The Alliance: The First Book in the Mafia Boss Series

Chapter 4- Last minute Negotiations

~Isabella POV~

It has been a few hours since I canceled my meeting with Victor. I was in my office, busily working, before I was suddenly startled by Carmen’s voice over my intercom system.

“Ms. Rossi, you have visitors out here that would like to see you,” she said with what sounded like hesitation.

I could tell something was off as Carmen hardly ever referred to me so formally, but before I could respond to her, my double doors abruptly opened, and a very handsome but very pissed Victor Bernardi entered. He looked at me up and down, and I felt my core tighten in response.

He was wearing a black silk shirt tucked in gray slacks with brown Belvedere Santo shoes. He stood at 6’4” with a muscular lean build. His blue eyes were mesmerizing with a hint of “I will f**k you hard, and you will like it.”

As his gaze slowly made its way from my feet up to my face, I noticed he too liked what he saw, but within seconds, it was replaced with pure anger.

“It’s 2:30, PRINCESS!” he shouted.

Before I could say a word, he continued, "I got a message earlier from my assistant that you were canceling our meeting, but I knew it must have been an error because you could not be that stupid. Not even a “ROSSI” could be that stupid. But I guess I underestimated the level of stupidity that runs in that family!"

After the second bout of “stupid”, I soon regained my composure from his gorgeous, good looks and decided to treat this asshole with the same kind of venom he was spewing my way. I calmly walked back behind my desk and sat down.

“You seem to be losing your cool, Mr. Bernardi. The whole world appears to be run by you, but you will do well to remember, appearances can be misleading. I may choose to carry the Bernardi name after tomorrow as I could choose to wear mud or s**t under my shoes as I walk the streets of New York, but don’t make the mistake of thinking, that’s all I am," I gritted out.

Victor looked like he had never heard the word “No” or had a person, never mind a woman, dared tell him off before in all his whole life and I suspect he may not have. He started walking toward my desk in disbelief and I saw Dino step forward in front of him.

I was so engrossed with Victor; I had not noticed when Dino entered the office. Two other goons, I suspected, who worked for Victor, had made their way into the office. All men had their hands on their holsters. I looked at Victor, employing him to back his men off by raising an eyebrow, but all I saw from him was a small smirk as if I was afraid, and he liked it.

I pulled back from my desk and seductively raised my legs up over the far corner of my desk, crossing them at my ankles. All the men outside of Dino paid close attention to my exposed creamy thighs, hoping for a glimpse of my lady parts as I was wearing a pencil knee-high skirt with a slit.

I laughed to myself and thought “men and their d***s”. Not one of them had realized I pulled my 9-mm out from my top drawer.

To gain his attention, I shouted, “Victor, I believe we are evenly matched now.” I flashed my gun from where I sat, pointing it at his head, then moved it ever so slowly down to his crotch. “What say you?” I asked.

Within seconds, his men pulled out their guns to point them at me and Dino aimed his gun right at one of the goon’s head. No one moved a muscle and the tension in the air was so thick you could cut a knife through it.

Victor’s gaze did not leave mine for a second as a smile began to form on his very full kissable lips, never making it to his eyes. “Calm down boys, I’m not sure if she can even use that thing. I wouldn’t want her to be all bloodied up before our wedding night,” he joshed.

“I wouldn’t wager a bet on that, Mr. Bernardi,’’ Dino deadpanned.

Victor quickly corrected, without looking at Dino, "It's Don Bernardi." Dino nodded in confirmation.

After a short while, Victor signaled to his men with a slight head nod and both his men put down their guns.

I told Dino to do the same. I put mine down on my desk and got up from my seat, making sure to make a show of sliding my skirt down to its original length by first patting the sides of my breasts, hugging my hips, then bending slightly to the hem of my skirt, all while never leaving Victor’s gaze.

I laughed to myself as I could clearly see Victor was not happy. By the looks that his men were giving me, I could understand why.

I slowly walked up close to Victor and asked, “What are you doing here, Mr. Bernardi? I am very busy today.”

He took a second before he responded as if searching my eyes for something, then with a smile he said, "We are getting married tomorrow, and we have some last-minute contracts and negotiations to get through. I thought eating food in a nice restaurant would make it more palatable, but I can see you like it rough and dirty, and I do not need to fuss to get what I want."

Before I could respond with one of my smart-mouth come-backs, he turned on his heels, shouting over his shoulder, "So do you have a conference room? My lawyer and uncle will be joining us shortly and so will your father."

My face instantly dropped.

Within 30 minutes, my conference room transformed into a high-stakes negotiation never seen before between two rival families. At least not these families. One wrong move or word could turn into an all-out shoot out.

I noticed Victor sitting at the head of the table and I knew that it was strategic. His uncle, Vito, who surprised me with an affectionate hug when we were introduced, sat next to him. A short, stubby, nervous man, who went by Mr. Clayton, sat on Victor’s left. I assume he was the lawyer. Next to that man was a tall blond, named Angie, who was either another lawyer or Victor's secretary. The two goons remained standing at the back, on either side of where Victor sat. I noticed Dino did the same, standing slightly next to me towards the back.

