It was the Don who made the Mafia brothers make the momentous decision.
Later, they thought that he had, in his aggressive way, forced their hands.
He had summoned them to his room for a meeting that morning before they left for the hospital, to meet Bianca’s mother. The idea was to leave for Hunter’s Folly before evening. Bianca would stay here for a couple of days before joining them.
The white-haired Don, his massive musculature belying his advancing years, was in the study, his Woman perched on his lap when the younger Mafia men entered.
They had been kissing ardently, like young teenagers making out, thought Liam O’Grady in astonishment when they entered. The Don’s hand was on his wife’s heavy breast, kneading as he kissed her relentlessly.
Proserpina scrambled off her husband’s lap, her beautiful face pink, and quickly smoothened her hair and hastily rearranged her clothes. Her blouse was open, St Just noted in interest but his gaze stilled as he felt the Mafia Don’s cold eyes on him, watchful, wrathful.
With a murmured greeting, Proserpina sashayed out, her full hips swaying, large breasts bouncing invitingly with each step. She was like a Siren, attracting men like bees to honey, thought O’Grady, unable to tear his eyes off the departing vision.
Any full-blooded man would stare, he thought in fascination.
The Mafia Don’s growl brought him back to earth.
“So, when are you going to make a f*cking honest woman of the young girl you are sleeping with, the both of you?’ he rasped in his inimitable blunt way.
No one had ever dared to question their libidinous lifestyle ever before. O’Grady’s jaw dropped while St Just flushed to the tips of his blonde hair.
Lucien Delano swivelled in his chair to glare at them steadily, his eyes like chips of steel as he continued in his deep baritone,
“I allowed you to sleep under my roof because my Woman and my daughters asked me to; they felt sorry for your young friend.”
His exaggerated drawl over the word ‘friend’ made O’Grady turn a shade of beet red in embarrassment. He had not stopped to think too much about their outlandish sleeping arrangements and how strange, how obscene it might appear to an outsider. His heart sank. They had effectively ruined poor Bianca’s life while indulging in their perverted fancies.
The Mafia Don studied them, his brows raised.
St Just cleared his throat, as he began to speak.
“We…actually…she signed a one year…”
But the Mafia Don cut him off impatiently.
“I know all the f*cking sordid details about your contracts, boy.’
It was St Just’s turn to look away, flushing darkly.
The Don watched them, his gaze hooded he went on, his voice softer,
“When I was young, I made a million mistakes.”
His face bore a faint regret as he looked back into the past.
But he growled, continuing as he sat forward, eyes on his hypnotised audience,
“When you find the woman you want, the one you love, grab her and don’t let her go.”
He did not need to say it; he had almost lost the chance himself.
The two younger Magia dons before him sat, still and shaken.
Piers Delano entered with James Schwantz, Louis and Philippe trailing them, and suddenly, the moment was over. Business as usual, thought St Just as he sat, his mind working as they went to Piere’s’ office where Hila Zidi sat in a large chair beside the one designated for Piers .
Finn St Just glanced at his brother and knew what Liam O’Grady was thinking.
They would marry Bianca Cruz. She was the best thing that had happened to them. And they loved her, nay, adored her, would give their lives for her. The brothers smiled and nodded in agreement.
Piers, who had been speaking to them, looked at them in annoyance as they left at the end of the meeting.
Hila, who had been sitting by his side, studied them in sardonic amusement for a while. Then she leaned to Piers and said in his ear,
“Looks like Stud Boy and his sidekick have had a Hallelujah moment, Pretty Piers.”
Bianca was at the hospital along with Anna and Beth.
There was no sign of Heather’s ageing Italian beau and it should have alerted Bianca that all was not well. But she was still thinking of her Masters and failed to pick up the warning signals on Heather’s pinched face.
The door opened and Heather’s Italian boyfriend walked in, freezing as he looked at Bianca and then studiously ignored her. The young woman looked at him, puzzled.
Luigi was cheerful and friendly at all times; what had gone wrong?
He was with a woman in her late thirties, and Heather simpered, almost in a guilty fashion as she said,
‘That’s Luigi’s daughter, Sophia.”
The woman crossed her arms over her formidable chest and glared at Bianca, who slowly began to read the undercurrents in the room. Hostile ones.
“So, are you going back to Hunter’s Folly today?’ she asked, her voice higher and Bianca turned to Heather. She beamed at her stepmother, unaware of the tension coiled in the other woman as she went on,
“Well…”
What she was about to say was pre-empted by the untimely arrival of both Bianca’s masters.
Her cheeks flushed warmly as he looked up at them.
Liam O’Grady winked at Bianca as he entered, his big figure dwarfing everything in the room. He patted down the pocket of his jacket; the brothers had chosen a simple diamond ring to slip on Bianca’s finger, and pronounce their love for her.
They were thinking of a winter wedding, with just a few close friends in attendance. Or any kind of wedding their little Pet desired.
St Just frowned. Something was off. But Bianca was looking at them soulfully and his heart melted.
Heahter’s Italian had sidled up from somewhere, accompanied by another woman, in her forties, a battle axe-looking woman, thought Liam O’Grady as he smiled at her and received no response.
“That’s Luigi’s daughter, Francesca,” announced Heather, in a slightly shaky voice. Bianca was looking up at her Masters’ adoringly, barely aware of the hostility radiating from the woman, who was overweight and unfriendly looking.
‘So,” asked Heather, her voice betraying a slight tremor,
“Which one of you is our Bianca’s man?”
Aghast, Bianca turned to look at her stepmother in astonishment, embarrassment making her pale,
“MOM!” cried Anna who stood with Beth, horrified at their mother’s blunt question. The brothers spoke, simultaneously.
O’Grady said, “I am..”
And at the same time, St Just said in his low, cool way,
“That would be me.”
Francesa’s voice rang out, loud and harsh,
“See, I told you, didn’t I?”
Everyone in the room turned to look at her in astonishment, as she turned triumphantly to her father, the unfortunate Luigi who looked green.
“LIVING IN SIN, THE GIRL IS!!!”
And she rounded on Heather who was quaking in the hospital bed,
“My father is a devout Christian, so we are not going to be happy having you marry him.” So, saying, she turned to her father who looked like he wanted the ground to open up and swallow him.
“Am I right, Pappa?” she cried, almost daring her father to defy her.
Poor Luigi shook his head, mumbling something about having to leave and he stumbled out. Casting a victorious look around her, Francesa shot a baleful look at Bianca as she said, wagging a fat finger in Bianca’s direction, “For SHAME, for Shame!”
And then, as he took a step to the door, she said loudly,
“Those who live in sin shall be punished by the Lord.”
And with a withering look at the baffled-looking Mafia Men, she marched out, swinging a large handbag.