CHAPTER TWO – A NAME, A BRIDE
341 Words
Leonardo Gold had never made decisions without knowing the risks.
And yet, here he was—agreeing to marry a girl he hadn’t met. Well, taking risks was what he did best.
The name Elena Bellini sat on the folder in front of him, scrawled in his consigliere’s neat handwriting. He stared at it in silence before flipping the file open.
A single photograph lay inside.
A picture of her sitting alone in a garden, with a book resting on her lap. Her face was looking away from the camera, she didn't realize she was being photographed. The picture showed her features, soft like a flower, a very delicate one at that. There was a little frown around her lips, she didn’t even realize she wore, and a far-off, dreamlike look in her eyes that made her seem lost in another world.
Too gentle, Leonardo thought.
It didn’t matter though. This wasn’t about love or compatibility. This was about leverage. Control. Power.
Still…
“She doesn’t look anything like a Bellini,” he muttered.
Marco, standing across the desk, shrugged. “She’s the forgotten daughter. No record of criminal activity. No known scandals. Practically invisible. You know how the Bellini’s treat their female children”
Leonardo leaned back, fingers steepled. “And she’s okay with this arrangement?”
“ Do you think she was given a choice?”
Something about that sat wrong with him.
Not because he cared.
But because he remembered what silence had done to his mother.
He closed the folder. “How soon does she arrive?”
“Three days from now. Wedding’s scheduled two days after that.”
Leonardo stood, the decision final. “ Alright. Send someone to prepare her suite.”
Marco raised a brow. “You’re actually going through with this?”
Leonardo gave a tight smile. “She’s already mine on paper. I might as well meet my bride, don't you think?”
And perhaps, just perhaps, find out what the quiet girl in the photo was hiding behin
d that fragile stare.
- Writer
