Weeks had turned to months and I was meeting with the last of the four families with eligible daughters, the Gallo's. None of the other families I had met with caught my attention, which was no surprise.

Lucas Marchetti had joined me to meet with each family, basically to be a buffer. I was not fond of speaking, and I often found that the words that came out of other peoples mouths irrelevant and tended to ignore them.

Bringing us back to Marchetti, who was talking directly in my ear as we pulled up to a drive way that led to an adequate sized house, "They have a daughter who is 23, her name is Alice. She's had a couple of offers, but the father says they have received nothing substantial, only about $48,000 thus far so they have been holding out."

"Vincent? Are you even listening?"

Fuck no I'm not

"Yes."

He gave me an exasperated sigh followed by a side eye, "Fine, if you were listening-"

I interrupted him before he spewed more shit out, "Marchetti, shut the fuck up."

"Yes boss." Marchetti was my longtime friend and right hand, but as of right now, a complete pain in my ass.

Stepping out of the car and walking to the door with Marchetti by my side, I rang the doorbell. Not even a full five seconds had passed, and the door was swung open and my eyes focused onto a young blonde girl.

"Oh. My. God!" She screeched right in my face, "Hi! I'm Alice Gallo! I've been so excited to meet you Vince!" She squealed out at an unholy rate, which made me glare at Marchetti, who shrugged with a smirk in return.

She reached out and tried to take my hand, but I quickly pulled back and added the words, "No touching."

I hated being touched, I couldn't stand it from anyone, not even when I was a child.

She giggled in response, completely ignoring my words, "You are so handsome Vin, oh my god, what a cute nickname, can I call you that?!" She questioned out incredibly fast.

How was this woman talking this fast and breathing?

"Vincent." I corrected, I did not like nicknames.

"Don't worry, I think the nickname will grow on ya!" She winked, before turning around and screaming out at an alarming rate, "Daddy!"

She turned around with a sheepish smile when she got no response, so once again she yelled "DADDY!" making Marchetti and I flinch in response.

"Right here, you don't have to yell in front of our guests, Alice." A man, who I knew to be David Gallo, joked.

David Gallo was a short and round man, who was relatively new to the families. Most families were established for generations, but David Gallo's father was the one who joined, meaning his daughters were eligible.

As expected all throughout dinner Alice was very loud, and obnoxious, and kept reaching out to grab different parts of my arm, which had me yanking my hand back each time she tried, but she persisted nevertheless.

"Alice here has completed her training that the Gallos go through in preparation for marriage, so she is suited to be your wife, Don. She is very lovely and outgoing, and beautiful, no?" He raises his brows suggestively.

That's your daughter you gross fucking pig.

I didn't say anything, so Mr. Gallo kept going, "Alice is a natural caretaker, she's taken care of her younger sister ever since their mother passed, and helped her through her training, which has been a hardship for this whole family. Stubborn brat, that one, but Alice-"

It was my time to interrupt, "Thank you, Mr. Gallo, but I have to cut our time short. I have other families I need to meet with before I make a decision." I lied. I was not coming back to this family, they were insufferable.

"Oh! Of course, Boss, thank you for attending! Alice, would you like to walk Mr. Bruno out?"

"May I use your restroom first?" I usually did not like to impose on others, and asking to use their bathroom was out of the question, but had I drank a couple glasses of wine at dinner trying to drown out Alice and her fathers insufferable monologue.

He jumped up out of his chair, "Yes, yes! Follow me."

We went through the dining room door leading to what looked a living room, and down a hallway that had a couple of turns until I entered my destination. I did what I needed to do and washed my hands, then left bathroom.

I followed the voice of Mr. Gallo that was raised several notches more than what it previously had been, going down the opposite hallway that I came from. I entered the small room at the end, one that looked like a library, and spotted a girl sitting on the couch, reading a book while not even bothering to look up. It was like she didn't even acknowledge that her father had been a few feet in front of her, yelling.

"If I ask you to do something, I expect-"

"What's going on?" I interrupted David.

"Oh my, Mr. Bruno," David looked stunned, a little embarrassed even, "I am so sorry you had to hear that. Let's make our way back to Alice, hm?" He tried to distract me, take my attention away from the girl sitting on the couch wrapped in a large, soft blanket.

