Bound to the Mafia Prince

Chapter 6

Luca sat with his back to the office’s door, watching the crowd below go about their daily lives–not that he was paying them any heed. He was merely using them as visual distractions to think straight.

“I keep my company, and you inherit yours. What do you say?”

The words echoed in his mind on repeat.

He had already sent Arthur on his way, promising to give it a thought. As a businessman, the answer was obvious. A bride for Terra, his father’s legacy.

But, on a deeper level, was he willing to marry someone for it?

Luca may be a bit cold and emotionless at times, but he wasn’t heartless. He couldn’t help his mind from wandering to the future and picturing himself next to someone for the rest of his days. The bride will probably not be too happy either.

After all, who would want to marry someone like him? The tyrant of the underground, the mafia prince of Terra.

“I agree,” Luca answered Arthur earlier. “But on one condition. The bride shouldn’t be forced into this.”

That was all he could do to ease his discomfort, but it wasn’t enough. But he shoved those emotions deep inside him, locking them where no one could reach them and no light could touch them. He did it a hundred times, so it was easy enough.

He was used to putting his work and business before everyone and everything, even his own heart.

The knock on the door pulled him out of his daze, and he spun around to see William walking in, his rounded glasses slipping on his nose bridge, but his hands were busy with folders to handle it.

“I heard from Marco, Boss,” said William, scurrying to the coffee table in the middle of the room and dropping the folders with a thud. “Are you sure this is the best course of action?”

Luca was silent. “I don’t know about the best course, but I know it’s the easiest way to get the Chairman’s seat.”

William tilted his head, studying the man’s fruitless expression. “I don’t think marriage is an easy path, Boss.”

“We don’t have much time,” William started. “The will stated that you have a year to find a bride if you were to inherit the vacant seat of Chairman. Otherwise, it will go to your step-brother James Salvatore. We only have a month left.”

Luca hadn’t the slightest clue why his father, Robert, wrote down such a ridiculous clause in the will. For starters, he wasn’t quite sure why he would give his adopted son the legacy he had built through the course of his life…

Yes, Lucian Salvatore was an adopted child of Robert Salvatore.

And yet, here he was climbing up the ladder of Terra faster than Robert’s biological children. Well, it wasn’t his fault they were stupid–James, at least. His sister, Amelia, was the Director of Human Resources of Terra. She was content with her position and stated during the will reading that she had no interest in the chairman’s seat.

“It’s too much trouble, count me out,” she said, grabbing everyone’s attention before waltzing her way out of the meeting room.

Luca was going to use her statement as a footing for the Chairman’s seat. Bride or not, he planned to get the seat either way. But the path he had in mind was a cold war, and he was sure he wouldn’t win unscathed and his hands clean.

“This is a much faster and surer way,” said Luca, after a long moment of thought.

William frowned, not quite sure what to think of his boss. He shared a quick look with Marco before returning to Luca.

He sighed. “Well, as your legal counsel, I agree that logically it is the safest way to ensure your inheritance to the chair. But we are talking about marriage here, Luca. It might be harder to maintain than to accomplish our sales goal every year for you.”

Luca was by nature a free spirit. It was hard for William to imagine him tied down to something for the rest of his life. Aside from the fact that Luca never got to meet a woman on such a deep level before, the longest he had ever been was three months, where he saw her 3 times a month before he broke up coldly.

“Don’t let your head run wild,” Luca said, cutting the lawyer’s line of thought. “I haven't even met her yet. Perhaps–”

‘She is like Penelope,’ he continued silently, the mix of sensations soothed over him.

William blinked a couple of times, noticing the gentle look on his friend’s face, but it was soon gone before he disregarded the unfinished sentence.

“I see,” he said, not seeing anything.

“We can still go back to the old plan if things go south,” he started, pointing to the files he brought earlier. “This could ensure the Board of Directors stands by your side. But, let’s do it your way.”

When Luca barely gave him a nod. William picked up the files and placed them before the prince. “I’ll leave these here, do with them as you please.”

William bowed and turned on his heels to leave.

“Wait,” said Luca. William turned to glance over his shoulder.

