They Arranged My Marriage, So I Arranged My Terms novel · Chapter 3 of 3
Chapter 3: The Bottle in the Credenza
Val arrives early to force the council to renegotiate a losing shipping contract, then catches Bruno in a lie about a bottle of wine and uses it to pressure him while pretending to accept his loyalty, and he ends by telling her the charter is not the only document her father left unsigned.
Bruno's warm face was arranging itself into surprise before he reached the door. His gaze found her in her father's chair, and for a fraction of a second the warmth slipped.
'Valentina,' he said. 'You're early.'
'I wanted to review the numbers.'
Bruno smiled, the easy smile he used on everyone. 'Your father's seat. It suits you.'
He did not mean it. She let him think she believed him.
Cosimo Abbate arrived next, then two other elders. They stopped when they saw her. Cosimo's face did not change, but he paused beside his chair and picked up the marked proposal she had left there.
'You've been busy,' he said.
'The route through the east corridor,' Val said. 'I have questions.'
Cosimo lowered himself into his chair. The others followed. Bruno took the seat to Val's right, close enough that she could smell the wine on his breath from the night before.
The room settled. Val did not move.
'The east corridor was approved in principle last month,' Cosimo said. 'Your father signed off on the initial survey.'
'He signed off on the survey,' Val said. 'Not the contract.'
She opened her copy of the proposal. The margins were marked in her own hand.
She had spent two hours at Renata's desk the night before.
She had traced every shipment that had moved through that corridor in the past year.
'The insurance rider on the east corridor expires in eleven days,' she said. 'The renewal cost is triple what the proposal assumes. Whoever drafted this used last year's rates.'
One of the elders shifted in his chair. Val watched him.
That one already expected access to the Caruso accounts.
Bruno leaned forward. 'These are details we can address later. The charter is the matter at hand. Your father's wishes, the council's stability. Signing the charter is what he would have wanted.'
The room went still.
Val looked at him. 'I haven't refused to sign the charter. I've asked to understand the finances first. Is there a reason that frightens you?'
Bruno's smile stayed. His eyes flicked to Cosimo.
Cosimo cleared his throat. 'No one is frightened. But the family needs continuity. Your father made his wishes clear before he passed. Marrying the Marchetti boy is what he would have wanted. Do not make this harder than it needs to be.'
'Marrying Dante Marchetti is a separate matter,' Val said. 'The shipping authorization is in front of us now. The east corridor contract has a penalty clause for early termination. If we sign as written, we lock the family into a route that loses money from the first quarter.'
She turned a page and read the clause aloud. Her voice was flat, unhurried.
When she finished, no one spoke.
Bruno's jaw tightened. He reached for the proposal. Val slid it out of his reach.
'The numbers are there,' she said. 'Renata flagged them two months ago. The council was told. I checked the minutes.'
A lie, but a small one. The minutes had been sealed.
She had checked the access log instead, and Renata's name had been on it.
Cosimo set his hands flat on the table. 'What are you proposing?'
'I'm not proposing anything. I'm declining to sign a contract that loses money. If the council wants the east corridor, someone can explain to me why it's worth the loss.'
Silence.
Val let it sit. She did not fill it. Her father had taught her that silence was a weapon, and she had spent years sharpening it.
'We could renegotiate the insurance,' one of the elders said finally.
'Then renegotiate it,' Val said. 'Bring me a revised proposal. I'll sign it when the numbers work.'
Cosimo's eyes did not leave her face. He looked like a man recalculating something he had thought was settled.
'You are asking the council to wait for your approval,' he said.
'Yes.'
Bruno laughed, the warm disarming sound he used to break tension. 'Ah, Valentina. You have your father's fire. It's a shame it's aimed at the wrong people.'
She did not answer him. She was watching the elder who had shifted in his chair earlier. He had gone very still.
That one was waiting for something.
For the authorization to be signed, so he could move money through the east corridor before the insurance renewal came due.
Val filed it away.
'I'll have a revised proposal on your desk by tomorrow,' Cosimo said. 'In the meantime, the charter remains unsigned. The family cannot wait forever.'
'I'm aware of the deadline,' Val said.
She did not say the number. The number was a drumbeat in her chest, steady and private, and she would not give it to them.
The meeting ended shortly after. The elders filed out, their faces carefully blank. Bruno lingered, straightening papers that did not need straightening.
'You handled that well,' he said. 'But you should be careful. The council is not used to being made to wait.'
'Neither am I.'
Bruno smiled. 'Come. There's something I want to show you.'
He led her to his office, a warm room with cream walls and a heavy desk. The credenza against the far wall was dark wood. On it sat a bottle of wine. The label was hand-torn, the edges ragged, but the vintage was clear.
2009 Brunello di Montalcino.
Bruno lifted the bottle carefully. He cradled it like a newborn.
'Your father gave me this on the day I was made consigliere. We drank one together, and he said this one was for the day I earned the title twice over.'
He set it back down. His fingers lingered on the label.
'I've never opened it. It's proof of our bond, Valentina. His trust in me. My loyalty to the Caruso name.'
Val looked at the bottle. The hand-torn label, the private vintage, the careful way Bruno handled it.
Something snagged.
She kept her face still. Bruno was made consigliere in 2007. She remembered the dinner. Her father had worn the gray tie with the small red dots and she had been allowed one glass of the Barolo. A 2009 Brunello could not have been bottled and shipped before 2014 at the earliest. Her father could not have given Bruno this bottle on the day he was made consigliere.
'It's a beautiful bottle,' she said.
Bruno nodded, his eyes warm. 'He was a great man. I miss him every day.'
'What year was that?' Val asked.
Bruno's hand stopped on the label.
'2007,' he said. 'The year I was made consigliere. Why?'
'No reason.' Val smiled, the small smile she used when she wanted a man to think she had bought the story. 'I was just thinking about that dinner. I remember the Barolo.'
Bruno's shoulders came down. 'You were just a girl.'
'Yes.' She let the word hang. 'I remember a lot of things from that night.'
She did not say what she was thinking. She was thinking about the access log, and the minutes that had been sealed, and the fact that Bruno had just shown her proof of a bond he claimed to honor while he stood in the room with men who wanted her gone.
Bruno was still watching her, his warm face searching for something.
'You should keep that bottle somewhere safe,' Val said. 'A proof of bond. A man might look at it later and wonder why it doesn't match the story.'
Bruno's smile froze.
'What do you mean?'
'Just that people talk,' Val said. 'And a vintage is a detail. Details get remembered.'
She turned toward the door.
'Thank you for showing me, Bruno. It means a lot to know where you stand.'
The revised proposal came the next morning. Val signed it at her father's desk. The authorization was clean, the numbers corrected, the insurance rider renegotiated. Cosimo had done what she asked.
She was still looking at the signature when Bruno appeared in the doorway.
'It's done,' he said.
'It's done.'
He did not leave. He stood there, his warm face arranged into something that was almost concern.
'I'm glad you signed,' he said. 'It shows the council you can be reasonable. But you should know something, Valentina.'
She looked up.
'The charter is not the only document your father left unsigned.'
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend