Chapter 361

Vincenzo I felt like jumping from a bridge. No, I was not exaggerating.

Two days had passed since that hideous birthday party, and there were only five more days left until I would be a married man.

Aria Morales had humiliated me, manipulated me, and would stop at the cost of nothing to get what she wanted.

Several hours before the party, I had texted Beau for his assistance. I gave him straightforward instructions to somehow manipulate the engagement, and he couldn’t do it.

Whatever he had done had backfired entirely and made the situation even worse.

I tensed at the feeling of a soft touch stroking up and down my arm. “You’re finally awake.” A female voice spoke. “What’s on your mind, babe?”

Babe?

Completely baffled, I turned to the half-naked brunette beside me as yesterday’s events slowly returned to my brains.

I didn’t know her name, couldn’t recognize or remember her. I just knew she was there when I was at my most vulnerable.

Just as the one before her and the one before that and so on.

“Looks like it, babe.” I narrowed my eyes, trying to imagine my married life-but I couldn’t. As charming as others made me, I was just not a passionate lover and could not see myself in a long-

term relationship.

This one is worse than Isobel.”

All I have to say is I’ll keep you in my prayers.”

Those were Beau’s words after he had sabotaged my perfect plan to end the engagement. His ex-

fiancee, Isobel Sala, wasn’t a saint in anyone’s books, so that statement only added to my worries.

Christian claimed Aria was a polite girl with a good heart, but he wasn’t exactly a saint either. One might say the old Christian was the male version of the current Aria.

Besides, he had only said those words because Beau refused to tell him how she dared disrespect Serena.

I admit, Christian would’ve probably started a war with the Morales and the Garcias, but I didn’t care.

She should’ve never brought up Serena, and I would never forgive her for that.

I would rather cat shit than show any kind of affection to Aria and especially not after she brought up Serena’s past. The one thing she’s most insecure about.

“Just tell me what’s on your mind, babe?” The brunette leaned her elbows on my chest to face me, allowing me to smell the strong scent of liquor that left her breath.

I cringed at the word, babe-and slightly pushed her off to grab my wallet from my nightstand. “So.” I sighed, opening the brown billfold as I pulled out several 100-dollar bills.

“For your services.” My hand moved to the insides of the woman’s bra, stuffing it with the money. It was time for her to get out of my sight.

The woman scoffed, pursing her lips. “I’m not a prostitute!” She raised her voice to a high-pitched tone but ended up stuffing the bills further into her bra anyway.

I chuckled, shaking my head, and leaned back as the woman put on her remaining clothes. “You can just tell my driver to take you back home,” I instructed her, receiving a grateful and warm smile.

“I appreciate the offer, but you don’t have to-”

“No, I do,” I said. “I’m the one who brought you here, and I’ll make sure you’re getting home in one piece.

“Thank you, that’s so nice of you-Vince!”

Nice?

She had remembered my name while I could not even remember her face. Nothing nice about that.

Eager to make myself look at least a bit presentable, I waited until the woman had left and rushed to the bathroom to take a shower.

Uncle Bruno would visit to talk about the wedding and the fate of the Garcias.

Oscar Morales announcing his retirement and his plans to unite both of our families came as a shock to all the Garcias.

The Morales men were quite at ease, knowing they would not suffer under this.

Uncle Bruno also told me not to worry. According to him, I should be grateful as it would help us gain respect, but he was so far up the Morales’ asses that he couldn’t see the issue.

We were all puppets.

Nic, who could not wait to step down, didn’t give a shit and had even missed Aria’s party. The reason? He was already packing his bags.

Oh, how nice it would’ve been to be my brother right now. I wasn’t even the oldest, so I could not understand why this had to be my fate.

My eyes rolled back, reading Aria’s name on my phone screen. She had been blowing up my phone with texts, asking me to meet up-and I kept making excuses after excuses.

Aria:

Five days Vince:

Looking forward.

My reply was professional and dry, just like our future marriage.

1 told myself if I did have to marry her, I would divorce her after restoring the Garcia name-but would that really be an option after the wedding ceremony?

How could I even do that if we were to combine our families? I was trapped.

Aria knew exactly what she was doing, was aware of the power she possessed and used it to her advantage. She was obsessed with me.

Trying to keep my mind off things, I cleaned the house, specifically the first floor, making sure not to leave any dust behind.

