Shattered Vows: An Arranged Marriage Standalone Romance (Tarnished Empire)

She was supposed to be older, or more mature.

Not my damn one night stand.

Jesus, Morina looked damn good on the beach in her natural environment.

Not that it mattered. She was dealing with a different side to me now. This was the last place I needed to tie up my father’s illegal business doings. I’d been at it for years.

The Armanelli Family, the most infamous Italian Mob in the United States for years was almost legal.

I knew Miami and this small town was my last loose end, the frayed thread that I needed to tighten up or cut off. Maribel was dabbling on two sides of the fence. She paid for protection from an Irish family to keep that food truck up and running. Then, she partnered with my Italian family and father for the oil company.

Two partnerships with opposing families meant she was fucking one of us.

Morina knew something.

She had to. Except the way her eyes fell, that deep blue sapphire suddenly a little misty and confused about her grandmother, I wasn’t sure she did.

My one night stand in Miami was turning out to be a fucking problem.

“What do we have wrong here?” I asked Dante in the car later that day.

“It’s just a blip on the radar. We’re scoping out the city and Maribel, not a food truck. We’ll take care of it if necessary.”

“This little town connects to oil terminals, the farms, and the corporate area, Dante. That company brings in millions and if the majority voter is dabbling in different partnerships, that’s a problem. My father always invested here, not the company itself.”

“Ah, your father maybe liked Maribel then.”

I laughed at that ridiculous statement. “He was a fucking prick who loved no one but his money. We both know it. You remember my mother. If you couldn’t love her enough to stop doing the shit he was, then you could love no one.”

Dante didn’t respond to that. He knew my mother. We all had. She’d showered the world with the love of Italy with her cooking, her singing, her passion for life. My father stared at her like she was beautiful, but he walked past her time and time again to go kill a man, to make a deal, to continue building his empire of wealth.

And he’d dragged us along with him.

I remembered the first time I’d asked to stay home with mother. He’d pulled a gun from his suit jacket and told me to be the man he’d raised me to be.

It was just how Mario worked, how he’d built us up from a young age. Mario Armanelli groomed me to be ruthless, forceful, and greedy.

I tried to be the complete opposite.

I stared out the window at the palm trees. I felt the warm sun that leaked through them. This town was quaint, understated, and probably under utilized. Still, I’d been providing protection and partnership to so many over the years based on my father’s illegal doings. I wouldn’t do that anymore. Maribel would have to let me take over her shares and run a clean business or I’d pull my protection.

The mindset was one I didn’t enjoy particularly. Allies were always good to have, but I needed them to be legitimate. My father had dirtied our hands time and time again. My family deserved to run everything legally, above the law, and still maintain the level of financial stability we’d always had. We’d earned that through years and years of hell.

I rubbed my chin. “We go to the source then.”

“Maribel only wanted virtual meetings because of her health.”

“Not doable, Dante. You and I both know that. I can’t read her when she’s on a screen.”

He sighed and texted away.

We planned a surprise visit that night and pulled up to a house very near to the coast, close enough that the older woman could make it there by foot if she had the mobility.

We exited the car onto a dirt driveway. The plants around it weren’t enormous nor was the home. It didn’t seem as though the person who lived here was doing so lavishly or hoarding money I didn’t know about.

Her porch had been painted white fairly recently, and as I stepped up onto the wood, it felt sturdy enough, even where the winds and the rain could potentially ruin it.

“What the hell are you doing on my porch?” an older woman with deep wrinkles croaked at me through a screen door.

“We have business to discuss.” I pulled at my tie, seeing her brow furrow.

“I only discussed business with your father, Bastian.” She sighed like she knew I was coming.

“I haven’t introduced myself,” I said as I took in her stance. She hadn’t opened the door yet and I would wait for the invite before I entered.

“No need to. We both know who each other are. You look like your father. And I’m sure I don’t look anything like how he didn’t describe me. I say didn’t because we all know he didn’t drop my name to you once.”

