His Caged Dove -Mafia Romance (BOOK ONE)

Four: Gedeon

Four:

Gedeon

As promised, Mateo came back with his finest red wine, four glasses, and some documents for me to sign to solidly our agreement. Shuffling next to him was a man in his late fifties, which I assumed to be his second in command. I took a seat as Timor stood next to me, examining Mateo. I knew he wanted Mateo dead as much as I did, but he knew what was at stake.

Mateo walked in as he looked at Timor and then his eyes fell to Dove for a moment as his nose flared when he noticed the jacket I had placed on her. As if she was trained to, she ducked her head down and shuffled to where Mateo was, standing behind him as he took the seat across from me. "I hope she wasn't causing trouble. I hope the scars on her body wasn't too bad that you need to cast a jacket over her."

I waved off his comment as I sat back down. I had known she was abused, but I never was going to do to do anything inappropriate to her body, as he was suggesting. Though, I wasn't going to tell him that. I didn't know what possessed me to actually lend my jacket. Perhaps it was the way I didn't want her to catch hypothermia and die before my plan was in motion. "No, it was quite alright."

"Just give it a few weeks and when it's healed, she'll be a shiny porcelain doll," he nodded in agreement and then laughed as he opened his bottle of wine. "Yes, she is the most beautiful in the Italian family that we have to offer. It was something she inherited from her mother, the only thing she got that was useful."

My eyes caught onto the way she tensed when Mateo's second in command laughed along, her eyes glancing up for just a millisecond in humiliation and shame. Casting her head downer, she allowed her hair to fall over her face, as if to hide herself from the world. Truly, the Italians were lower than rats, especially Mateo for viewing his daughter nothing less than a piece of meat.

Though I wasn't any different, except for the fact that I viewed her as a piece in my chess.

Crossing my legs, I reached for my cigar as Timor took out his lighter to lite it. A small smile crept when I realize Dove was looking at me for a moment, not that Mateo would see since she was standing behind him. I had to give it to her, she was observant in being able to see through my tell. "So, now with our second in command are here, let's discuss business."

Mateo nodded eagerly as he clasped his hands loudly together. "Yes, the hand in marriage of my daughter in exchange for manpower and alliance until a settlement with Gaggi's family. Should an internal war were to happen, you would lend me your men. This is also to make up for what happened last week."

My eyes couldn't help but sneak a small peak to see Dove's reaction to all of this. Her eyes widened for a moment as she peered up at me, the same doe eyes that were filled with innocence. It was ironic and funny to think that someone who was born into the deadliest families in New York could hold that much innocent in their eyes. I could tell she had a lot of questions in her head, but she refused to ask it.

"Have you told Gaggi's family about this yet?" I asked, despite knowing the answer. "That I would be taking their son's future fiancé as my own?"

He shook his head. "No, Robert is on a business trip and won't be back for some weeks. I will inform them when he returns, so I have enough time to plan all case scenarios."

Timor frowned as he shuffled his weight onto one side. "Do you have a contracted deal with Gaggi's family that you'll be overwriting?"

"No, my daughter was given to Robert when she was fifteen and he was twenty-three as a way to amend for the growing tension between our families," he explained. I tried to hide my disgust that she wasn't even legal of age when he just gave her away. I never met Robert, but from the stories I told, I could only imagine what Dove went through. Not that it mattered, because she was just a steppingstone in my plan.