Marriage by Bravery - Book 3

Chapter Sixteen

Kim

If I had thought waiting had been nerve wrecking before then I was wrong, because knowing the meeting that would change all our lives was mere minutes away was driving me insane. I was with Luca and the other men in his office, wearing tread marks into his fancy carpet with my anxious pacing.

At least your shoes are fabulous, my inner self commented.

I stopped a moment to consider this truth, glancing at the forest green high heeled sandals that were secured to my foot with a thick band across my toes and a thin ankle strap.

"Yeah they are pretty hot," I said, agreeing with myself.

"Good god, they're all lunatics," Damian said with amusement.

I turned to find the other occupants of the room, except Luca, staring at me with genuine puzzlement. I grinned sheepishly, realizing I had spoken my thoughts aloud, again.

"Yeah well my Luca doesn't mind,  and neither did you apparently, since you married and made babies with one of us!" I said childishly sticking my tongue out at him.

The men chuckled. Luca, Damian, their father, Zandre and Piero were all seated in cushioned armchairs arranged side by side. They sat across from another group of chairs that were set out to accommodate the Abruzzos and whoever accompanied them. My seat, which naturally was next to Luca's, was empty as I still paced the room impatiently.

"Come now cara, it's time to sit," Luca said beckoning me over to take my place at his side. He must have gotten the signal from the gate security on his phone.

"They're here?" I asked, relieved that my voice sounded normal and didn't reflect the emotional war being raged on my insides.

"Si."

I sat down without another question, absently noting that the men seemed to brace their bodies to spring into action if needs be.  I also knew for a fact that they were all armed, in case our guests didn't feel like playing fair. At his father's insistence, I was given a light weight hand gun that was snuggled comfortably in the waist band of my black leather skirt. The skirt had a split in the front to ensure my movements wouldn't be hindered. The corset type black leather top I wore was lined with a lighter version of the material used to make bullet proof vests, over it I wore a blazer the same shade as my shoes which also concealed my weapon. I had wanted to go for a dominatrix look with fire engine red and what not but Luca insisted that green was more flattering blah blah something about my eyes blah blah.

I was pulled from my thoughts by the sudden and thickening tension in the room as our guests were escorted inside. We all stood in greeting, more out of a need to avoid causing unnecessary offense rather than actual courtesy.

"Signor Abruzzo, Anabel, gentlemen. Thank you for accepting our invitation," Luca said as he stepped forward to shake the older man's hand.

He nodded briefly to Anabel then returned to my side. I had to muffle the snicker that threatened to escape at the obvious snub.  The mirth in my eyes was however more difficult to disguise as the other woman glared daggers at me.

"Please, let's all have a seat and begin our discussions," Luca invited politely.

I watched as the Abruzzos and their security detail took their seats, with the main family members in the middle and two bulky men on each side of them. They were six in total.

"I'll speak first as this meeting was called at my request," Luca began, " I will not deny the fact that I owe your family an apology for the way in which our arrangement was terminated, but I do expect that we can be civil about how we settle this matter. I've been hearing murmurs within our circle of plans to move on my organization out of revenge and I am extremely displeased with the information that has reached me as I believed us to be allies. However, by the end of this meeting I am expecting that you will either name a price that you are willing to  accept as payment to stand down or you will here and now declare war with the Giordano family."