Tornado . Arranged Marriage with the Mafia

KNOCK KNOCK

The knocking on the door dirupted my concentration. I sighed, as I looked up from my large, but organized, stacks of papers that surrounded my desk. I had a lot of work to get done.

"This better be important" I stated, as my older cousin Jared came in. In addition to being my cousin, he was also my right hand man. Travis, his brother was one year younger than Jared, and one year older than me, was my other main man. 

"Pa needs to talk to you" he said, and I nodded curtly. Pa was my father, Jared's uncle. Everyone called him "Pa", that was just how it went. 

I left my office, and headed to Pa's office. Despite handing the company over to me since Pa was getting older and his health was declining, I still had to listen to him. Pa was older and wiser, and in our society, that meant that his opinion was to be respected. Although technically I had the authority on decision, if he differed in opinion, we would go with him. 

I knocked on the door, and waited for Pa to tell me to come in before opening the door.

"Ah Calysta, sit down please" Pa said, and I obeyed, sitting down in the seat in front of his desk with my legs crossed and back straight. It not only was proper, but showed that I was prepared. Whenever he asked me to come talk to him in his office, there would usually be bad news that accompanied. 

He took a piece of paper out of a folder and slid the paper on the dark wood desk over to in front of me. 

"Read it" he stated, and I picked up the paper and began reading.

This contract states that Calysta Rose Lucia Valecia will, when she turns the age of 23, marry Alessandro Terra DeGarda, if she is not with spouse already. 

I read over the rest of the contract, especially the Terms & Conditions. In summary, this contract stated that if I was not married by the time I turned 23, I would become the wife of Alessandro DeGarda. However, because I was the heir of the Valecia fortunes and successor of the company, the DeGarda and Valecia companies would combine, but Alessandro would not be able to access the fortunes of Valecia without my permission, a request in the contract that I knew was due to Pa. However, I would have to bear a child with him to continue our companies. It almost killed me not to roll my eyes at this. I didn't even know the guy, yet here it was stating that I would be forced to have sex with him.

The DeGarda family was just as successful as the Valecia family was. Both owned numerous successful businesses internationally, especially in the United States and Italy. Our businesses included casinos, clubs, hotel chains, restaurants as well as investment banks and trustfunds. We were extremely connected in society. Many refer to us as a "mob". I wouldn't say that was true, as the police were occasionally at our door. Too bad they couldn't prove anything. 

After reading everything, I looked towards Pa. My fists were clenched and it took every cell in my body to not rip up the document and scream how outrageous this deal was. Instead, I counted to ten in my head and took a deep breath.

"We will meeting with the DeGardas tonight for dinner to discuss this. I know you are upset, but this was created in the first year of your life. Your mother supported it. You are more than capable of handling the company on your own, as you have proved, however we had decided that if it came to this, we didn't want you to be responsible all alone." Pa explained. I nodded in response. 

"Wear a nice dress" Pa said, as it was clear that the conversation was over, and thus I rose from my seat and went back to my office.