"Your clothes. They bother me. 𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐨𝐟𝐟."
~
Marriage was not for love -it was for business. It was a strategic move that one had to make wisely. For the Lombardis and the Morettis, this marriage was the most calculated, showstopping...
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Angeline Verona-Marielle Lomardi was a name Roman Moretti had known since he was a teenager.
It was a name spoken so often that his ears were on the verge of bleeding if it was spoken one more time. It was a name that haunted him day and night without guilt. It was a name he couldn't go a day without hearing or thinking of. It was a name he hated with passion.
His mother and father spoke of her more and more as the wedding drew closer and all he wanted to do was pull his hair out.
Angeline this. Angeline that.
'Would Angeline like this shade of pink for the table centerpieces?'
'Would Angeline want a live wedding painter at the reception or the ceremony?'
'Does Angeline like Salmon?'
'Do you think Angeline has any pearl jewelry? I know she must have diamonds but pearls symbolize good luck.'
'Does Angeline get sick often? I want plenty of Vitamin C in the house for her.'
He was on the verge of snapping. For a woman they had never met or seen, they sure valued her opinion a lot. The Lombardis were painfully secretive when it came to their Angeline -never speaking or hinting at her existence. Whenever they would come to visit the Morettis in New York, his family would try to get any pinch of information about her but the subject was wholly ignored.
Angeline Lombardi must be disgustingly ugly.
There was no other explanation as to why she was hidden away from the world and no one had seen her face. It was a conclusion he had come to years ago when he began spending most of his nights with women. Only ugliness would be a reason for someone to hide.
He knew close to nothing about his arranged bride -all but her name and her family. Angeline Verona-Marielle Lombardi was a French-Italian woman born to Carmine Lombardi, an Italian Capo sent by Roman's father, the Don, to take over and expand the business to France and the UK, and a French Loanshark's daughter, Celine Moreau whom he had met and married.
Carmine Lombardi ended up being tremendously successful in his expansion of the business and took over Spain, France, the UK, and Portugal in the name of La Cosa Nostra. In response to this expansion and unprecedented domination, other crime families grew angry and tried to start a war with Carmine but were fruitless when he was protected by the Famiglia. They later challenged that Carmine Lombardi and the Morettis had no blood relation to each other and therefore Carmine should be fair game.
To protect their new expansion -and keep it- the Lombardis and Morettis proposed a marriage between the two families to counteract the "no relation" excuse.
Celine Lombardi was pregnant with a daughter at the time and Don Vincenzo Moretti's youngest son, Roman Moretti, was twelve. It was decided and signed upon that when the Lombardi daughter was twenty-two, they would marry.
