Page 14 of Arianna

And how do you make a man like him suffer?

By burning the kingdom, they rule to the ground.

“Put him through.” Celene’s eyes grow big, probably wondering why I decided to take his call after all these weeks of ordering her to hang up.

Hitting the speaker button, I wait for the call to connect. “Yes?”

“Bastian—”

“It’s Mr. Kenton to you, Parisi.” I let him know that he does not intimidate me, and we are certainly not close enough for him to address me less formally.

We are not on the same level.

We never will be.

“Straight to the point, I see.” I am nothing but a straight shooter, and the last thing I want is to entertain this clown in an Italian suit, but eventually, I had to.

Gabriele Parisi presents himself to the world as a respectable businessman with legitimate businesses and properties, such as the Parisi Hotels, all over the country, but underneath the expensive suits, a common thug is trying hard to be more than what he is.

A puppet.

A follower.

A useless cunt.

The consigliere for one of the most known crime organizations in the country.

A man whose only job is to lick the filth under his Capo’s Italian shoes.

“What can I help you with, Gabriele?” I make sure to address him by his first name, letting him know that he is not superior to me in any way. I do as I please, and I am not one of the many men who cower under the Parisi name.

“It’s come to my attention that you’re looking for a bride.” Silence follows his statement. The devil works fast, but Celene proved that she works faster. After she proposed the ridiculous idea of me selling a fake reality to the media so I can get them off my back during the campaign trail, I thought long and hard about the pros and cons of the situation.

The pros are not as many as the cons, that is for certain, but she had a point.

The media has been having a circus after Ellaiza appeared out of nowhere, feeding into the idea that my promiscuous activities after office hours will somehow affect my duty as a senator. It is idiotic, I should not even entertain the idea, and I would not have if I didn’t have Ellaiza to think about.

They are like starved crows, trying to feast on my bones and by association, my child.

The media scrutiny has become so relentless that women are appearing at my place of work and every single place I am trying to get to.

I am an attractive man.

A powerful man.

I am aware of that. I am not oblivious to the overwhelming number of women and men’s attention I attract, but my kid does not deserve to have a crazy person approach me while I am out with her, wanting to become her mother.

So, for her and only until it all dies down, I agreed to the arrangement.

I will find myself a woman to court for a couple of months, maybe a year, while I parade her around the city. Have some sort of arrangement that works for both of us so I can get the lunatics and the media off my back.

They don’t harass my other colleagues and opponents the way they do me, and that is because they are one of two things.

They are very discreet, paying large amounts to keep their shit on the low, or they are settled down with a wife and a couple of kids.

I never thought I would have children. I was not too keen on the idea until that angel girl came into my life, but a woman for the rest of my life? That is something I will not agree to.

The arrangement will work best for me.

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