The Mafia's Arrangement

Chapter 9

Aspen POV

I grab my books before I head out of class. Everyone is staring at me, constantly. It’s f*****g ridiculous. It’s the first day back since the weekend. After a couple of days, I’m sure the whole world knows now. If not the very least, the English government has. They tried to pull me from the project, but my credentials stand and I have an iron-clad agreement with them.

“Is that her?” Some of the guys in a corner of this hallway points at me as I watch them talk about me.

“I can’t believe Holden Carmichael is marrying her.” One of the girl from my engineering class states.

“She’s not even that pretty.” Another girl comments.

Enough with the snarky mean girl comments that they all supposedly think would effect me somehow, I get off of campus as quickly as I can. My bodyguards are around me constantly. I have to go back to London tonight. Family dinner of sorts with Uncle Eric, who is absolutely obsessing over my being alive again.

Don’t get me wrong, he’s nice and all, but I don’t know him. And he’s trying, I know that. He treats me like his own. But will it be enough?

I get to dinner and I see my bodyguards head over to J to tell him all about my day. J seems worried, but I can’t worry about that now. That’s the least of my concerns.

“Aspen!” Uncle Eric gives me a giant bear hug as he leads me to my seat. “Sit here, right next to me. I want to hear all about you.” He gives me a nice smile that I return shyly.

"Not much to tell, I’m afraid.”

“Nonsense!” I sit across from Holden as Uncle Eric sits on the end. A large dinner is set on the table as everybody waits on me to begin. Crap. “Isn’t she lovely, boys? You’re lucky, Kenneth, you got a daughter.” Bast gives his father a funny face at the comment.

As everyone begins to eat the feast in front of us, I pick at my food, sniffling every now and then. Nobody seems to notice, but I see Holden get up from his seat and leave the dining hall. Perhaps he has other arrangements he needs to get to.

“So, they got the message.” My father folds his hands in front of his face as he faces me. “And they’re calling bullshit.” I scoff.

“Bullshit?” Bast says as he grabs another helping of mashed potatoes. “For what?”

“No one is doubting you’re my daughter, but they don’t think I would actually let you marry Holden. They don’t think I’d let you go into a loveless marriage. And Aspen, dear, they’re right. I wouldn’t let you do that.”

“How could they possibly know that you wouldn’t marry me off?” I ask as I sniffle up and clear my seemingly sore throat.

“Because J tried to marry some Italian princess for the betterment of the mob and I refused. J is a good son, but I would never have asked him to marry anyone for the betterment of our mob. That’s certainly not how I met your mother.” We fall quiet.

Holden walks back into the dining hall with a cup of chicken noodle soup and sets it down in front of me. With a blanket on his arm, he untucks it to wrap it around me. He proceeds back into his seat and continues eating like nothing happened. Everyone gives him a bit of a weird look, but they all shrug it off.

“Thank you.” I say as I clear my throat and drink the soup. It tastes good, really helps with how I am feeling at the moment. “So, then let’s double down.”

“Double down on what?” Holden asks as he takes an elegant bite of his meal. Everyone looks around at one another. Nobody dares to say anything.

“It’s just a marriage, who cares?” I say and the room turns to look at me strangely. Shrugging at the thought, I stare up at Holden. “What do you say? Push up the marriage?” He gives me a serious look.

“Let’s get married.”