Becoming His Wife by Hayley Faiman

Chapter One

TIZIANO

The dossier of virgin women to purchase should entice me. These are all untouched women for me to purchase—to own. But as I look at picture after picture, this is another group of women that I do not have the inclination to keep even one of them.

They all look the same, young, thin, brunettes, a couple redheads, a blonde. They don’t stick out to me as being the one.

Gavino is growing more annoyed with me each day, mainly because the Bianchi family does not shift power to his control until I’ve chosen a bride and take vows with her. Only then will my father give me control, and then I can in turn betray my own flesh and blood and hand over control of my birthright to Gavino Rossi to build his empire.

“You need to pick,” Vino barks.

“I know,” I sigh. “This isn’t picking a woman for the night, Vino. This is picking a woman to own for life.”

He nods his head, his gaze finding mine. “I will give you one more dossier, but this cannot drag on much longer. It is time.”

Dipping my chin, I keep the folder to look through the women again. He leaves me alone and I read over the portfolios. All virgins, all exactly what I asked for. Women with no families, no complications. Women who will be purchased by me, but not with coin, rather with my birthright.

Maybe that is what causes me to hesitate, the fact that though I will still be the face of the Bianchi family, I will answer to Gavino. He will own me, and I will listen to him. When I originally thought of this brilliant plan, I was just going to trade money for a woman. This is not that.

“What are you doing?” my father asks what feels like moments later.

Looking at the time on my phone, I realize it’s actually been a few hours since Gavino left me in my office. Lifting my head, I watch as my father walks over to the chair in front of me and sinks down with a loud groan. He’s much older than most of my friends’ padres were in school.

I never thought of it much in the past, but as the years progress, I’ve noticed that he is declining quickly. He’s approaching eighty and I know that he wants grandchildren, he wants to retire and he cannot have either until I marry.

“Trying to find a bride,” I admit.

I never told him about the deal, and I never will. He doesn’t need to know what I’ve done to his legacy, all that he needs to know is that I’m looking for a wife, soon I’ll be married, and as quickly as possible, he will have grandchildren.

“You are?” he asks, shifting in his seat, leaning forward slightly.

Nodding my head, I clear my throat. “I am. It is time. I am climbing closer to forty rather than thirty.”

He chuckles. “I waited too long to have you. I do not wish that for you. Let me see your final choices.”

I don’t want to show him these women, mainly because I don’t think that I want to choose any of them. Licking my bottom lip, I look down at the two headshots in my hand. Pretty women, both dark-haired, both look far too much like my mother and Luisa.

Shoving the pictures toward him, I watch as he reaches for them, and he eyes them. He shakes his head a couple of times but does not speak immediately. When he does, I can’t help but let out a sigh of relief.

“They are not for you. I picture you with lighter,” he states.

“Lighter?” I ask.

“Blonde,” he grunts. “The exact opposite of…” His words trail off, but he doesn’t need to finish them. I know exactly what he means, because I feel the same fucking way.

“I’ll be getting another file in a few weeks. Maybe that will be more promising,” I say as I take the pictures back from my father’s grasp.

He doesn’t leave my office immediately, instead, I feel his gaze on me, and only when it’s uncomfortable do I finally look at him. I wish that I hadn’t. He looks sad. He shakes his head a couple of times, then clears his throat.

“I could have chosen for you, when you were younger, I could have brokered a deal,” he murmurs. “But I didn’t want you to end up like me and now I suppose it doesn’t matter. I should have just done it. Would have made things easier.”

“End up like you?” I ask.

He clears his throat. “Your mother, it wasn’t a love match. Though I fell for her instantly, she never did me. It’s why she left the way that she did. She never wanted me. Same reason Luisa left you.”

“Padre,” I murmur.

He shakes his head a couple of times, his weathered green eyes meeting my own. “She was much younger than me. A match that our fathers brokered. She was just a child, plenty of time for me to live my life while she grew into a young woman, and yet she had no time to live her own. She was resentful, angry, and in love with someone else.”

“This is why you wanted me to make a love match,” I rasp.

But he doesn’t realize that the reason I won’t make a love match is the exact reason he wishes me to. I want zero personal feelings toward the woman that I make mine, the woman that I own.

This is a business deal, nothing more.

“It is.”

“I tried that,” I remind him.

He snorts. “Luisa was not love. She was the daughter of an opportunist. He was using her to get in with me. When he discovered that it didn’t matter who the fuck his daughter was with, that’s when he gave her permission to walk away from you. And you,” he begins, waving his hand around. “Were young and wanted to fill the void of your mother walking away. You’re not that boy anymore.”

He’s right. I’m not. I’m a man who wants zero entanglements. I’m a man who fucks for release and nothing more. I pay for pussy with zero fucking hesitation just so there won’t be any emotional entanglements in the way.

“I’m not,” I agree.

He dips his chin and stands to his feet with a soft groan. “Make the right choice for you, Tiz. The wrong choice has dire consequences. I’d hate to see something happen to you.”

“Why?” I ask.

He chuckles. “You’re a good boy, always have been. I may have made mistakes in life, but you were not one of them. I want to see you happy.”

He walks away, leaving me alone, and for the first time ever, I feel guilty. He is trusting me to make the right decision, not only for myself, but for the famiglia as well. Closing my eyes, I let my head fall back and I reopen them to stare at the ceiling.

What the fuck am I going to do?

I snort, lowering my head and turning toward my computer. I’m not going to do anything. I’ve already signed on the dotted line. I’m going to do what I promised Gavino I was going to do. I’m going to pick a woman, marry her, and give control of the Bianchi famiglia over to him.

