𝐒𝐮𝐠𝐚𝐫 ✓ [𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐎𝐍𝐄]

✎chapter fifteen × heads or tails

ʀᴏᴍᴇ, ɪᴛᴀʟʏ
sᴀɴᴛɪɴɪ ᴘʀɪᴠᴀᴛᴇ ʟᴏᴜɴɢᴇ
ᴇʟᴇᴠᴇɴ ᴏ ᴛʜʀᴇᴇ ᴘᴍ
━─━────༺༻────━─━

"What do you mean married?" I question in shock.

He simply shrugs in response.

"Or I should say engaged. I was engaged to her. She served her purpose without me having to go through with a wedding."

"And when was this?" I ask.

"About a week or two before that party at the Régalian."

"Angelo, that was a week ago!" I sigh, leaning back in my chair to make sure my outburst doesn't send little Santos tumbling out of my lap.

"Why did you leave her?"

He thinks about this for a moment, as if he's considering whether or not he wants me to know.

"Florence Delafonse is a very rich, powerful woman. She has connections, more so than me. But, she's also notoriously out of her mind. She doesn't exactly have suitors lining up, so as you can imagine she was quite eager to get married quickly. Something about maintaining a social hierarchy. When I gave her a ring, she wired me 500 million on the spot. It was a buisness venture and when she delivered on her end of the unspoken bargain, I let her go. No harm to my reputation, seeing as it's common knowledge that Florence is a bit off her rocks."

Angelo sips his drink.

"But, now she wants us dead."

My eyes bore into him.

"Us? What do you mean us? I didn't do anything to her." I fume.

"No, but the situation does make it look like I left her for you."

"And why exactly would you put me in that situation?"

"People say they don't want to be associated with scandal but, it'll drum up surprisingly good buisness." Armando chimes in.

I sigh.

"So how are you going to get her off our backs?"

Angelo finishes his drink and sets it on the table with a gentle clink. "I can handle her. It's her family that's of concern to me."

"Cédric Delafonse. Patriarch of the Delafonse family. Head of a shipping company that transports millions of tons of illegal contraband anually. If you have something you want to get across a border, you go to him." Armand explains, lazily. "He calls himself 'The Sea King'."

"He's a respected figure in our society, silly nickname aside. And I can't have his daughter's vendetta hindering my work. Which is why . . . " Angelo pauses, looking between Armando and Santos.

Armando rolls his eyes and grins. "You've never been particularly tactful in your approach." He sighs. "But, you know I can't involve Santos in this."