Angie, who had been intently staring me down since she entered the room, got up when everyone was sitting, to make a show of passing a folder to Victor. Her cleavage was falling out as she leaned toward him. Before Angie sat back down, she made sure to brush her hand over Victor’s forearm.

I noticed that Victor’s eyes remained on me during that whole exchange. I saw a flicker of a smile on his face, and I knew he knew what I was thinking.

I sat in the middle of the conference room table. My father and Uncle Carsimo, who was the family lawyer and consigliere, were the last to arrive. My father nodded at Victor and Vito and sat down, never sparing me a glance. After a while, he then looked at me and said, “Let’s get this over with, shall we.”

The negotiations were the typical stuff one would have thought of between two wealthy parties. Pretty much what is his, would remain his and what was mine would remain mine. The second part of the meeting had to do with the “stores”, which everyone knew dealt with not-so legitimate business.

My father proposed a 50/50 split of all store related business holdings in the Bernardi and Rossi portfolio and for the marriage between me and Victor, if a child or children is conceived within 5 years, my father gets 7.5 million and will sell off 5% of the profit share of the businesses to the Bernardi’s as good faith, at a reasonable rate.

Victor objects and countered. He proposed a 50/50 profit share for just the New York based store business holdings, children within 3 years, 5 million is given to Don Rossi when an heir is conceived and 10% of the profit shares are gifted as good faith. He added that If no heir is conceived within 3 years, Don Rossi forfeits 1 million for each additional year it takes to produce one.

My father protested, “A 50/50 split of New York based holdings does not seem like much and how do I know that you won’t drag your feet when getting her pregnant?”

Victor chuckled and said, “Don Rossi, I’m based out of New York. This is my home, so I assure you, a 50/50 split of New york based holdings is plenty and as far as conceiving an heir, I plan on f*****g your daughter every single night, so deep my seed will be coming out her f*****g mouth. If she doesn’t get pregnant, it would not be on my side.”

I glared at Victor and the sheepish smile he gave me let me know that he knew very well that had it not been for my father in the room, I would have cursed him out for those comments and the unnecessary visuals.

To my surprise, my father had no reaction and instead whispered something to my uncle and then turned to Victor and agreed to the terms.

I must admit, to my chagrin, Victor was a skilled negotiator. His charismatic smile and persona worked to his advantage, completely disarming his opponent.

After two hours, everyone assumed the meeting was coming to an end, but Victors’ lawyer announced one last component that had to be ironed out. The conditions that allowed for the possible annulment of the marriage.

Mr. Clayton robotically said, "The Bernardi and Rossi alliance and marriage of Ms. Rossi and Mr. Bernardi can be annulled solely by Mr. Bernardi’s discretion for one of two reasons; one, Ms. Rossi not being a virgin on the wedding night and two, any infidelity by Ms. Rossi for the duration of the first 7 years of marriage."

My mouth dropped as my eyes bounced from Victor to my father. The lawyer continued, “If any of these things happen, the Rossi family must compensate Mr. Bernardi, 10 million dollars forthwith.”

Without blinking an eye, my father nodded in agreement, got up and unceremoniously walked out the door. Soon after, everyone followed suit except for Victor and Angie.

I looked at her and spat, “You can leave too Ange!”

She responded, “I don’t work for you.”

I narrowed my eyes at her and just as I was about to open my mouth to tell her off, Victor placed a hand on Angie’s hip, signaling for her to leave. I could tell they had a familiarity with one another that neither one of them were hiding nor was ashamed about given in less than 24 hours I was going to be his wife.

As Angie made her way out, I couldn’t resist saying, “Please close the door behind you, ANGE.” Without looking back, Angie slammed the door closed as she left.

I turned my head back to only be startled at how close Victor had gotten to me. He looked down at me with those piercing blue eyes and leaned into my ear and said, “I really had fun meeting you today, Princess.” For the first time, the word “Princess” almost sounded like a term of endearment instead of an insult as it was meant to be coming from him.

His breath hit my neck, and it sent a shiver down my spine. I responded in a breathy voice that was not intentional, and I quickly coughed out to regain my composure. I sarcastically retorted, “I’m glad you had fun talking about my body and reproductive system like I was not in the room, and I love the infidelity clause in our marriage for only me and not you, especially when your secretary was nearly sucking your d**k under the table right in front of me.”

Victor laughed out loud and pushed back at what seemed to be an attempt to take a better look at me. “Oooh, you have claws!” he said surprisingly. After a short while of looking at me as if contemplating something, he said, “I don’t know if I like it!”

“What you like is not on the menu,” I quickly retorted causing him to raise an eyebrow.

“Everything is on the menu,” Victor said as his right hand went up between my thighs.

I quickly placed my hand over his, preventing him from going any further up to my core.

He laughed and took his hand away. He amusingly said, “Funny how Dave Cosgrove, from Palo Alto, got to cup your p***y a year ago, only to have his hand broken repeatedly by the way, …. and yet here you are denying your husband." Victor shook his head in mock disappointment, as recognition of what he just said finally hit me making my eyes widen.

Before I could respond, he backed away and turned toward the door and said, “See you tomorrow, Princess.”

I slid back on the chair, swallowing hard as the full weight of this “marriage” hit me head on. I whispered out loud, “I’m fucked.”