Though, I’ll still be the face. It’s the perfect solution, and I know Gavino will never overstep his position. He’ll never assert his power. I trust him, as a friend and as a Boss. He’s a good and fair man, he’s not lustful for power just to abuse it. He wants what’s best for the empire he’s trying to build.

My father will never know, my bride will know her place, and we will have a mutual understanding of our marriage. She will have whatever she wishes monetarily, along with stability, both financial and physical. I will have a bride that cannot and will not walk out of my life, and we will create children.

The decision was made when I signed the contract with Gavino. My own personal guilt doesn’t matter, not anymore.

MACI

What have I done?What has my father done?

He fucked up and I’m an idiot.

I’ve gone and half fallen in love with the man who has been holding me against my will. I know that it’s not love, but the way Bones is, I also know that I could easily fall for him. He’s sweet, he makes sure I’m taken care of, and he makes me feel for the first time in my life.

Clearing my throat, I turn my head to the side, looking around the area and trying really hard to avoid Bones’ gaze. He’s standing just a few feet away from me. He’s rejected me and he brought me here to dump me off on this club. He doesn’t want me around, I don’t play the way he wants me to.

I’ve been stuck in the Savage Beast clubhouse for days. Bones and his men walk around, effectively ignoring me. That’s okay with me. The less I’m around them, the better. I like them all far too much and that needs to stop.

Meanwhile, Pamela, a girl that I met when I was brought here, tries to befriend me. She seems really nice, she’s around my age, but I’m terrified. I’m scared that I’ll like her and become friends with her, just to be torn away and taken somewhere else.

That has been the story of my life. As soon as I get comfortable, I’m ripped from my surroundings and dumped somewhere else. It was that way with my father too. I lived with my mother most of my childhood.

She was a shit mom, but she was my shit mom. She was constantly on drugs, bringing men in and out of the house. It was a chaotic childhood, where the child protective services came in more than once to take me from her home and drop me off at my grandparents’ doorstep. When they died, that’s when they called my father to get me.

I went back and forth between my grandparents’ and my mother’s house. Then they died and it was my mother and my father’s. When my mother died, my father had no choice but to keep me.

On the outside, he had a decent life.

He owned a mattress store and a real house, something his parents had willed him when they died, both the store and the house. Grandparents that I had never met. I wondered what they were like often. I doubt I would have liked them much, it seemed as though my entire family was just kind of shitty in general.

It didn’t matter what my father owned, he was messed up with two motorcycle clubs and then I was taken. So, in the end, I’m destined to be shuffled around from place to place and I have a feeling I’ll be used by whoever has me sees fit, too. I will never have stability and that scares me, because it’s all I’ve ever wanted.

My future is up in the air. The men at the Savage Beasts have clubwhores just like Bones and his men. However, unlike Bones’ club, these whores are not kept naked in cages. Maybe it’s a good thing. Maybe I can learn to like being a whore to multiple men. Just the thought makes my stomach clench and roil.

I suppose that’s a step up, this Savage Beast club, but it doesn’t make me any less frightened. I don’t want to be a whore, used by faceless man after faceless man. I’ve always wanted more. I don’t know what that more is, considering I’ve never had it, but I’ve always wanted it.

I think that’s what attracted me to Bones. He seemed like he could offer me that more. He’s the president, he’s kind. I’ve never seen him lash out in anger at his men or at any of the women. I would have tried to steal him from his wife if I could have.

It would have been fruitless, especially since it’s my understanding that he would have used me with her then tossed me away, he is devoted to her, to their family. I wouldn’t want that. Being a sidepiece is not stability.

Thankfully, nothing happened.

I would have given my virginity to him though, if I thought that I could have him, if I thought that I could keep him. If I thought that there could be more, and it would serve me, I would have done it. I would have done anything.

The men around me are arguing about what to do with me, as if I’m not even standing right in front of them. My head dips down and I look at my feet. I hear them all talking over one another, trying to make the decision of where I’m going and what I’ll be doing.

I can’t handle it for a second longer. “So you’re telling me that you can’t let me just go? I can’t be free to live my life? I’m not my dad,” I shout.

It’s not like it’s a surprise though. They’ve had me under lock and key for weeks. Even if they did let me free, I have absolutely nothing and nowhere to go.

Everyone is quiet for a moment, then I watch as Dragon shakes his head once. He’s the president of the Savage Beasts and apparently, my life… my future, is held in his palm.

I reach out, wrapping my fingers around his bicep and I squeeze, looking up at him with wide, pleading eyes. At least that’s what I hope they look like.

Dragon clears his throat. “If you don’t want to be here, there is one other place I can send you,” he says, but he sounds very hesitant even giving me the option.

“Anything,” I whisper, I beg.

“You can go to New York. We’re friends with some men there. They run a gambling house, among other things. I can’t promise that you won’t have to spread for your lodging.”

I should tell him to fuck himself, except I know that this is my only price for protection. This is all that I have, what’s between my legs. My father did this to me. The anger bubbles up and simmers throughout my entire body. It does no good to be angry, but I can’t control it, at least not right now.

It’s all too new—too fresh.

“New York?” I ask, trying to calm myself. “I’ve never been anywhere except California and here.”

Dragon arches a brow. “I can’t promise you an easy life, babe. Your dad fucked you. But nobody there knows what he did. I won’t tell them either. They usually don’t force women to sell their bodies, but I can’t make any promises on that.”

At least he realizes that my father fucked me. At least he isn’t treating me like shit. The Savage Beasts and the Sinister Skulls have been nothing but nice to me. They’ve treated me fairly and taken care of me. That is my only hope for the future, that wherever I’m sent, they treat me decently too.

“I’ll do it,” I breathe.