"Who is this?" I couldn't help but ask, looking at the girl across the room.

This can't possibly be his wife, could it?

No, David Gallo was widower, he lost his wife years ago. Reasons unknown, which never sat right with me.

But did he remarry? I should really pay more fucking attention to this shit.

Only then at my words did she take her eyes off her book and look up at her father, then at me, before quickly darting her eyes back down to her book again.

Cute

"Oh, don't mind her. It's my other daughter. She's not ready for marriage, her training is not yet completed." He quipped out very fast, acting dismissive about the beautiful girl in front of me.

thank god she's not his wife

She was small, that I could tell from her sitting position, and very beautiful. She was a different beautiful than her sister who had the conventional light eyes, and full chest. This girl in front of me seemed to be the opposite. She had light hair like her sister, but her eyes were a deep chocolate brown, paired with a small frame. She looked very timid.

I couldn't take my eyes off of her.

I surprised even myself with my next words, "How much for her?"

I understand that this sounds like a crude exchange of words, but this was our way of life.

An offer for marriage would be extended when a member of a family caught the interest of another, and with full consent of everyone involved, they were to be married.

But no one could ever deny the Don.

I wasn't sure why I said it, my mouth pushed out the words before my mind could even register what I was about to do, which was not common, as I usually had an iron clad grip on my emotions.

But since I did feel an unexplainable pull to the girl in front of me, I had every intention of following through.

"She's not trained yet, Boss, I can assure you that Alice would be a much better-"

I cut him off, "I do not care about your ridiculous 'training', and I did not ask about your other daughter. Do not make me repeat myself."

"Yes boss." He stammered out, "Ezra darling, come here." He held out his hand motioning for her to come closer to us.

Ezra.

She closed her book and removed the blanket, standing slowly, and I knew I had been right. She was very slender and short, barely reaching what seemed to be 5'4.

She made her way over, her eyes trained on the floor. When she was in front of us, she pulled her hands behind her back, unlike her sister who had practically tried to rip my hand off my wrist.

"Ezra, greet Vincent." He said in a stern voice that I had previously heard him use with her.

She finally tore her brown eyes off the floor and met mine, and a small shiver shook through her body, but only for a second until her eyes were back down.

"Hello, Vincent." She greeted.

Her father spoke next, "Ezra is eighteen, bit of a bookworm" he scoffed, "but beautiful nonetheless." He roughly grabbed Ezra's jaw with his hand to maneuver her face around, and she winced in pain, which made my jaw clench in return, "She's a virgin, but good at following directions, so she'd catch on quickly, if you know what I mean." He laughed outwardly which resulted in Ezra blushing a dark red. "Now for the serious part, she had some medical shit wrong with her girl parts, but nothing they couldn't fix. Issue is, she won't get pregnant naturally, but hey, free birth control, right?"

I didn't laugh, but he kept going.

"She has a tendency to speak out of line when upset, so she is still in training."

"How much?" I questioned.

He visibly swallowed harshly, but continued, "She's had other suitors willing to pay a large amount for when she is done, but I am willing to-"

"Answer my question."

"One hundred and fifty thousand was the highest bid we got, but-"

"I'll double it."

"Double it? Sir, for that kind of money I assure you she is not worth-"

I held my hand up for him to stop talking, and began, "I will be back in a week. I will take care of the organization and expenses, my assistant will contact you with the details-"

He interrupted me, "But sir, she is not ready-"

I cut him off, "First of all, you will never speak over me. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir. I apologize." He gritted out.

I continued, "I will decide when she is ready, and that will be in a week. Now say thank you."

"Thank you, sir."

I look up and saw that Ezra was looking down, but had the smallest smile on her face, probably happy that someone had finally spoken out against her dickwad of a father. It made my heart twitch knowing I was responsible for putting a smile on her face, albeit the smallest one.

I turned to Ezra, "I will have someone come by for a fitting for your dress, and whatever else you may need."

"Sir, I recommend you to reconsider. Alice is-"

"I have no interest in Alice. The deal is done, I will have the money transferred tonight. Goodnight."

I turned on my heels and made my way to back to Marchetti, gritting out a "Let's go." with him

following me out.