It’s the end of the banquet and I’ve managed to pull my father and Stefan into one of the ready rooms. The second that the door is closed I light into my father.
“I am not marrying Dante Luciano! I don’t care what you have to do to get out of this, but there is no way in Hell that I would ever marry that fuckboy!” I yell at my father.
“Lower your voice,” my father says, glancing anxiously at the door. “The Don might hear you!”
“And so what if he does? Who gave him the idea that I would marry his son? What have you gotten us into, Father?” I demand as I walk closer to my father. The Lucianos are nothing but thugs in Gucci suits. I will never get in bed with them, literally or figuratively.
Stefan steps between my father and I, his hands separating us. Though I can see the tension in his shoulders that belies his anger, his voice is calm. “Quinn, you’ve got to calm yourself. Father is right in that we can’t have the Lucianos hear this conversation. Especially not after that was just televised to the entire city.”
I’m about to protest before he gives me a look, telling me that he isn’t done speaking. When I close my mouth, he turns to our father. “Now, Father, you have a lot of explaining to do. Why did you do this, especially without talking to Quinn?”
Father still looks anxious, though he is wrapping himself up slowly, but steadily into the business personna that we are so used to seeing in the boardroom. “I’m doing what is best for the business and for our family. You know that sales haven’t risen back after the pandemic. We’re not making anywhere near as much money as we were and nothing that we’ve tried has made the impact that we need it to. The Luciano’s influence can help with that.”
He’s not wrong. We’ve had a lot of trouble attracting new author’s since the pandemic hit. Many of them are going to book apps, e-books, or they self-publish. They might not get a physical book out of the deal, they get international distribution and quicker returns, all from the comfort of their couch.
The other problem is attracting readers. When your competition is offering ebooks for free, who is going to pay to buy a book? Even if they aren’t at the same caliber, they are FREE. It’s a tough hustle to beat.
It’s put a big dent in our profits and it’s made it so that we’re not signing as many contracts as we were.
“How the hell are the Lucianos going to help with our bottom line?” Stefan asks and the curiosity that enters his voice feels like a blow. Stefan knows how much this company means to our family and to our future. He would do anything to keep it afloat. Possibly even make me marry a mobster.
“Their electronics division is looking to branch into publishing. They want to create their own platform with our help. It would be a 50/50 split and help our company adapt to how things are changing,” Father says, a pleading look in his face.
Stefan goes quiet thinking about the implications and I know that I’ve lost his support in this battle.
“And why do they want me?” I rasp out, knowing that I’ve been sold out for the price of the company.
“That’s an easy question to answer,” Don Luciano says, coming through the door behind me. Along with my alleged fiancé . I was so wrapped up in the conversation with my father that I hadn’t heard the door open. “You are one of the town’s sweethearts. Entire blogs, websites, and newspaper articles are about how much people love you and how much you’ve helped the city and the people in it. We would like to bring that energy and joy into our family.”
“So you want to use me to clean up your image,” I spit out.
Father is immediately beside me, yanking my arm backward so that he can whisper in my ear. “Do not fuck this up for us! Show respect!”
His hand on my wrist is gripping my flesh tight enough to leave a bruise. It takes me a second to react because I hadn’t expected this from my father. He has never raised a hand to my brother or me. But pain jolts up my arm and shoulder at the way that he’s gripping and pulling me.
It must be evident on my face, because Dante Luciano speaks up. His tone and manner are almost bored, but his eyes are narrowed in on my father’s hand on my wrist. “I would let go of my fiancé , Mr. Rothschild. I don’t like my things getting damaged.”
“Thing?’ Did he just call me a thing?! But I don’t have time to say anything.
Father’s face goes pale and he lets go so quickly that I stumble. Father actually steps away from me as Dante stalks forward, though he has yet to look me in the face. Actually, I don’t think that he’s looked me in the eye yet. Almost as if he’s disgusted by what is being asked of him.
Dante reaches forward and grabs my hand in his, inspecting my wrist, when he sees the redness, he tsks before leading me to a seat. Then, knocking on the door he asks for someone there to send for some ice for my hand.
He then takes up his spot beside his father again. All without looking at or speaking to me. So he really does see me as a thing that can be used for his own gain.
Don Luciano is the one that continues the conversation at that point. “I am sorry that you were kept in the dark, passerotta (sparrow). It was necessary to keep everything private. But do not worry, everything will be taken care of. Wedding, dress, even a job within the new platform that we are forming. As soon as the wedding is complete and all the dust settles, we can begin helping your company.”
I’m stuck dumb, but Stefan is able to ask the one question that is going to completely change my life. “When is the wedding?”
The Don smiles, though his son looks bored. “A week from tomorrow.”
A week?! It feels like all of the air has been knocked out of my lungs. Had I not been sitting, I think I would likely have fallen down. It sounds like the words of the conversation around me are being spoken through water and it takes me several seconds to process them. “A w-w-week,” my brother sputters. “Why so soon?” “We will have all of the technology, domains, and legalities taken care of by then. Then we can start rolling out the second phase of the project, which is where Rothschild's Reads will come into play. We will need your help with identifying and signing authors, as well as editing services for those that we do sign and all of the copyrighting that goes with it,” Don Luciano answers my brother, his tone clipped. “I should think that you would want to get some cash flow into your company as soon as possible.” Through it all, my father just stands there. He doesn’t say anything. Just looks at the floor and waits for the conversation to be over. There’s a knoc
I’m sitting at the breakfast table, trying to bury myself in my work. I am in charge of author acquisition and public relations at Rothschild's Reads. We’re supposed to have a debut gala for a group of authors that just did some fictional stories about living through quarantine. One is a murder mystery, one is a romance, one is an alien abduction story, and the final is a science fiction book about parallel universes. The gala is in a few weeks and we just had the venue pull out because they just found structural damage all throughout the building.Even though it’s only breakfast, I’ve already been in crisis mode for the past hour when my assistant called me at 6 am.“Call the Botanical Gardens, Julianne over at the events center for Central Park, Kendall at the Angel Orensanz Foundation, and any restaurant that you can think of. I’ll call Emily as soon as I’m on my way to work,” I tell my assistant, Grayson.“I’ll get right on it,” he says, urgency heavy in his voice.“Gray!”
