Page 12 of The Butcher
“You’re thinking about your soon-to-be bride.”
I didn’t deny it.
“You don’t need to think about her. You need to understand what she represents,” he said, the words measured and firm.
I understood exactly what he meant. This wasn’t about her as a person in his eyes. It was about leverage,proximity, and positioning ourselves inside something that could have escalated if we hadn’t moved first. Without this marriage, a war could have been started between our two families. A real shit show.
That was the purpose and reason.
But understanding that didn’t stop my thoughts from shifting back to her because she wasn’t just part of the arrangement. She was the connection that made it possible, the point where everything met and held together, and that made her more important than a simple piece in a deal.
It made her mine.
The thought settled in, and I didn’t push it away because there was no reason to. If this was happening—and it sure as fuck was—then she would be my wife in every sense of the word.
She would carry my name, stand beside me, and would be seen as mine in every way that mattered. That wasn’t something I took lightly, even if our relationship was a transaction.
The car slowed as we approached our estate, the gates opening instantly, and I shifted forward slightly, my attention already moving past the conversation and toward what came next.
As I stepped out of the car, the cool air settledagainst my skin. There was one thing that became clear in a way that had nothing to do with strategy or negotiation.
Lucia Rossi might not have chosen this, but she was part of it now, tied to me whether she wanted it or not, and whatever she turned out to be… I would be the one to decide what happened next.
Chapter Seven
Alexei
Iwasn’t walking into this marriage and all it entailed blindly, not when it tied directly to me and carried weight that would follow long after the papers were signed and the ring was on her finger.
A meeting across a room, no matter how steady her gaze had been, wasn’t enough to tell me what I needed to know about Lucia. I wasn’t the kind of man who left his future to chance.
This was how it was done in our world, not openly and not for show, but a quiet, controlled, and private introduction before the wedding where expectations were made clear without interference from anyone else.
She agreed to it without hesitation, not that she had a choice.
The meeting wasn’t something I set up on my own. In our world, nothing like this happened without approval. Rossi wasn’t the kind of man who let his daughter walk into a room alone, not even for something that had already been agreed on.
This was arranged through both families, controlled down to the smallest detail. It was a private introduction before the wedding, which followed tradition more than courtesy.
We met at one of Rossi’s city properties, a place used for business when discretion mattered more than appearance. Even though it wasn’t his main estate, it carried the same weight, the same level of security, and the same understanding that nothing happened inside those walls without his knowledge.
My men were already in position when I arrived, placed where they needed to observe without drawing attention, and hers were there, too, stationed just as carefully, watching everything without interfering.
No one trusted anyone, but that wasn’t a problem. It was how things were done.
I stepped inside the estate without slowing, the door closing behind me with a quiet, final soundthat settled all around me. The room was exactly what I expected from one of Rossi’s properties. It was lavish and carried an expensive appearance.
Lucia stood near the window when I entered, her posture straight, her attention shifting toward me immediately. There was nothing uncertain in the way she met my gaze, and I felt this tightening in my body at that.
She didn’t question why this meeting had been arranged and didn’t pretend it was anything other than what it was. I moved farther into the room but gave her a little space, wanting the distance to close between us naturally instead of forcing it. I wanted to give her time to get comfortable with me.
Up close, there was more to take in with Lucia, and I definitely took it all in. But the most prominent thing was her strength that she wore like armor. I admired it because the truth was, I didn’t see that often in my world.
“You don’t scare easily,” I said, my voice low, more an observation than a challenge.
Her lips parted slightly before she answered, but her gaze stayed locked on me. “Should I be afraid?”
That response should have felt defiant, but it didn’t. It did something else instead, something that caught my attention in a way I didn’t expect. No oneever spoke to me like that. No one met me head-on. There was no performance in the way Lucia spoke those words, no attempt to prove something or challenge what I was.
