Speaking over him, I say, “As far as I know, the contract just states the head of the Barbieri Corporation, and Ant is CEO of Barbieri Foods, so head of one of the subsidiaries, just like me.” I face Ant straight on. “Ant, think about it. Lucia would rather marry her best friend than me.”
“Her father will never agree.” Ant continues to highlight roadblocks.
“Her father and ours don’t need to know until it’s done,” I reply.
“Are you thinking Vegas?” Nico chimes in for the first time.
“I’m definitely thinking Vegas,” I answer. “It’s the quickest, easiest way. But nobody other than us and Lucia can know,” I warn. “I’ll speak with Lucia tonight.”
“No, I’ll speak to her,” Ant jumps in. His voice is strong and daring me to disagree. “She’s going to hate the idea,” he mumbles almost to himself.
“Maybe, but when she thinks of the alternative, me—or worse, someone else her father decides will serve his purposes better—then I’m sure she’ll agree.”
“That’s crazy,” Nico says. “It’s like her father thinks he’s a Roman emperor marrying off his daughter without her consent.”
“Our parents and hers were arranged marriages, so they don’t see anything wrong with it,” Ant adds. He releases a loud, heavy sigh. “So I guess I’ll ask her to marry me.”
“Don’t forget to get down on one knee,” Leo teases.
“Shut the fuck up, Leo,” Ant snaps back as he stands.
Leo just laughs. “Love you too, Ant. Now get the hell out of my restaurant.”
“Ant, before you go. Nobody else can know about this until it’s done.” I look around at each of my brothers, and they nod their acceptance in turn. “If our father finds out that Ant and I are planning to swap places, he’ll stop us. We all know how he hates to be disobeyed.”
Ant leaves, and Nico follows soon after.
Leo and I continue chatting as we finish the bottle of wine. Occasionally, I check my phone to see if Tori has agreed to meet me. The text I sent this morning, letting her know I was in Manhattan and wanted to see her, remained unanswered for hours, but eventually, she replied, “Maybe later.” I’m hopeful that’s as good as a yes, and that soon I’ll get another message telling me when she’s free.
Being the clever guy he is, Leo notices my distraction and, resting his elbows on the table, leans in to ask, “Now that we seem to have a solution to your inconvenient marriage, what are you going to do about your Australian girl?”
“How do you know about her?”
He laughs. “Ant told us weeks ago that you met someone in Naples and then again in Florence. It must be serious if she managed to get you to take a couple of days off.” In recent years, my brothers have joked that I’m a workaholic. It’s not far from the truth, but I still don’t like the jibes because it makes me sound like our father.
“Tori is special, but with all this mess, I probably shouldn’t see her again.”
“Are you planning to?”
“I was hoping to see her later tonight. Does that make me a bad person?”
The shrug of Leo’s shoulders is barely perceptible. “Only you can answer that.”
“I want to try to explain why I can’t be with her. But I’m not sure how I do that when everything about this situation is fucked up.”
He nods with understanding. “If she’s worth it, you’ll find a way to be together. Bro, just don’t lie to her.”
I look up at him, and something in his expression tells me he’s speaking from experience. “Maybe, but until Ant and Lucia are actually married, I have to pretend to our father and Tori that I’m going to marry Lucia.”
Leo nods while he tops up our glasses. “I didn’t say it was going to be easy.”
Not easy—more like impossible.
Chapter eighteen
Tori
It’s a girls’ night out. Except Charli just left to go home, and Sadie is virtually climbing over the bar to reach the cute blond bartender who has made it clear that he’s happy to deliver whatever she’s looking for. Maybe I should have left with Charli.