I schooled my facial features as she waited and studied me.

She smiled when she realized I wouldn’t let anything slip in my expressions. I’d trained myself to never give a thing away. “I’m thinking I’ve met my match in you because your father would have started talking already. Even so, I just said it and I’ll say it again, I only discussed business with your father.” She smoothed the white nightgown she was wearing. The woman wasn’t at all concerned about her appearance. She brushed away my visit, lessening the importance by focusing on her pajamas.

“My father’s dead, Maribel.” Her gaze shot up and she scanned the scenery behind me. “You know I ordered a hit on him.”

I molded myself at the time of his death. I called that shot to kill him and watched him bleed out, watching the beginning of our sins washing away with him.

She scoffed but glanced past me to my security. Dante was a good friend, a man who I trusted to stand by me while I made house calls like the one I was making now.

The old woman’s eyes narrowed. “My granddaughter is here. Don’t say a word about my shares in the oil company. You got it? And I’ll sell them to you fair and square. You keep my city running. That’s the deal.”

I hummed and rocked on my heels. I met her stare and we watched each other with the legacies and traditions flying between us, weighing us down, ripping at our trust in each other.

“I won’t bend on that. You make good on this town, Bastian.”

“You paid some Irish to have that food truck on the beach, not us.”

She scoffed. “One time. It keeps my granddaughter happy. It wasn’t a slight to your family like your father has done to mine time and time again. Now, let me get dressed.” She slammed the door on both of us.

Dante chuckled behind me. “Not our warmest welcome.”

“Fuck me,” I grumbled. Morina hadn’t known.

Shit.

“This is getting more complicated by the second,” I muttered.”

“We got eyes on the place in case she’s planning anything,” Dante told me.

“She’s not.” That wasn’t what I was worried about. “She doesn’t trust us because my father probably fucked her over.”

“Mario wasn’t really nice to anyone unless he had the motivation. He did what he had to do in order to get what he wanted for our family.”

“You don’t make alliances that way. Sometimes it takes family sacrifice for the good of all your partners.”

“I wouldn’t argue with that.” Dante cracked his knuckles, and I glanced back at him. His light eyes contrasted with his bronzed skin and the tattoos across his neck. “We’ll have to keep a level head. I’ve heard about her through the underground channels.”

I checked my watch as the fall breeze picked up. It wasn’t enough to keep us cool in the Florida air, the humidity weighing everything down with it suffocating warmth. “I need a vacation.”

“You’re never going to get one.”

“Why not?”

Dante didn’t respond. He knew just as well as I did that the head of the mafia didn’t ever get to rest. That wasn’t an option.

I’d never had one to begin with.

The door swung open again but instead of an old woman, there stood the young one. Morina had the exact same shape of eyes as her grandmother. My mind wasn’t calculating fast enough but I knew the end result was going to be one I didn’t want.

“You’ve got to be kidding. Did you follow me here?” Her voice came out high pitched.

I took a step back with her statement. “I’m here to see your grandmother.”

“My grandmother?” she screeched. “You need to leave right now.”

I ignored her. “My father never mentioned Maribel had a granddaughter.”

“Probably because Maribel and I don’t tell suits like you our family business.”

Her grandmother hollered from down the hall to let us all in. I straightened a cuff link while she decided whether she wanted to obey. “We’re coming in either way, Morina.”

Her eyes narrowed, and I knew a snide comment was about to whip out of her mouth. “I’m definitely regretting the decision I made last week now.”

That would make two of us, piccola ragazza. I didn’t say it out loud. There was no need to fan the fire.

She backed away as I stepped in and took in the quaint home. A few plants lined the entryway and straight ahead, in the kitchen, a scuffed wooden table told me that Maribel was hiding her wealth. If my family knew, then most cartels, gangs, and other families did too.

Yet, Maribel hid from someone in plain sight and that was her granddaughter.

