, “To the restaurant or are we going home, Sir?” Unfortunately, we had to go speak to my father. He was most of the reason I attended the auction tonight. Landing a woman at the auction meant landing a woman with class. Someone who knew how to handle crowds and publicity. Most likely, they had a good reputation, which is what a family like mine needed to stay under the radar. “Take me to Central. Father is there tonight.” “Yes, Sir.” He took a left at the red light and traveled down toward the strip. The Central restaurant was my father’s favorite because my mother started it. We lost her when I was a teenager from heart disease. It’d hardened him even more. My driver parked in front of the corner restaurant. Rain dripped from the overhanging awning from a recent shower as I stepped out. The dim lighting and tinted windows gave the place a romantic vibe that people enjoyed. I strolled in through the front doors and made my way past the host and toward the swinging kitchen door. Father’s office door stood cracked when I made it down the hallway. His salt-n-pepper hair glistened from the gel holding it back from his big, brown eyes in the crappy fluorescent lighting. He looked up over his caterpillar eyebrows and sat back in his chair. “Well?” he asked. “Who did you find?” Straight to the point. I kicked the door shut with my shoe and sat across from him. The top few buttons of his button-down were open with wild hair spilling out and a necklace that cost more than my car. “A real estate agent, Charlotte Terry bid on me.” Dad attempted to read my face while writing down her name. Most likely to run a background check on her. “Will she fit in? I wasn’t exactly sure about it. She didn’t look too submissive when I handed her my card. She looked almost repulsed that I hadn’t spoken to her any more than I had. “I’m not sure. We’re meeting at the restaurant on Friday night.” Dad nodded, and sat back in his chair, swiping his palm down his face. “Giovanna called tonight. The package needs to be picked up at the warehouse by midnight. Are you up for it or do you want me to ask your brother?” “Ask, Levi,” I said, waving my hand. “I have a headache. Those lights blinded me on stage tonight.” Dad cleared his throat. “We’re doing this for the family, Son. We can’t allow another family into our lives. I don’t trust any of them enough to marry either of my boys. This will be good for you, for us. It’ll get them off our backs, and kill the idea of merging. It makes my skin crawl just thinking about it.” I nodded, though I wasn’t sure how easy it would be to persuade this woman to marry me. “I’m not sure how easy she will be to marry,” I said. Dad chuckled. “Look at you, Fletcher. She’ll marry you. With the contract, she’ll have no choice but to say yes. Look at everything she’ll gain.” “She already has money. Why would she need mine?” He gave me a knowing look. “She’s in real estate you said? She may have money but she does not have our kind of money. Why do you think she bid on you? Besides your good looks, it’s because of your money.” Maybe he was right, but there was something in the pit of my stomach that said she wasn’t materialistic. It rested in those green eyes of hers. There was something secretive about her. What was she hiding? “We’ll find out Friday,” I said, standing up. “I’m going home. I’ll see you tomorrow.” “We have a delivery tomorrow morning. I’m hoping you’re up for that one?” he said, lifting a brow at me. It was the look of ‘do what I say and don’t argue.’ Like I had a choice. “I’ll be here at seven.” The restaurant was full when I walked out and onto the sidewalk. My driver got out and opened the door for me while I slid into the dark, silent backseat and rested my elbow against the door. “Home, Sir?” “Yes.” He pulled out into the Houston traffic and started downtown toward my house. It’d been passed down in my family for generations. The secluded area was perfect for our business and the fact we didn’t want anyone in it. The first neighbor was three miles away. My driver pulled up to the iron gate and typed in the code. It swung inward and he followed the cobblestone driveway to the front steps. The fountain my dad put it was flashy for my taste, but I didn’t dare pull it up. My mother loved it. “Thanks, Stetson. I’ll see you tomorrow morning at 7.” “See you then, Sir.” I stepped onto the moonlight path and up the steps to my house. Walking between the two center pillars, I unlocked the double doors and stepped inside. The sparkle of the checkered tile floor glistened in the overhanging chandelier in the entranceway. A grand staircase circled the room and led toward the second floor, which I hardly visited. My mother’s library was up there, and frankly, we hadn’t touched it since she passed. Father didn’t stay in the house long after because there were too many memories. I couldn’t see my brother take over and wreck it, so I moved in when I turned eighteen. The vastness of the place was lonely most days, but I spent most of my time outside of the house to distract myself from the memories. “Lucinda, it’s me,” I called out to my housekeeper. She yelled something from the back while I keyed in the alarm code and found my way toward the master bedroom. It was hard to think I’d have a woman living with me soon. If she agreed, I had no choice according to my father. We needed to be married as soon as possible. The Capellos had been on my father’s back for the last six months about the arrangement. He kept pushing them off until he couldn't any longer and agreed to a meeting this weekend which meant I needed to be married before then. Dad knew they were attempting to buy a chain of nightclubs in downtown Houston and wanted our money to help fund it. Over my father’s dead body apparently. I groaned, sat down on my ottoman, and began to take off my shoes and loosen my tie. Stretching my legs out, I slid my palms down my thighs and let the image of Charlotte roam in my mind. Imagining her in that dress and the way it hugged her small frame made it hard to think about anything else. Despite her unimpressed face, she’d called to me. A woman hadn’t done that in many, many years. There was something about her that I couldn’t put my finger on. In two days, I’d meet with her and offer her a deal of a lifetime. Become my bride and have everything she ever wanted. Or … there wasn’t another alternative. Charlotte Terry was to become my wife and deal with it.