Uncle Bruno would not get any further than the living room, so there was no reason to. He would only stop by once in a while to check if the strings of his puppets were still working.

“Yo.” Luis entered the living with his gaming device in his hands as usual. At times I missed the old days when he would call out my name and hug my legs, telling me how much he missed me.

“Hey, Luis!” I greeted him. “What are you up to?”

“Who was that woman who left the house a while back?” Luis asked, dodging my question.

“Just someone.”

“Well, do you even know her name?”

I smirked, raising my brow. I could’ve just lied to him and called out a random name, but Luis and I weren’t like that. We had always been honest with one another.

“Wow.” Luis clapped with a hint of sarcasm in his tone. “You’re setting such a good example!”

If only I could curl up on the floor and hide from my brother’s humiliation, I would’ve done it. “Can’t argue with that.” I opened my arms, trying to keep my cool.

Luis walked around the room with his hands behind his back and an approving nod.

“You know, you can also hire a housekeeper.”

“What would be the fun in that?”

Housemaids, security, a house full of the Garcia men-anything was possible, but that was not how I wanted to run my business. It only brought back dark memories of my late father, who abused his power in any way he could. If his personality was some kind of curse in the family, all I could hope for was for it to pass my brothers and me.

“Aria seems like the kind to clean the house.” Luis broke down her personality. “A well-behaved and toxic idea of a perfect housewife-just as she was taught in the Morales’ factory,”

I chortled at Luis joke. Aria did seem like the toxic idea of a perfect housewife, and women like that weren’t even my type. I was into regular women whose father was not controlling them-someone with an easy lifestyle, a sense of humor, and perhaps a pair of brains.

“Come here.” I pulled Luis into a hug and ruffled my hand through his hair. “That thing she did at dinner? I’m so sorry I put you through that.”

“Don’t be,” Luis said. “I’m not a kid anymore.”

“It’s not about that. It’s about her disrespecting you.”

“Yeah, yeah-I know.” Luis complained, trying to release himself from my grip.

The respect thing? I could understand that. Luis was going through puberty and had even distanced himself from me.

What I could not understand was what gave her the right to talk about guns and blood at a dinner table. Did she not have a conscious? Was she really that stupid? Did she really expect us to eat our food after all of that?

“Uncle Bruno told me you must marry that woman to save our family.” Luis’s bottom lip trembled, revealing he wasn’t the biggest fan of that idea.

Who gave Bruno the right to discuss these matters with a kid? Because I know I didn’t.

“I do,” I told him the truth. “But if you really want me to call off the engagement, I’ll find another way to save our family and-”

“No!” Luis raised his voice.

Good, because Aria was very determined to marry me, and there was no way out.

“All I want is for you to stop treating me like a baby and start thinking about the family.” My younger brother scolded me. “Yes, she’s a bitch-but combining our families could be a good thing, and we do need her.” He said. “You see how the other kids look at me!”

His words broke my heart. I was well aware the children and the adults of the other families were looking down on us and judging us for sharing our late father’s DNA.

If it weren’t for my good friendship with the Lambertis and the Alfonzos, they would’ve executed us a long time ago.

I ticked Luis’ forehead. “You shouldn’t call any woman by that name, no matter how terrible they might be, I corrected him. “Your mom wouldn’t have wanted it, and neither do I.

Luis was a good kid. I made sure of it-so for him to call her by that name must’ve meant he truly despised her.

“You’re right. I’m sorry.” An embarrassed smile found its way to his lips. “It just kind of got out, I guess.”

“I understand,” I reassured him.

Trust me, I do.

“Just don’t do it again, and especially not when she’s here.”

“If she gets rid of my gaming devices, I’ll run away!” Luis threatened.

“No, absolutely not. I protested. “You’re staying here, and if she messes with you in any way-I’ll deal with it.”

“Like you dealt with it at dinner?”

His words brought a sharp pain to my chest. Luis was right, I should’ve stuck up for him at dinner, and I should’ve done a lot more, but I froze.

Our awkward silence was interrupted by heavy footsteps, and we all knew what that meant. Bruno had arrived.

Annoyed, Luis rolled his eyes and left the scene. “Good luck with uncle.” He cheered me as he ran out of the room.

Yes, good luck.

That’s exactly what I needed.