Married to the mafia King

The rest of the evening was wonderful, too, as we danced and ate under a beautiful Tuscan sky.

At one point, Roberto approached me while Adriano was talking to someone else.

Though Roberto and Niccolo were fraternal twins, they looked almost exactly alike although Roberto always wore his hair slicked back like a banker, while Niccolo wore his hair loose.

“I understand you want to be a fashion designer,” Roberto said.

“Well, that was my original plan, but… we’ll have to see how it goes.”Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

To be honest, I had temporarily set aside my dreams in that department. With the insanity of everything that had happened, I could only concentrate on one thing at a time and for right now, that meant getting married.

So I’d dropped out of fashion school… but I definitely wanted to continue my studies one day.

“I’ve talked to every woman at the wedding,” Roberto told me, “to get an unbiased opinion. Not just from my brothers, or Alessandra, or your parents. And every single one of them said your dress is astounding. ‘Better than Vera Wang,’ as one of them put it. And all of them said that if they had the money, they would absolutely buy something you designed.”

A flush of pride filled my chest. “Thank you. Although, to be honest, when you and your brothers paid that much money for the best seamstresses in Italy ”

Roberto waved my objections aside. “Don’t be modest. They were working off your designs. The real reason I wanted to talk to you was… would you consider opening a boutique in Florence?”

I stared at him in astonishment, unable to speak.

“You see, we’re always looking to diversify,” he explained. “You already know we want to be 100% legitimate within two years. I figure this could be an excellent investment for the family. I ran the numbers and I think it’s a no-brainer to start off small, then expand if there’s sufficient demand.”

“Did… did Adriano ask you to do this?” I asked, astounded.

Roberto frowned like that was ridiculous. “Good God, no. No offense to my brother, but he doesn’t know the first thing about business.”

“So this… isn’t something he put you up to?”

“No, of course not.”

“You’re not just doing this to be nice to me?”

Roberto snorted. “This is about making money. If I wanted to be ‘nice’ to you, I would have bought you a blender.”

“And… the others are okay with it?”

“Well, I make all the business decisions for the family, but I already cleared it with Dario. After seeing the finished product,” Roberto said as he gestured at my dress, “he thinks it’s an excellent idea.”

“He does?!”

Roberto looked at me like I was a little odd, but he laughed. “Yes, he does.”

My mouth gaped open like a fish. “Are you… are you sure?”

“Absolutely. Profit margins are excellent in the luxury end of the fashion industry. Wedding dresses, women’s fashion whatever you’d like to do. With your talent and us backing you, I think it could be huge.”

“I… I…”

“You can take some time to think about it,” he said gently.

He was probably under the impression that my being tongue-tied was hesitance when it was actually just disbelief.

“No, I mean yes yes, I’d love to!”

“Good. We’ll talk more when you get back from your honeymoon.”

“This is thank you!” I cried out as I hugged him. “This is the best wedding gift you could have ever given me!”

He laughed and patted my back. “It’s not a gift, Bianca it’s a partnership. You deserve it. If it works out the way I hope, we’ll be extremely lucky to have gotten in with you on the ground floor.”

And with that, Roberto won me over as my favorite brother-in-law… even over some extremely tough competition.

The other Rosolini brothers all came up shortly thereafter and welcomed me into the family with a private toast.

Adriano stood with his arm around my waist, and Dario held Alessandra close by his side.

“To our new sister, Bianca,” Dario said as he raised his glass.

“Welcome to the family!” Valentino shouted.

“May those of us still single find a woman as amazing as you,” Roberto said.

Lars grinned. “And we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for vastly improving Adriano’s personality.”

“And for turning him from an asshole into a real boy,” Massimo said, invoking Pinocchio.

I doubled over with laughter.

“Hey I made you a groomsman!” Adriano yelled at Massimo in mock indignation.

“Yeah, but she saved my life. I owe her the truth.”

“Asshole,” Adriano said, smiling.

