Antonietta stared at her son, lost in thought. It had never crossed her mind that this had been the reason for his breakup with Eleonora.
"I can only imagine how difficult it must have been for you, my son, but..."
"But?" Vittorio raised an eyebrow. "Tell me, Mrs. Antonietta, what defense is there for a woman who not only betrayed me but did so with the man I considered a brother, my best friend, and the one responsible for my father's death?"
"Vittorio, I believe she must have had some reason to act that way," Antonietta replied as she watched her son shake his head in anger. "I'm not defending her in any way, but she must have an explanation for it. He may have blackmailed her... or bribed her... or threatened her family."
"No doubt, she said it was just business," argued Vittorio.
"You see? There's always an explanation..."
"Business that led to my father being gunned down on my birthday... And you should be thanking me for breaking up with her instead of defending her actions. It's almost as if you don't miss Daddy. Or you simply never cared about him."
"Don't say that," Antonietta whispered before slapping her son's face. "Never say that again, Vittorio. I loved your father, and I miss him. But we knew this could happen, and I am experienced enough to understand how things work among the mafia. My only concern is whether you understand what it means to be a mafia boss."
"I learned in the worst way, believe me," Vittorio affirmed, serious.
"Vittorio, listen to me: let go of this hatred for Tommaso; it will only bring you pain... You've already shown him your power when you avenged Domenico. Tommaso will never dare to confront Amorielle again."
"If you'll excuse me, I need to sleep because I have a long day tomorrow."
"As you wish, my son," Antonietta replied before walking to the door. She paused for a moment and then turned to her son. "Vittorio, don't pursue this revenge... for the sake of the family you plan to build with Ellis."
***
Welcome, Ellis Barker
ACCOUNT BALANCE
USD: -480,000.00
MOVEMENTS:
AMORIELLE, VITTORIO ------- 05:57 AM
+ $20,000.00
"SON OF A BITCH!" Ellis shouted as she looked at the deposited amount in her account.
She jumped out of bed and stormed out of the room to the kitchen, where she found Jason enjoying a generous mug of coffee while reading some papers on the table.
"Good morning, little sister," Jason said, observing his sister approaching, seething with anger.
"LOOK WHAT HE DID!" Ellis practically shoved her phone screen in Jason's face.
"Wow, $20,000!" Jason exclaimed as he held the phone. "I wonder if he accepts a second wife?"
"Shut up, Jason. We're short on money here," Ellis said, serious as she paced back and forth. "I'm sure last night was worth $50,000. I read the contract; it was $50,000 for the engagement dinner... He cheated me, that dirty mafioso!"
"Okay, let's see..." Jason said, holding the papers on the table.
"Is that my contract? What's it doing here?" Ellis asked, grabbing the papers from her brother's hand.
"The driver left this document here and asked me to let you know he would come back to pick it up," Jason replied, completely ignored
by his sister, who was focused on reading the document.
"Here, $50,000," Ellis pointed triumphantly at the clause. She smiled and then took the phone from her brother's hand, saying, "Now he'll see, he thinks he can deceive me..."
"If I were you, I wouldn't call him so quickly," Jason began, reading the clause. "To receive $50,000, you needed to fulfill three things: Speech... Did you give a speech?"
"No..." Ellis said, shaking her head slowly.
"Okay..." Jason said, going back to reading the clause. "Did you talk about how you met each other to the guests?"
"No... I didn't have time..." Ellis explained, shrugging.
"I see..." Jason commented, looking at the contract again. "Well, at least you greeted the guests and family nicely."
"Yeah..." Ellis agreed, turning towards the counter to pour herself a mug of coffee. Before taking the first sip, she confessed, "I spat soup on a guest..."
"Oh, dear..."
"And water too..." Ellis concluded, rolling her eyes. She took a deep breath and then said, "I'd better call him and tell him he made a mistake with the deposit... That I couldn't do anything right."
"Hey, little sister, relax," Jason requested, holding Ellis's hand and pulling her.
She sat in the chair next to her brother and rested her head on his shoulder, disappointed.
"Seems like it won't be so easy to pay off this debt," Ellis commented.
"Let's see..." Jason said, analyzing the contract again. "Are you a virgin?"
"What?" Ellis blurted out, raising her head towards her surprised brother.
"Here it says that if you're a virgin and sleep with him, you can pay off the debt," Jason explained.
"I'm not sleeping with him!" Ellis retorted, adjusting herself in the chair. "Not even for half a million!"
"Okay, so that rules out the $300,000 for each child as well..." Jason frowned. "Look, you could say you love him..."
"Sure, but I feel the complete opposite for him," Ellis said, standing up. "And I can't hide the disgust I feel for him."
"Well, they say the feeling closest to love is hate," Jason argued, smiling at his sister who rolled her eyes. "Sis, there's not much to do... I mean... The contract didn't favor you much... Like $100 for a kiss... hugs... The man has billions, and most of the clauses don't even reach the thousands... I don't know, you'll be eternally by his side if you don't give in to these others."
"A kiss from me is worth ten times that. But the truth is, that's what he wants, Jason. He wants me to be his trophy wife forever," Ellis said, her eyes widening. "But he likes to brag about being fair..."
"Yes..."
"And this contract is anything but fair, right?" Ellis asked, excited.
"You tell me, sis," Jason said, handing the contract back to his sister.
"No, it's not. It's terrible..." Ellis said as she flipped through the contract. She smiled at her brother and said, "Get a pen, Jason. Let's revise some things in this contract. If Don Vittorio wants me as his wife, he'll have to pay... very well."