Chapter 4 - THE TERMS SHE WROTE HERSELF
Enzo waited two days before asking.
That irritated Adeline more than if he had cornered her immediately.
He behaved normally. He visited Alfonso each morning, met with men downstairs, answered calls, and treated Adeline as though a dying patriarch had not just publicly selected her to become the next woman of the Marquetti family.
On Tuesday evening, Alfonso fell asleep early.
Adeline stepped into the hallway and found Enzo waiting beside the window.
“You planned that,” she said.
“Yes.”
“At least you’re honest.”
“I try not to waste lies on small things.”
“That sentence is not reassuring.”
He gestured toward the library.
“I want ten minutes.”
“You have five.”
They entered.
Enzo did not sit behind the desk. He remained near the fireplace, keeping distance between them.
“My grandfather made a choice. That does not create an obligation for you.”
“Good start.”
“But the problem he was trying to solve is real.”
“The council.”
“Yes.”
“And your birthday.”
“Yes.”
“Very romantic.”
He ignored that.
“If I remain unmarried, Bruno will force another vote. He has spent years building support among men who prefer the old rules.”
“The rules where women and children become collateral?”
Enzo’s eyes hardened. “Among others.”
Adeline thought about the third rule she had heard Marisol mention: no one touches a person whose work is saving lives.
“Why nurses?” she asked suddenly.
He understood the question.
“My mother died in an emergency room after a man trying to kill my father opened fire outside the entrance. A nurse covered me with her body until security arrived. She was hit.”
Adeline went still.
“She lived?”
“Yes.”
“That’s why.”
“That’s why.”
For the first time, Enzo’s severity made emotional sense.
He continued. “I am offering a legal marriage for one year. Separate rooms. Your work remains yours. Your name remains yours. At the end of the year, if we both want out, we end it cleanly.”
Adeline laughed once.
“You make marriage sound like a lease.”
“It is the only version I can offer honestly today.”
“Today?”
His expression did not change. “I do not promise what I cannot know.”
That answer was better than a seduction.
She walked to the desk and pulled a notepad toward herself.
“If this conversation continues, I write the terms.”
Enzo nodded.
“First. Nell’s surgery is not payment for marrying you.”
“I was going to offer—”
“No. If your family wants to make a charitable grant to St. Bridget, it goes through the hospital and helps multiple patients. My sister does not become a receipt.”
Enzo studied her.
“Agreed.”
“Second. I keep working.”
“Agreed.”
“Third. No one follows me into patient rooms. No guards standing over children because your surname makes people nervous.”
“Security can remain outside the floor.”
“Acceptable.”
“Fourth?”
She hesitated.
“No lies about danger.”
Enzo’s gaze sharpened.
“If marrying you makes me a target, you tell me. If Nell becomes a target, you tell me. You do not decide I am safer ignorant.”
“That may be difficult.”
“That is not the same as no.”
He exhaled.
“Agreed.”
“Fifth. You never use my sister to control me.”
“I wouldn’t.”
“Put it in writing.”
He nodded.
Adeline wrote one final line.
“Sixth. If I say stop, you stop.”
Enzo looked at her for a long moment.
“Without exception.”
Something in her chest shifted.
She hated it.
Later, a lawyer drew formal documents from Adeline’s handwritten page. Every clause survived.
Nell read the agreement twice.
“This is the strangest prenup in America.”
“It is not a prenup.”
“It contains a section about armed security in pediatric wards.”
“Fine. It’s unusual.”
Nell looked up.
“Do you like him?”
“No.”
“Do you trust him?”
Adeline stopped.
“More than I expected.”
“That’s worse.”
“I know.”
The next morning, Adeline returned to the estate with the signed contract in her bag.
Alfonso was awake.
“You look unhappy,” he said.
“I agreed.”
“That explains it.”
“You planned this.”
“I hoped.”
“That is different only to old men and lawyers.”
Alfonso smiled.
Enzo entered moments later.
Adeline handed him the agreement.
“One year.”
“One year.”
“No pretending in private.”
“Agreed.”
“No humiliating me in public.”
“Never.”
“If your relatives insult Nell, I leave.”
Enzo took the pen.
“They won’t do it twice.”
Adeline narrowed her eyes.
“That sounded threatening.”
“It was administrative.”
She almost laughed.
He signed.
The news spread through the Marquetti network by noon.
Vivienne Caruso’s father called Bruno furious. Bianca’s mother told three society columnists that Adeline had manipulated a dying man. A rumor appeared online claiming the nurse had seduced Alfonso for access to the family fortune.
Enzo wanted the story buried.
Adeline refused.
“Why?”
“Because people who believe that story will believe another one tomorrow. I am not spending a year chasing strangers’ opinions.”
Enzo looked at her.
“You are very difficult to protect.”
“I’m not asking to be protected from gossip.”
“What are you asking?”
She met his eyes.
“To be told which dangers are real.”
His expression changed.
“Bruno is real.”
There it was.
The first honest warning.
“He wanted one of those women,” Enzo said. “Preferably Vivienne. Her father would have given Bruno influence over the docks. My grandfather choosing you ruined more than a social plan.”
Adeline absorbed that.
“Does Bruno know about Nell?”
Enzo did not answer quickly enough.
Her face hardened.
“You promised.”
“He knows you have a sister. I have already moved hospital scheduling information behind a private access wall.”
Adeline’s anger remained, but she recognized the distinction.
“You tell me before you make decisions involving her.”
“Yes.”
She held out her hand.
Not romantically.
Agreement.
Enzo looked at it, then took it.
His hand was warm, scarred across one knuckle.
For one second neither let go.
Then Alfonso coughed loudly from the bed.
“If you two are finished negotiating world peace, I would like breakfast.”
Adeline pulled her hand away.
Enzo looked almost embarrassed.
Alfonso smiled into his oxygen mask.
May you like
The dying man had chosen his grandson’s wife.
Now he intended to make sure both stubborn people survived long enough to understand why.