Morina waved at the table. “Well, take a seat or don’t. Grandma will be out in a minute.”

“We don’t intend to stay long,” I mumbled, hoping she’d leave. I didn’t want to discuss business in front of her.

“You intend to take our money, don’t you?” She tilted her head, her big eyes narrowed on me.

“What?”

“You’re here to collect on the town’s payment for protection and allegiance to you, right?”

“I don’t think that’s a conversation you and I should be having.”

“My grandmother’s dying, Bastian.” Her voice was quiet, whispering the pain of love for someone I’d never felt. She dragged a fingernail on the table and then over some beaded bracelets she wore. “She’s leaving everything to me. Including her debts and alliances. So that sort of is the conversation we should be having considering I’ll be paying you soon.”

I glanced at Dante who pinched the bridge of his nose and then ran a hand through his short curly hair.

“She’s smarter than I give her credit for, you know,” Grandma Maribel said as she appeared in the doorway. The woman had changed into a black dress with intricate pleating and layers.

Dante and I scanned her immediately. She most definitely was carrying but I wasn’t sure exactly where – I doubted Dante was either. “When I said I was sick, I meant very sick. Mo will take over business proceedings whether she likes it or not.”

“I don’t like it.” The younger woman’s eyebrows pulled together as she sighed and ran a hand through her long wavy hair. “I didn’t ask to be a part of the ridiculous–”

“No one asks for their lives, Mo,” her grandmother cut her off. “I didn’t ask for it either. You inherit it and you run with it.”

“I’m not made for”–she waved at me and Dante–“dealing with suits. I just want to run the food truck and…”

She stared at her grandma. Maribel’s eyes glistened and she rubbed her chest. Her other hand held the back of one of the wooden chairs so tightly, her knuckles turned white. “It’s just a few other loose ends, Mo.”

“I’m sorry, Grandma. I’m sorry. It’ll be fine.” Morina went to her side and put an arm around her. They stood with their heads bowed for a moment.

I was born into the business. I didn’t have the love they shared. Yet, I understood Morina’s struggle. I’d never wanted the business handed to me either.

I’d taken what was mine in the end though. I accepted that I’d been born into a life of sin and greed. I figured I’d change what I couldn’t live with and learn to live with what I couldn’t change.

I cleared my throat, and Morina glared up at me. “You’ve done this to us.”

I crossed my arms and studied her. “Your disrespect and accusations aren’t exactly the way to start a welcome meeting.”

“You’re not here to be welcomed.” Morina leaned her head on her grandma’s shoulder and dragged her eyes over both of us. “You don’t want a friend. You want a business transaction.”

I rocked back on my heels. She wasn’t wrong. Yet, most of my father’s business partners had taken kindly to our partnerships with no need to force their hands. I’d made a lot of alliances where my father couldn’t because I was strategic in dealing with families.

I treated everyone as one of our own.

Even if they weren’t.

“I’m under the impression you’d both like to continue a partnership with the Armanelli family.”

“Do we have a choice?” Morina raised an eyebrow.

Her grandmother chuckled and patted her cheek. “You’ll be fine when I’m gone, I think. So much fire in you even when you let the wind and water take your mind away half the time.”

I didn’t understand what she was alluding to. Nor did I care. Morina needed to be present and available for business proceedings for us and that was it. Outside of that, I didn’t care what the girl did. “Just make sure you hold up your end of the bargain, Maribel. I don’t know what’s going on with that food truck.”

“It will be done with. Everything else will stay the same if that’s done with, right? When I’m gone, Mo will need protection too.” Maribel raised her eyebrows, hopeful.

“I don’t need protection,” Morina pushed back. “No one cares about me. I’m secure enough with the sheriff and police around town.”

Grandma Maribel coughed and the sound almost shook the room. Instead of clearing her throat, though, the congestion rattled around and caused a fit of sorts. She gasped for air as Mo pulled out the seat for her to take at the table. Her skin grayed, paler than before.