I’m livid. In what world would any self respecting woman be willing to follow this contract? I can’t even look at my fucking “fiancé ” while all of this is going on, or my father or brother. My eyes are solely on Don Luciano in front of me. I know that my face is stony, my eyes flashing with anger. The pinched expression on Emilia’s face lets me know exactly what she thinks about his contract as well. Still, she doesn’t say anything to help me. Stefan starts to speak up. “I don’t think that you can truly expect my sister to - “ “I would like to speak with Don Luciano, my father, and my fiancé alone, please,” I say, interrupting him. “Quinn - “ Father starts, but the Don is the one who interrupts him. “Go,” he says to everyone else. Immediately, the lawyers stand and walk out of the room. Emilia stands as well, that pinched expression on her face until she turns to my brother. “Come, Mr. Rothschild. Won’t you allow me to show you the library. I’ve heard that you love r
By the time I’m at the office, there is a copy of the signed contract in my fax machine and a copy of my schedule to get ready for the wedding in my email inbox. Apparently I’m supposed to be at a catering appointment tonight at 8:00 at Tavern on the Green. Well, la ti da. It’s one of the most expensive and in demand venues in the city. The food is beyond reproach, the scenery is gorgeous, and the service is amazing. And of course, the Lucianos somehow booked it for a wedding next week. If only I had the magic touch to do something like that for the gala. The day is highly stressful and unproductive. Emily, Gray, and I are unable to find a new venue for the gala. And phone calls, hurried meetings, and one or two screaming fits on my part cause me to be approximately 15 minutes late to the Tavern on the Green. Unfortunately, I don’t have the phone number for my soon to be in-laws, nor do I know who I will be meeting there. I called the Tavern on my way, but I have no idea
I’m standing in Kleinfeld’s Bridal Salon, Don Luciano having rented out the whole place. It’s just me, Grayson, and Emily, my best friend. My wedding party is full of members of the Luciano family, their only concessions to our family being my brother on Dante’s side and Emily being my maid-of-honor. And each and every Luciano wanted to come to today’s appointment, none more than Dante’s mother, Emila, and his sister, Bianca. I don’t know how Grayson did it, but he managed to have their dress fittings happen at the same time as my appointment, playing it off as a scheduling error. With so little time between now and the wedding, there was nothing that could be done. Oh no, I’m so upset… Emila was rather upset, but I just reminded her that she would be seeing me in the dress in less than a week, so it isn’t really that big of a deal. It’s not like this will be like a real marriage, right? The one thing that the Lucianos did require was that I have a guard follow me around ev
Grayson, Emily, and I walk to Burger and Lobster Flatiron. It’s this great sit down restaurant that I found after one of my girlfriends got her dress at Kleinfelds a year or so ago. I hadn’t eaten all day and needed something fast before I passed out. The lobster rolls are the best that I’ve had outside of Maine and the Truffle fries are droolworthy. I’ve brought Grayson and Emily here millions of times since then. It’s just that damn good. We purposefully hadn’t told Josiah where we were going. I’ve made it my entire life without security, I really don’t see why anyone would want to hurt me now, just because I’m engaged to a Luciano. I mean, it’s not like I’m in the family yet. We take a seat outside, since it’s a beautiful day outside. The weather is turning warmer as summer approaches. You know, it’s weird. I’ve always wanted to be married in June. It’s always been my favorite month. The city starts bursting with life, all kinds of outdoor events, time spent in Centr
Emilio drives us to Warren Tricomi, one of the best hair salons in the city. On our wedding day, they will be sending several hair stylists, makeup artists, and manicurists to take care of us onsite and all of the women will be having their own consultations. But with my schedule at work and in preparation for this shitshow, I mean my wedding day, I have to do this appointment on my own. Poor Em is going to be doing it with the Lucianos tomorrow. I do not envy her. The entire ride to the salon, I stare out the window. It’s only a three mile rip, but in true New York fashion, it takes about 20 minutes. I manage to finish the whiskey that Dante gave me. He takes the glass from me. “Do you want another?” I just shake my head, keeping my gaze facing the window. I’m not seeing anything that we pass by, my mind speeding through the information that I’ve learned. When Don Luciano claimed me as his son’s fiancee, people saw me as a weakness. Death threats were sent to my famil
The week is a blur of activity. Between having to supervise packing my stuff and getting it to Dante’s house, preparing for the merger at work, and this damn wedding, I barely have time to think. It’s exhausting. Grayson and Emily really are godsends during this time. Emily is able to handle all the minutiae that goes with planning a wedding. I’m sure that some women find this to be an enjoyable process, but they also have more than a week to figure it out. Em knows my style, having been my best friend since kindergarten. Plus, she has impeccable taste. I trust her to make those decisions while I handle something that I actually care about, like the family business. Grayson hires movers, organizers, style experts, and anything else that I need to get things together for my move to Dante’s home. There is an interior designer sent by Dante’s family to help me design my room and get everything moved over while we are away on our honeymoon. God, that’s the last thing that I w