Damien's POV.

"M-my daughter..." Marcus Rossi stutters just as I begin to stand. "You can have my daughter."

I lift an eyebrow at him and I see the desperation cloud his eyes a little more. I asked for something in exchange for me helping him find his family... and he offered me his daughter?

"She's beautiful, and she's a virgin, she can cook and clean and she's very docile so you won't have any trouble with her at all, trust me she'll make a wonderful bride for you," he rambles on, standing now and waving his hands about as he speaks.

"You're offering me your daughter?" I say and slowly slide back down to my seat, both irritated and impressed by this balding man.

"Yes-"

"You want me to go out of my way to negotiate with Volkov to get your family back and in exchange for all that effort you're offering me your daughter?" I ask again, trying to wrap my head around why he was saying.

I certainly had expected him to offer his daughter. Maybe some territory, a small bite of his shipment, money... sure the Rossi's weren't the most powerful family in the outfit, but they were a very old one, like mine they were part of the first few Italians that'd birthed the Chicago branch of the mafia, and for that alone their territory was a lot larger than most of the other family's, a little bit of that territory was what I'd wanted, what I'd expected but no, this man really wanted to exchange his daughter for my help.

"You're not very good at making deals, you know?" I say simply, leaning back into my chair to watch the man squirm a little.

"I..." he sputters. I can see his face reddening and from the way his fingers twitch I can tell he wanted to grab that gun and shoot, but he wouldn't dare... no, not when my men were several feet away from him with their own guns ready to be pulled out and aimed.

"What would your daughter do for me, Rossi? I have maids that cook and clean, I don't need another person occupying space and I have hoes to fuck as much as I want. So tell me Rossi, what exactly would your daughter do for me?"

He blanches, then clenches his fist tightly. Marcus might be a fat fuck with such an insignificant number of braincell, but he wasn't a total idiot, he knew that offering me land or a bit of his shipment would be a better deal, but the man was so god-damned stingy that he'd much rather sell of his own flesh and blood for my help.

I look to my Consigliere who merely shrugs and shakes his head. Antonio knew as well as I did the assets this man owned. I'd heard very little about his daughter, Cathrine Rossi. I'd spotted her a couple of times at outfit get togethers, she was beautiful, and from the look of her, very meek, while I like many of the men there had paused to admire her gentle beauty, I'd quickly moved, I'd seen prettier, hell I'd fucked prettier, it'd take a whole lot more than a pretty face and a nice rack to have me tripping.

"I know about the ultimatum your uncles gave you," he whispers suddenly and my eyes snap back to him. Before I can even blink Antonio has his gun out and pointed in his direction, his eyes are hard and he snaps it away briefly from the suicidal man to me.

I don't respond and merely stare down the don of the Rossi family, trying to figure out how he could possibly know about the threat my uncles had levelled at me. "Ultimatum..." I whisper and then I reach for the small blade on my desk, he gulps but doesn't back down, clenching his trembling hands and meeting my eyes with steely determination.

"What ultimatum Marcus?" I ask, waving the blade round.

"About... about you getting married. I know that if you don't get married in six months they'll have you off the seat of Capo," he says, meeting my eyes with a smug look in his eyes. "And they'll give it to Travis."

I purse my lip and meet his eyes with a neutral expression. Even though inside I was shaking in rage, wanting to grab him by his thick neck and choke him so tightly till I saw life slip out his eyes.

"Fine," I say suddenly. Antonio's eyes snap to me and he lifts his eyebrow. I should order him to be shot now and then leave him and his pathetic family to rot, but... I could still remember how smug Travis looked when my uncles had delivered the news to me with steely, self-satisfied eyes. "I'll marry your daughter and I'll talk to Volkov."

His eyes widen in joy and he reaches forward to shake my hand, but instead I slide the sharp end of my blade on it. He winces and jolts back, I smile toothily at him. "But let me warn you now, Rossi. If you attempt to back out of this deal I will make sure the Rossi name ends here. Do you understand?"

He nods slowly still wincing at the pain in his arm and with a wave. I dismiss him and try to think about how this could work in my favour.







The wedding and reception went by in a blur of fretting aunts and my female cousins laughing half the time. On the altar I stare blankly down at the sea of people invited for my wedding. Half of them I knew, the other half were random members of the outfit that my aunts deemed it necessary to invite, some were from the New York Cosa Nostra... Some came from the Familia in Italy, but it was a packed event.

And I just stood there glaring down at the crowd as I awaited my bride.

I hadn't seen her even once since the engagement. We didn't even have a formal engagement party because she'd apparently begged her father to spare her of that, I'd only agreed cause I couldn't be bothered and instead I'd pushed the wedding up.

I hated everything about this, it felt more like I'd been forced into doing this than getting something out of an exchange but at least there was a bright side, I finally had someone to fuck as I wanted. Her walk down the aisle was slow and even from here I could see that she was shaking violently several times. When I'd tried to slip the ring on her it'd fallen and I'd watched her bend to pick it up, shaking and fumbling with it repeatedly.

She was amusing and clearly very scared of me.

Good.

And after our vows and the seering kiss I'd pulled her into the wedding was over, we stayed briefly at the reception to wave at the guests and play out that friendly role, then I'd taken her home, to the place I'd lived in alone for several years.

She didn't speak, didn't even look at me, and I couldn't care less. She was less of a person to me and more of just someone to fuck, an exchange for her family's safety.

I snorted as I watched her run into the bathroom the moment we stepped foot into the bedroom, sooner or later she'd come out and I'd get what I paid for.