She gripped her granddaughter’s hand and wheezed out, “No one’s safe around here once I’m gone.”

Morina glared at us like the coughing fit was our fault and rubbed Maribel’s back.

Dante spoke up from behind me. “Can I get a cup of water for you, Maribel?”

Pointing toward one of the pine cupboards, she nodded. Dante always wanted a balanced atmosphere. He said when the energy of the room was off, explosive things happened.

In a weird way, I agreed with him. “We’ll secure the area, Maribel. Same stipulations.”

“It won’t be enough,” she murmured and that one soft comment had me sitting down at the table.

I needed all the information if she expected me to help her. “What won’t be enough?”

“Oh, your father knew as well as I did, once we were gone, you’d all have to fend for yourselves. You’re fine. Mo, here, she’s as flippant as a hurricane. She’ll go full speed one day and slow the next.”

Morina tried to argue, but Maribel pulled her wrinkled hand from Morina’s and shushed her.

“You know it’s true. I don’t care. We’ve always loved that about you. It’s why I paid the Irish for your food truck area. It was the one thing that could keep your attention.”

“Fuck me,” I grumbled, and Dante sighed.

“What?” Morina whispered.

“You can’t mix allies like that,” I said, my voice ominous.

“It wasn’t meant to be found out.” She shrugged. “Just a little payment for one food truck to stay open.”

“They respect you, I’m guessing.” I offered, my mind working it all out.

“Of course. They do it for me because I’m old. I have that power. I’m meaner than Mo too. I’ll chop a hand off–”

“Grandma!”

“Oh, child. It’s just a hand!”

Dante chuckled but I watched Mo. She wasn’t laughing. Her blue eyes widened to saucers and I knew right then she wasn’t made to lead an area of mine. She wasn’t like the women in the mob. She was young, fun-loving, and completely naive to violence. “Anyway,” Maribel went on, “with me gone, she goes into witness protection, dies, or…”

The silence stretched and I let it hang in the air waiting for her request. I was used to discomfort and the absence of noise. It heightened everyone’s awareness, made them really think about their intentions and contemplate their gravity.

“You could have her marry one of your top guys for awhile. Put her in a position of power so they fear harming her enough.”

“Are you kidding me?” Morina stood abruptly as the question whispered out of her. Then it bellowed out, “Are you kidding me, Grandma?”

“Oh, it would only be for a few years,” replied Maribel. “It’d save your life!”

I raised my hands before either of them got too angry or too worked up. “I won’t put my guys in that sort of position.” I shook my head. Her hand in marriage wasn’t an option.

“What sort of position?” Morina asked, ready to unleash her anger on anyone.

“Don’t, piccola ragazza.” My voice cut through the air before I had time to contain the outburst. “I’m saving you an arranged marriage.”

Instead of her shrinking in fear, she seethed, lifting her chin. “Your men would be happy to have me.”

I looked her up and down. “My men want women, not girls. You’re too young for most of our tastes.”

Her jaw dropped. She paced up to me as if ready to slap me. And I found I wanted it. The way her fury boiled over into my space and burned me in just the right way had to be wrong. Still, I wanted her.

Shaking her head after a minute of us staring one another down, she paced away to the window and glared outside. “What planet is in retrograde right now? There has to be something off with today.”

Her grandma groaned and I heard Dante shift behind me. “You must be a Sagittarius.”

She smiled at him. “That I am. And you must be a Leo. I get along with Leos.”

“I think we’re going to get along just fine.” Dante smiled like she was right. Was she? Did I need to research the damn signs now?

My neck muscles tensed, like a fucking feral dog wanting to claim her all of a sudden. “We’ll be in touch. Maribel, I expect this to be put in your final will. I don’t want anything left out that will make me have to do anything illegal.”

“A true mafia gentleman.” Her grandmother laughed and stood from the table. “It’ll all be there.”

We didn’t stick around after that. We left with only Dante waving goodbye to them.