The Castillos decided to make a grand entrance at my event and I was not pleased about it.
I was in the middle of talking to a business associate when I sighted them from the corner of my eye.
Don Castillo came in with his son and of course his daughter with an unusual amount of security.
He knew his entry would raise questions to the press about my relation with him, further fueling their speculations about my businesses. He was doing this to spite me and make me an easy target for the authorities. I could see through his bullshit and I was not falling for it.
I could already sense the murmuring and feel the suspicions from the clean businessmen.
I wondered who added the Castillos to the guest list for the event.
Other mafia families here came in with one or two security who were lowkey with their weapons but this old man came in with fully kitted men, unsettling my guests.
My jaw was clenched. I was pissed as he approached. The last thing I needed was an open gun fight at a public event of this magnitude so I was going to try and keep my cool.
"Don Romano," he smirked.
I nodded in acknowledgment, my lips pursed in a thin line. "Nice to see you Don Castillo. I wasn't expecting you."
"I received an invite and I thought it would be disrespectful to turn down the invitation of a man that would have been my son in law."
I gave a curt nod to acknowledge what he said, ignoring his subtle jab.
"Congratulations on your wedding."
"Thank you."
"Well where's the Mrs?" He asked, casually looking around like he would know her if he saw her.
"She's around here somewhere." I replied.
"I better go find my seat. An old man needs to rest." He chuckled and left to go sit next to my mother who got on her feet to acknowledge him.
My eyes met my mom's. There was still worry in them. I looked away just as his daughter started to approach.
I nearly groaned as she sashayed towards me. She looked like a seductress as usual. I was almost tempted to remember all the times we were tangled under the sheets.
Caterina was a stallion in bed. I shut my eyes, fighting off the memories of her twerking on my cock. She was wild and that was exactly what I liked. She even had the massive curves to go with it. But I could not let myself marry her for some reasons.
"Hello stranger," she grinned sultrily.
"Caterina. Nice to see you," I said.
I certainly did not mean that. I looked around until my eyes met Tomas. He understood my signal as soon as he saw the problem in front of me.
"I wish I could say the same. You messed us up Jace. We have so much to talk about."
"I don't think we have anything to discuss, Cat." I said plainly.
She chuckled humorlessly and tried to get closer to me. I immediately took a step back. Thankfully Tomas had brought Mira. I possessively placed my hand around my wife's hip immediately.
"Caterina, this is my wife, Mrs Mirabel Romano."
Calling her full name out sounded sexy to me. I looked down at her gorgeous little self. Maybe I would do something about that tonight if I was not too tired.
Caterina spoke up, bring me back to reality, "So the rumors are true. You broke off our engagement and got married to this?"
I knew the look in her eyes too well. She was trying to belittle my wife. I would not stand for it.
"If by 'this' you mean my wife, yes I broke off our engagement and got married to this beautiful woman by my side."
She scoffed. "I know you're trying to spite me. Have your way with her if that's what you want so bad. But you know where home is and I know you'll come back to me."
She was overly confident and I hated that I could not caution her the way I typically would. I was still in public and I did not want to cause her scene.
Her father had given her wings I needed to clip.
"You can leave now." I said through gritted teeth.
I was fighting hard to not cause a scene and I could see she wanted to push me.
"Jace-"
"I will not repeat myself Caterina Castillo. Tomas, escort her to her table." I said.
Taking Mira's hand, I walked with her to introduce her to other guests as my wife. If Caterina thought I was playing games, I was going to prove to her that I wasn't.
I noticed that Mira had become cold after that interaction. She barely gave polite smiles as I took her around and introduced her to both legal and illegal associates.
For my associates that belonged to the mafia and knew my family quite well, some of them nodded in approval seeing the family heirloom on her finger. Even I was surprised when my mother agreed to give her the ring tonight. I thought it would take more time.
I led Mira back to the table after a while. She seemed uncomfortable.
I could tell she wanted to return home but could not say it out loud. We were almost done here. The point of this gathering was to subtly introduce my new bride into the society I belonged to and it was a success so far except for the unwelcome interruption of the Castillos.
"Let's go." I said, getting on my feet only a few minutes after sitting for the first time in hours.
Once again, the drive home was quiet. Now it was extra quiet because Mira seemed deeply upset.
A part of me wanted to know what exactly was getting her so upset but, I did not want her to see that I cared. She would assume I was weaker than I let on.
~
We got to the mansion near midnight. Mira got out of the car first.
I took my time, coming down from the back, wishing I had driven instead because I felt slight car sickness.
"Jace?"
I turned and faced my mom as soon she called out to me. She had just arrived too.
"We need to talk."
I sighed. "If this is about the Castillos, I know what I'm doing."
She frowned. "Are you sure? They are vicious and you should not have ended your engagement to Caterina the way you did."
"How else would I have ended it?"
She went quiet.
"Yeah. I thought so." I stated and walked off.