Page 142 of Forced Vows

She frowns, crossing her arms. "My uncle didn't say anything about this."

"That's because he does not know. No one knows. Except maybe Catalina." Sev doesn't keep secrets from his wife.

Róise's arms drop to her sides, her expression filling with confusion. "Why are you telling me?"

Good question. Since she already all but agreed to the earlier wedding if she got to finish school, I didn't have to tell her about what's going to happen and risk her revealing our plans to her uncle before we're ready.

"Remember when I said the trust starts somewhere" I look around the studio significantly and back to the woman I am going to marry. "This is where it starts for me."

"You trust me not to tell anyone, not even my cousins, about your studio and the future plans you and Don De Luca have."

"Yes." I want this woman to be my wife, not a glorified mistress with a ring on her finger.

I don't want love but I do want a partnership. For that to happen, I have to be able to trust her. And this is a good test to see if the loyalty she gives so fiercely to her family will extend to me.

"I still don't see why you're so adamant about moving the wedding forward. The engagement is as good as marriage to guarantee the blood alliance until I give birth to our first child. That won't be for at least almost three years after we get married."

We agreed that she could have two years of birth control after the marriage. My assumption she would be willing to chuck that requirement was as shortsighted as believing she'd quit college without protest.

Róise might be over ten years younger than me, but she's got a will of iron and a sense of fair play to match it.

"To solidify my place with la famiglia as their don, I need to show the stability of marriage and provide an heir." Otherwise, I risk one of the Genovese capos making a play to take my place.

It damn near happened to Sev and he was my father's chosen heir. Fucking Lorenzo Ricci. He won't be an issue very soon, but he's not the only man from my father's generation who doesn't want a boss twenty years younger than him.

"But—" Róise is back to looking at me like I'm the devil's minion.

"I am not going to fuck with your birth control," I promise her. "If you choose to stick to the terms of the contract, that's your decision. But your safety and mine will increase after you give birth to our first child."

I'm not going to sugarcoat it. She deserves the truth.

"But why? I don't understand how having a child will make you safer."

"Sev faced a lot of pushback when he became don, even after my father had made it clear he expected Sev to take his place one day. Only part of that pushback was the fact he was young. The rest came from the instability his lack of a wife and heir gave to the future of the Genovese Family."

"But he's not even forty! He has plenty of time to have children."

"The first one is on his way. My sister-in-law is pregnant." And the timing is excellent for Severu's bid for godfather.

If a don needs to show the stability of a family, a godfather even more so.

"You're seriously telling me the capos might not accept you as don if you're not married?"

"That is one fear, yes. But there is also the very real consideration that at the age of 33, if I do not have an hier soon, I will be unable to train him adequately to take over as don before my death."

"Sheesh, morbid much?" She turns from me and walks toward the kitchen, taking off her jacket as she goes.

When she reaches the island, she tosses her jacket on top and then hops up to sit with her legs dangling in front of my paint chests. "What if our child doesn't want to be a don? What if our first child is a girl? What if she does want to be dona?"

"I have already said that if our child chooses a different path, I will do my best to help them on it, and if our first child is a girl the same applies. If she's anywhere near as strong-willed as her mother, she'll convince the Genovese to accept her claim to the role when the time comes."

"Okay, let me get this straight." Róise leans back on her elbows, her stance fucking provocative. "The alliance is for Don De Luca to become the godfather? But the marriage happening now is to smooth the path for you to become don?"

"Yes."

"And if I agree to moving the wedding date forward, I will still finish my degree?"

"Yes."

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