Page 74 of Vows of Silence

“There it is,” Adrien murmured.“You’re finally ready to play.”

My father straightened in his seat, smoothing his hands over the desk before folding them together carefully.

“I’m listening,”Adrien said, walking back over to the desk but not sitting back down.

“The public has been waiting years for you to settle down,” my dad said calmly. “Your image is powerful, Adrien, but unstable. You’re running the risk of becoming a playboy. And that’s not what the public wants to see. You risk sponsors, advertisers. Your carefully crafted empire can be crumbled with one bad accusation. And we’re all hearing rumours of the women from your clubs going missing. How long do you think you can distance yourself from that for?”

Adrien folded his arms as he pondered my dad’s words.

“A wife changes that. A beautiful wife?” He smiled faintly. “That becomes the fairytale.”

Adrien remained silent.

“You marry my daughter, and suddenly the press stop questioning your nightlife and start printing headlines about romance. Legacy. We frame it correctly, and the public will eat it alive. And what better than a woman who already knows her place? One you don’t have to worry about embarrassing you in public, or one you’ve got to train. Isabelle has had obedience groomed into her since she was born.”

Adrien sat back down. As the chair groaned beneath his weight, a grumble echoed in Silas’s chest.

“And what do you get out of this arrangement? This can’t just be a money thing. Sell a few houses, get Sophie under control again, and you’ll be back in the black in no time. What makes you desperate enough that you’d offer your own daughter?”

My father’s eyes gleamed.“I want access.”

Adrien said nothing.

“I have no doubt you’ve done your homework on me, Adrien. You know where I come from. What I left behind. I have mafia roots too, and I’d like to reconnect with them,”my father continued.“That history may have faded over the generations, but that wasn’t through my choice. I’d like to rectify the mistakes of my own father, and make the Carbone name what it once was. Like you, I’ve spent years building influence legally. Respectably. Now I want more.”

He leaned forward slightly.

“I want back in.”

Adrien’s expression remained unreadable.“Why?”

“Why not?”My dad almost snapped.“Once upon a time, the Falcones and the Carbones were neck and neck. Each as dangerous as the other. Each as ruthless. Each as cutthroat. And now the Falcones are the most notorious family in Europe, and the Carbones are what… property developers andsalesmen?”His face grew angrier, rage flashing in his eyes.“It’s unacceptable. I want back in, Adrien. And what better way to prove I’m serious than offering my daughter as collateral?”

The words punched straight through my chest, and Silas’s breathing shifted behind me.

“And what about the Falcones?”

“What about them?”my father scoffed.“One of their members snuck into my house and murdered my brother in cold blood. Once upon a time, that would have been a declaration of war. And yet I’ve had to accept it because of what my family has become.”

“It wasn’t quite in cold blood, was it?”Adrien smirked, crossing one of his legs over the other, his ankle resting on his knee, appearing relaxed and at ease.“Your brother owed a significant debt to Rafael. Didn’t he put in a request for his wife to be murdered? Nothing can be proved, of course, but last I heard, Silas killed her and the debt was never paid.”

I tried not to react to that.

Silas had murdered my aunt. On my uncle’s instruction.

He could have hidden this from me. He could have cut that part out. But he was showing me the entire footage, no matter how bad it made him look, and I owed it to myself to see it through until the end.

“Neither here nor there,”my dad waved him away.“The point is, none of this would have been acceptable back in the day.”

“I suppose…”Adrien said.“And what about your agreements with Rafael?”

“What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. We work now, we get things moving in the background, and it’ll be too late for them to stop it by the time they’ve figured it out.”

Adrien stayed quiet, and my dad leaned forward, spurring him on.“Think about it. What do you have to lose here? You take over my business, attaching a multi-million pound empireto your name. You get safer ways to transport your goods. You get new men working for you. And, on top of it all, you get a beautiful wife to do what you want with.”

“Fuck it,”Adrien sighed.“Things have grown boring around here. Let’s ruffle some feathers over at Falcone Estate. What are your terms?”

“Simple,”my father replied immediately.“You introduce me to the right people. Weapons. Drugs. Distribution routes. Give me an opening and I’ll make myself useful. Give me the opportunity to make my family name what it once was, and I’ll prove to you I’m a worthwhile investment.”