Page 5 of Legacy

“I doubt you want me to stink up your finery. Tell me what you want so I can get out of here,” I said, wiping a smear of blood from my brow.

More than likely, this was another discussion about selling tobacco products for our potential alliances with the Italian contacts. Ozias had wanted an exchange arrangement for years but had yet to set it up.

Not untilIstepped in.

I understood diplomatic maneuvering. Hell, I was more experienced and strategic in my approach to everyone. Maybe once upon a time, he had the touch to charm and negotiate, but he’d lost the edge. Greed compromised one’s thinking, and Ozias was all things gluttonous.

I’d figured out how to compromise and still achieve my goal,specifically the group we dealt with in the northern territories. Showboating had never worked with them. Unfortunately, that was my father’s signature antic. Instead, I laid everything out on the table with a clear pair of options: they took it or walked away—all or nothing. The Italians were aware that we had other avenues to move our products. Once they realized my proposals indicated a mutually beneficial process, things fell into place.

Still, Ozias insisted on trying to look like the bigger power, thinking he possessed the influence to exert more expectations on the Italians. If he tried that tactic, he’d never get it.

He stared at me, keeping me in suspense, his fingers steepled together and pressed to his lips. I’d pissed him off, and now he wanted me to stew in my filth and need of a long, hot shower.

“I’m not in the mood for games,” I warned him. “Either tell me what you want or?—”

“A marriage offer has come to the table.”

I went still, pausing to take in his statement.

Marriage?

That was the last thing I expected.

An offer for a bride wasn’t unusual. Arranged marriages were common in our world. They linked syndicates, creating alliances and business ties.

For me, an offer of marriage wasn’t something I had ever anticipated hearing from Ozias’s lips.

I studied Ozias for any signs he was lying or fucking with me and found none.

Who could it be? The only eligible woman he might consider was my last lover, Francesca.

If that was the case, then the answer was no.

She was beautiful, skilled at pleasing me in bed, and came from a family of standing among Ozias’s circle, but I’d made it clear from the very beginning that I had no plans to marry her. I’d recognized her clingy and needy nature and set the rules so there was no miscommunication. Our relationship was casual at best, a dalliance over the last year where we enjoyed our time together, nothing more.

Yes, every man would want a gorgeous woman on his arm. But Francesca?

No. Fucking Francesca and marrying her were two very different things.

Besides, the last thing I wanted was to marry anyone or have sex with the same woman over and over again for the rest of my life.

I wasn’t a cheater like my father. Marriage meant vows to honor. To marry meant I would only fuck my wife, and I wasn’t in any rush to settle like that. I’d managed to avoid marriage for forty years.

Why was the old man pushing it now?

For one obvious fucking reason.

To control me since he hated how everyone knew the truth that I ran the family for him.

“Is that so?” I asked, sarcastic and curious.

I wouldn’t show him how intrigued I was by this game he played. Revealing my emotions would be an error with him.

He grinned, slow and sly. “It’s Avra Vitalis.”

He had to be lying.

I clenched my teeth to avoid betraying a single sign.

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