“Dick,” Massimo said back with a huge grin.

Then Adriano turned to me and winked. “I have to admit, though, she did make me a lot more tolerable.”

I laughed

We kissed

And all the brothers cheered.

“Where’s Niccolo?” Roberto said, looking around. “He should be in on this.”

“He’s over there. With a woman,” Alessandra said with a sly grin.

Niccolo was about 40 feet away, talking to a very pretty but very serious-looking woman wearing glasses. He seemed engrossed in their conversation.

“He’s working on the next wedding,” Roberto joked.

“Better get crackin’, man,” Valentino said. “You two are the oldest after Adriano, and you were born 19 minutes before Nic so you’re next in line!”

Roberto smiled. “I’ll get there.”

Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder from behind.

I turned to find myself staring at a man in his 50s with a pointed black beard and a roguish smile.

“Congratulations, my dear,” he said. “Your dress is lovely almost as lovely as you.”

“Thank you,” I said, not having any idea who he was

Although that was quickly cleared up.

“Congratulations, Adriano,” the man said as he gave my husband a hug.

“Thank you, Uncle Fausto,” Adriano said.

Uncle Fausto.

I’d heard quite a bit about him, actually.

“Good to see you all alive and well after all that mess with whatsisname,” Fausto said. “Mezza-whatever.”

“It’s only thanks to Bianca that it turned out so well,” Adriano said.

“Really,” Fausto said, giving me an appraising look. “Well for saving my nephews, I thank you doubly.”

As Fausto went down the line of brothers, hugging them and exchanging laughs, someone else walked up

A man in his 20s who looked like a younger version of Fausto, but clean-shaven and thinner.

My entire body froze.

“Congratulations, Adriano,” the man said.

“Thanks,” Adriano said, and I couldn’t help but notice the coolness in his voice. “I see you cut your hair short.”

“It was time for a change,” the man replied. Then he turned to me. “Congratulations.”

I could only nod, a fake smile plastered on my face.

He looked at me quizzically, though I didn’t see any hint of recognition in his eyes.

“Where’s your date?” Adriano asked.

Thankfully the man turned away from me.

“Over there talking to Niccolo,” he said in disgust.

“Better be careful,” Massimo said. “Looks like he might steal her away.”

I was getting the feeling that none of the brothers liked this guy very much.

“Aurora’s just my date to the wedding,” the man sneered. “If he can get her, he’s welcome to her.”

“You’re a chivalrous motherfucker, aren’t you?” Valentino joked.

“You’re the last one who should be lecturing about chivalry,” the man said. “Where’s your date back in the kitchen, doing her job? Maybe she won’t catch you trying to bang the other women at the reception.”

I didn’t entirely understand the jab, but Valentino looked like he was about to start throwing punches.

Massimo put a hand on his younger brother’s shoulder and whispered something in his ear. Whatever he said, it seemed to calm Valentino down.

“Let’s go get a drink,” Lars said diplomatically as he put his arm around the rude man’s shoulders. He was evidently trying to steer him away from everyone else.

“No time for that we have to be going,” Fausto interrupted. “But it was good seeing all of you. Congratulations to the new bride and groom!”

After a few half-hearted goodbyes from the brothers, Fausto and the younger man walked off.

Fausto called out, “Aurora!”

The young woman talking to Niccolo shook hands with him, then followed Fausto and the other man.

“Fuckin’ asshole,” Adriano muttered as they left.

I pulled Adriano away from the others.

“Who was that?” I whispered frantically. “The younger guy?”

“My cousin, Aurelio. He’s a real pain in the ”

Adriano trailed off as he looked at my face.

“Jesus, Bianca, you look like you’ve seen a ghost. What’s wrong?”

“That man was the one I saw at the modeling agency.”

Adriano’s eyes grew wide. “You mean ”

“The one with the cruel eyes.”

The mystery man I’d seen right before the hotel…

When Mezzasalma’s assassins tried to gun us down.