Chapter 2 A deal he couldn't refuse

"Yes and you must be Mr. Ortega," she answers with a firm tone, he smiles and replies to her, "Call me Armani, after all, I am your supposed to be betrothed". Ana walks closer to him and shakes his outstretched hand then she takes her seat, "I trust your flight was pleasant" he inquires staring at her as he sips his scotch from the tumbler, " it was fine I took the first class so I was comfortable" she replies with a soft tone looking at her fingers trying to avoid his gaze.

"My condolences on your father, he was a great man and my apologies for not being able to attend the funeral in person but I trust you received my proxy," he says looking at her through his long thick lash.

" We received it and are most grateful" She clears her throat as she pulls out the contract, " I have my signed copy of the contract here I believe you have yours?"She asks him, placing her palm over the contact. He pulls out a document and drops it on the table " I do, signed by your father and me 8 years ago," he responds, placing his on his table as he exchanges eye contact with her.

"That's good so when do we start preparations," she asks in a rather hasty tone, he gets up from his chair and moves closer to her leaving about 3 feet apart from the both of them, with each step he takes she trembles within but remains calm as she slightly presses her thighs together inside her dress, he eventually got close to her and lifts her chin with his finger bringing them to eye contact, she gulps down ever so slightly "you are more beautiful than imagined, I haven't had a look at you since you were 15 when your father brought you here for the signing of this contract," he says staring into her eyes, she tries to hold his gaze but breaks out and look away from him,

"Well that's a good thing then," she says, pouting her lips.

"It could be but then there are complications, I can't marry you," He says in a relaxed tone and She immediately shakes her head in vexation "Of course you can, it's a deal that you made yourself," she says in response to his reluctance, he walks back to his seat, and relaxes into it,

" yes I did make that deal, I was younger and impulsive, I made a mistake and your father came to our aid, he didn't want money in return, he just wanted a deal that if he died without an inheritor I would marry his first daughter which were you and that alliance would name you successor with the backing of my empire" he exhales and continues,

" I made that deal in desperation. I never really did think it would go through as he could still have had a son and you were half the world away studying and would never be interested in this life."

She looks up at him and stares into his eyes this time,

"You guessed wrong, I'm keen on keeping my inheritance even if I have to marry you," She says with a rather daring tone this time,

" Look Ana we could make arrangements for other compensation," he suggests dismissively,

" money isn't the issue here Armani, our Well is about to be liquidated and absorbed by an egomaniacal bastard Frank Benson, he was my father's shareholder, he always envied him so with my father's death and no successor he is determined to take it, this contract is my final resort" she sighs and looks into his eyes hoping she reached him.

She tries to continue with her pitch when a sharp knock fills the room coming through the door interrupting the conversation, soon after a tall elegant blonde waltz inside and directly to his chair as they both exchange a kiss. "This is one of the complications I was talking about," he says smiling at Ana, "hi I'm Sofia Arison his girlfriend".

Ana shakes her head in confusion but tries not to show that she is bothered by the fact he has a girlfriend, "I'm Ana Marson" she replies to her introduction, Sofia quickly scans her from head to toe and bites her lip turning her attention back to Armani " I heard your bride has arrived I had to come to see her for myself", Sofia says as she gives a devious smile at him, Suddenly Sofia's presence begins to unnerve Ana " Mr. Ortega and I have unfinished business and it's quite late if you wouldn't mind" she directs at Sofia dismissively, Armani quickly turns his attention to Ana slightly impressed as he smiles a little to one corner of his lip.

" Did I forget to mention I'm the only child of the Arison mafia family, the second-highest ranked in Monaco '' She glances at Ana bitterly obviously offended, Ana only looks at her blankly as if she wasn't her goal for the night.

"It's okay Ana we will continue tomorrow at breakfast, I'm sure you need your rest," Armani tells Ana.

" Sure as long as we are alone," she responds to his invite, waiting for an answer from him.

" We will, breakfast is at 8 am" he replies sharply

"No problem, have a good night Mr. Ortega," she says, packing up her stuff and taking her leave.

The moment the door closes, Sofia turns to him "Are we going to have a problem babe?" she asks as she sits on his lap and caresses his hair stroking it seductively "I Doubt, I'm not ready to be married much less as arrangement" he replies as he strokes her thigh seductively, " I agree with the arrangement part but not the marriage part, I would really like us to settle down together soon, I'm already pitching the idea to my father" she tells and smiles," you know you shouldn't be making such plans without me" he responds to her, offended by her effort, he stands up to leave then she holds him by the arm "Don't tell me it's that kid that got to you" she asks with a deep frown, he swiftly turns to her "You went behind my back don't expect anything less, also I would appreciate it you don't call her a kid, I had high respects for her father" he responds to her outburst and swiftly walks away leaving her alone.

The next day, it is almost time for breakfast, she looks around her grand hotel room and paces about thinking of how to approach the situation " he has a girlfriend that makes it even more complicated for me" she thinks out loud and sighs hard in frustration, "I got to find my way around this" she murmurs to herself. It is a couple of minutes to 9, and the last thing she needs is to be late. She immediately puts on her floral, sleeveless dress that exposes some skin, packs her hair in a bun, puts on her sunscreen, and steps out.

She arrives at the gardens where they are supposed to have breakfast, she looks over at him, he is wearing sports track pants and and black long-sleeve polo top with dark shades, he is so alluring that she can feel him from that distance, but she gets a hold of herself and tries to overcome her nervousness not to blow this shot.

"Good morning Ms Marson," he says, gaping into her charming blue eyes.

"Good morning Mr. Ortega," she responds smiling back at him, " Armani," he says, correcting her once again, she chuckles and casually says "But you addressed me by my last name, it's clear we are still on a last name basis".

"Well it's because I'm the boss and your last name holds water around here," he says smiling at her.

"If it truly did you wouldn't have any reservations about marrying me," she replies swiftly, drinking her glass of juice.

" I told you it was complicated" he clears his throat,

"The only complication I see is your Sofia" She turns her head in his direction with a raised brow then she continues "But it's okay I knew the contract might not be enough for you so I came with something else to sweeten the deal", she takes out the contract offer and hands it to him, with a show of interest he removes his shades and takes it for examination.

She sits up and clears her throat " I'm going to offer you 49% of the oil well", she says courageously, his dark eyes lighten in surprise, that is the first she has seen of him since she arrived now she knows she has his attention, a certain confidence washed through her.

" I don't know much about mafia but you run a business, it is not enough to make money, you need to wash that money, now that's where your casinos come in but then you face complications and problems with the IRS but that Well is the ultimate solution to that, your 49% could be your legal washer because it becomes your legal front, let's not talk about the influence that comes with your share" she pitches to him, He looks up at her clearly impressed, it is an offer he couldn't refuse, his composure can tell it all he smiles and asks her,

"49% huh that's a lot you would be sacrificing" he replies to her pitch,

" desperate times require desperate measures'' She smiles smirking at him and asks him "So what is it going to be ?"