Adam's eyes flashed with anger.
"What about my prize?"
"She hasn't said she loves you, and you're not married either..."
"I can call her here now, and get her to confess her love for me."
"I know. You must have blackmailed her..."
"I don't pay for affection. I never have."
"Of course not. Has any woman ever dared to avoid your advances? They're afraid of you. They're afraid of what will happen if they don't do everything you want."
"Do you think women come to my bed out of fear?"
Ryan thought.
"Maybe not these women you're used to lying with. They're older than you, almost twice your age or more, and they're single and needy. They must find it exciting that a younger man is attracted to them, to their withered and wrinkled bodies, but their pleasure lies in their ego, which you inflame, and not in your performance in bed."
"I don't like girls. Everyone in the family knows that."
"Because you're complacent. You always want what's easiest and don't bother looking for what's best."
Adam looked menacingly at Ryan.
"We'd better end this conversation here."
"No. I know you want to kill me. That's how you are. You kill to get rid of the problem. But you needed to hear the truth from someone."
"You've already told me."
"Yes. But I want you to prove me wrong."
"I don't want to and I don't need to prove anything to anyone."
"Do you still want my regions?"
Genevieve got up and left. Ryan had forgotten she was there, who probably felt offended by the words with which he described the women his cousin slept with, since she was one of them.
Adam pretended not to notice Genevieve's dramatic exit and continued the conversation as if nothing had happened.
"You're not a man of your word."
"We're going to document our agreement in a contract this time."
"What do you propose?"
"I want Anna for myself, and I know that neither you nor the other men in the family will allow it without a marriage between the two of us."
"Develop." Adam said impatiently.
"Well. I'm willing to stand up to my grandfather and marry her. What I do afterwards to regain my grandfather's trust will no longer be your problem."
"You're going to get married and then make her sign the divorce." Adam said it as if it were very easy and obvious to deduce his cousin's intention, and Ryan stared at him in amazement, but continued.
"I know you're an impatient man, and we can't put off her going to the green house much longer... So, if you accept, tomorrow I'll arrange a quick wedding, with only the family present, and I'll give you all my regions."
"Italy?"
Ryan hesitated for a while.
"The way we agreed before."
"I accept, with a few conditions..."
"I'm listening."
"You're not marrying her tomorrow. She'd have to divorce me first. You're not going to touch her without her permission, you're not going to blackmail her, and you're going to get her to agree to be your wife and ask to leave the house with you. And... I want to witness the marriage proposal."
"I don't understand the reason for these conditions. We're in a hurry."
"You said yourself that you wanted me to prove that I'm not what you said. I want to prove it. I'm going to make Anna grovel at my feet and beg to be with me. Is she young enough? Not to be attracted by my youth alone?"
"I want you to prove it, but not with her! We have less than three weeks before the other men in the family get here and demand their rights..."
"Don't you think you can make a little girl fall in love with you in no time? I don't think I need a whole day for that." Adam threw back at his cousin the same words he had already used to offend him.
Ryan stood up and stared at him defiantly.
"Fine. But you're not getting into bed with her, even if she begs, until she's definitely a product."
"I'll arrange the contract."
Ryan glared at him angrily and walked away. Adam was his cousin, and he loved him, but he was creating obstacles, even though he had something very valuable that he had wanted for a long time, because of a woman. Something was going on there, and he would find out.
He called his grandfather.
"My cousin is behaving strangely. I think he's in love with the 'product'. I don't see any other explanation."
"What do I care, what that useless bastard feels? As long as you don't fall in love, Ryan, we can still dominate the entire mafia market. Adam is the Alpha, but he can't stop us from working."
"Yes, he can. But he wants Italy."
There was a silence on the other side.
"And what did he offer in return?"
"We bet... the 'product'."
Ryan's grandfather laughed, as if he were rambling.
"You're going to trade an empire for a vagina? Ryan... You disappoint me. Stop thinking with your penis. Use your brain!" Grandpa finished his sentence angrily and hung up.
Ryan couldn't explain it to his grandfather. But he would win that bet and secure Italy.
...
Adam didn't see Anna during dinner and didn't want to ask. Sarah was more unbearable than usual, and her voice was giving him a headache.
"So she's locked herself in the boss's room and no one's seen her since lunch! She's a daredevil! How dare she not answer our calls? And what was that about at lunch? Inviting employees to sit at the table with the boss! That girl needs a punishment, let's break into her room and give her a beating..." Sarah was saying to Kate.
"Sarah... Finish your dinner in the kitchen." Adam interrupted her and Kate looked at him in surprise.
"Anna prepares lunch without telling you, and you want to punish Sarah, just because you're outraged that this girl has overstepped her authority?"
Adam looked coldly at Sarah, who stood up, picked up her plate, and walked away crying. Then he turned to Kate.
"No one here asked you to give your useless opinion. I don't owe you any satisfaction about what happens in my house. I decide what I allow and what I don't. You and Sarah are nothing, you're just crumbs next to Anna. I don't want to hear any more about her."
"A shriveled, wrinkled crumb." Genevieve said bitterly.
Ryan, who was watching everything in silence, felt his face flush. These were the words he used to describe the women who lay with Adam.