The Wife's Resolve

Chapter 5: La Familia

Friday night arrived just like it did every week. Valerie was exhausted by the meeting and court cases. The twins were released due to circumstantial evidence, but she wondered how many times they could be so stupid and not either end up in the ground or in jail. Damon had been so busy that she had not actually seen him since the meeting the day before. Luckily, her first thing Monday morning, she would have to deal with Elena, and she would be forced to do it without Damon or Davius, as they were busy with dispersing the newest shipment all morning.

Valerie put on a simple black dress with sheer sleeves and a set of pearls. It was imperative to Damon that she present herself like any other wife at these dinners, and she hated every minute of it. She was expected to be silent and not talk or engage unless directly brought into the conversation by Damon. Only Damon could control what the conversation was and who was allowed to speak. It was two to three hours of business disguised as dinner. Damon seemed to take great pride in the fact that over this and this alone was Valerie in complete submission to him, and sometimes he felt like he tested her by not allowing her to speak at all.

As she came down the stairs to the foyer for dinner, many of the family had already arrived. She was the only one of the wives who worked outside the home, and as such, she was granted a few special liberties. One was not being expected to cook for these meals. The second, and her favorite, was that she was permitted to be late. She tested Damon in this manner alone, by getting later and later. One time, she even showed up after dinner had been set, but Damon had not been impressed. After the guests left, he made her wash all the dishes from the night by hand. She had chosen not to be that late again. The thing she learned early on was that the first punishment he doled out was merciful, but after that, they only got worse.

Damon caught her eye as she rounded the corner, and he gave her the look of approval. Quietly, she made her way to his side. Dutifully, she stood next to him as plentries were made. When the housekeeper announcer gave him the signal that dinner was ready, he motioned for everyone to follow him into the dining hall. Damon walked Valerie to her spot and pulled out the chair for her. When she sat down, he pushed the chair in and kissed behind her ear, whispering "behave tonight" into her ear before walking to his own spot at the head of the table. When he sat down, everyone else followed suit, and she gave him a smirk and winked. A smile spread across his face briefly, but she noticed.

Around the table sat the representatives for the Dare Family, which included Damon's Uncle Dominik, and brother Darius, as well as his cousin Donivan. Besides them, the Four families: Imari's, King's, Chase's, and the Silver's. In total, 15 people held a place at the table, 6 of them were just the wives. Valerie was not counted as the wife for two reasons. One was because she was the wife of the boss, and two, she was a lawyer who handled all the legal affairs of the pack. Darius was the only unmarried associate who would normally keep him from the table, but because Damon had promoted him to his number two, the families had allowed for Darius to choose a wife within the year.

The meal itself was mostly quiet until Damon pushed away his plate. "We have a couple of family issues to discuss tonight." With that, all attention turned to him. "Doris and Valerie may stay at the table for the first order of business, but all the other wives may be dismissed to the sitting room. As this was a typical response to family business, the other women filed out of the room quickly and closed the door. "Valerie informs me we have more and more issues with the twins, Nicolas."

"She is capable of handling the fallout from what I hear," Nicolas responded.

Damon narrowed his eyes, "I did not ask if my wife could get them out of trouble. I want to know what you are going to do so there is less of it. My wife has better things to do than handle them because you are not doing your job."

"I'm not doing my job," Nicolas laughed. "They are highly profitable to you," he defended them.

"Enough, Nicolas," Damon raised his voice slightly, "the issue is not that they do not do the job, but rather they are sloppy and need more accountability. If you will not be accountable for them, I will place them in someone else's crew before they either get themselves killed or they bring more attention to themselves from the law. I cannot and will not have that. Do you understand what I am telling you, Nicolas?"

"Yes, Alpha," Nicolas responded bitterly and dropped his head in submission.

With that, Damon moved on to the next piece of business, "Darius has chosen to marry Elena Iris." An uproar went around the table.

"You forbade him, of course," Came the deep, angry voice of his Uncle Dominik.

"That blonde bimbo that your wife chased away from your office," his Aunt Doris threw in.

"He has a responsibility to marry from among the families. Is that not what we agreed on?" yelled Grant Silvers, who no doubt had been preparing for Darius to marry one of his daughters.

Damon held up his hand, and the room went silent."You may have your objections, that's fine, but once we leave this room, you will show support for this marriage and carry on traditionally."

"She has no benefit to this organization," His Uncle Dominik persisted. "Surely, you can see the problems with bringing in another outsider."

"Surely you are not referring to my wife?" Damon eyed him severely.

"Your wife came with a strong connection, with power, and power, and we may not have seen her value before, but after your acquittal, I don't believe there is anyone in the family who would say she is of no benefit to us. If she would just give you an heir, I would say she is the greatest benefit of any of the wives, " he laughed, and many around the room did as well.

Damon, though, clenched his teeth and tried to hold his anger in. His fists were ready under the table to beat someone to a pulp if they made one more comment about his wife and the lack of children. They had not been married that long. There was still plenty of time, and even if she did not have children, it did not change anything. He knew it would only get worse when they found out Elena was pregnant, but that was another days problem.

"Your objections are noted, but I have already given my permission, and Valerie has already drawn up the paperwork for us," Damon concluded in a manner that told the table the discussion was over. "Our last piece of business has to do with shipping. Donivan, can you recap what happened at the docks for the family?"

"I arrived at one location to receive the shipment and took heavy fire. I was forced to fall back and wait for reinforcements. While waiting, one shipment was stolen. I was able to get the other three shipments to their proper locations with the correct personnel, but I don't yet know what happened to the last one. Sources we have inside tell us the shipment was not confiscated by authorities, but we have an enemy who took the first step against us yesterday. "

"You have no lead then," Patrick King spoke up. "Do you think our families are in danger or just the shipments?"

Damon stood up, "At this point, we will not speculate on the extent of the problem. Donivan and Darius will be looking into it. They will report back to you at the next meeting."

"Are we delaying business?" Nicolas asked.

"Absolutely not! Due to this unseen attack, all hands are on deck for Monday's shipment. I want this city to feel our presence." Damon ordered.

"Yes, Alpha," was the only reply as everyone filed out of the room and headed out for the night.