“Look into the daughter of Arthur Sterling, I want to know everything.”

~~~~

Penelope was leaning back into the chair with her nose in a book, her frameless, round glasses resting low on her nose bridge as her ocean-green eyes went over the words. She was lost in studying for the upcoming quiz as a distraction.

Despite promising herself to forget about Luca and everything that happened in Terra Hotel, it was hard to do. Now and then, she found her mind wandering back to the heated moments she shared with that mysterious man; His deep-turquoise black eyes gazing at her with such intensity that still lingered with her now.

How can a man leave such an impression from just one meeting?

He made her do and feel things she had never experienced before, even with her past boyfriends. She was wild and felt no shame–which is catching up to her now.

She shuddered, feeling her cheeks heat up. The knock on the door brought her out of her daze.

“Come in.”

George popped up through the gapped door. She instantly noticed his sulking expression; she felt her stomach turn. It meant that something happened…

And she wasn’t going to like it.

“George?” she questioned when the silence lingered for too long. “Is something the matter?”

George opened his mouth to speak before tightening his lips shut. “Master Arthur is calling for you in the office,” he finally said, avoiding her eyes.

Penelope searched his face for clues but got none. George has been the only one here in the mansion who genuinely cares about her, ever since she came to live with her father over a decade ago.

“I’ll be right there,” she said, setting down her glasses and book.

She follows a few steps behind George, climbing down the stairs to her father’s office. Once she reached the last flight, she started hearing muffled argument sounds.

Eleanor, she made out one voice, her step-sister.

She sighed, wondering what mess her sister had involved her in this time.

Was it really hard to ask for a quiet life until she graduates and leaves this Goddamn house?

Once they reached the glass door, George knocked and announced her presence. Over his shoulder, Penelope saw Eleanor glaring daggers her way. She was standing with her eyebrow arched into a frown with her hands on her hips.

Penelope ignored her stares and went inside. Eleanor wasn’t alone, her mother, Vivian, was present as well; she wasn’t any less angrier than her daughter–the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree right?

Her father was seated behind his desk, a look of irritation looming over the green eyes she inherited from him.

“I heard you wanted to see me, Father?” Penelope said, ignoring the piercing glares.

“Yes, Penelope,” he answered, and gestured to the sofa in the middle of the study room. “Have a seat.”

Silence fell on the office to the point that Penelope’s footsteps were audible against the polished wooden floor. Her half-sister and stepmother were staring into her with their similar light brown eyes.

What the hell was going on here?!

“So, Penelope,” her father started, clearing his throat. “I don’t know if you have heard about it, but the company is going through a very rough patch these days. Have you heard of Terra?”

Penelope shrugged at the name, but then understood what her father meant. “You mean Terra Enterprise that owns the Terra Hotel?”

“Just the one,” Arthur said, smiling quietly. “We are in debt to them with seven hundred million dollars.”

“P-pardon?!” said Penelope. How many zeros was that?

She knew that Sterling was a big company, but that amount of money was insane even for them. No wonder the house was anxious all day.

“That’s unfortunate,” she started, her gut feeling was starting to throb within her. “But what’s that got to do with me?”

Arthur held his head up, catching Penelope’s eyes in a sad gaze. Arthur explained what deal he had made with Lucian Salvatore, the terms of the deal. Lucian needed a bride, and if Arthur were to engage one of his daughters to him, their debt would be paid in full.

The words felt like daggers piercing into Penelope’s flesh, so agonisingly slow, she felt herself bleed as she saw her dreams perish right before her eyes. Her dream of space, NASA, exploring the universe…

It was tumbling down and crashing against the cold ground.

“And what am I supposed to do?” asked Penelope, once Arthur was silent. “I still don’t know what it got to do with me. You know that I never involve myself in the family business, and I’m not going to start now.”

“Unbelievable!” Vivian interrupted with a scoff, frowning upon Penelope. “This girl just doesn’t–”

Arthur raised a hand to silence his wife. He leaned forward, supporting his elbows on the desk as he turned to Penelope.

“I understand where you are coming from, Penelope,” said Arthur. “I planned for Eleanor to get engaged, since you are leaning on graduating and all that.”

“Then where is the problem?” Penelope said, narrowing her eyes, wondering where he was leading the conversation.”

Arthur fell quiet, closing his eyes before looking back at Penelope, his eyes softened.

Penelope knew that look. It was the look before he forced something on her because of Eleanor. It was his look while asking her to sacrifice something for the sake of her sister.

“I’m asking you to marry Lucian Salvatore, Penelope. For the sake of the family."