CHAPTER 136: THE MEETING PART 2

"He wants you to divorce my cousin."

Dalton didn’t react. It was pretty obvious to him that Vico wanted him to divorce Maya the moment Aiden informed him about the meeting, but Natalia mentioning "cousin" caught him off guard.

"C-cousin?" Aiden gasped.

Natalia shrugged. "My late father is Vico’s brother." She took a breath. "And the red hair comes from my Irish mother."

"I see. Tell me how she is doing," Dalton requested, his heart beating fiercely.

Natalia picked up a black purse from the couch on her left and pulled out her phone. "Telling is boring; let me show you." She handed her phone to Dalton.

Aiden shifted closer to Dalton and bent down to look at the phone screen.

"Your wife is doing fine without you, as you can see in the pictures on my phone."

Dalton’s heart leapt as he saw Maya on the screen, looking pretty amidst a group that resembled a family. She had a glowing smile on her face as she interacted with an elderly woman.

"Who are these people?" Aiden asked.

"Her Italian family," Natalia answered eagerly.

Dalton flipped through happy pictures of Maya with her supposed family; none of the photos looked sad.

Dalton smiled in his heart. Maya is okay and is in the midst of normal people, not Vico’s criminal organization.

"I bet you’ve been pretty worried, consumed by fear and sorrow, missing your wife while she is in Italy, hanging out with her family and making up for lost time, forgetting all about your existence," Natalia mocked.

"That’s a good thing," Daton said sincerely. Now, he could sleep peacefully at night and just pretend Maya had taken a vacation to Rome to spend time with her family.

Natalia’s temple twisted in irritation; her mockery didn’t have the impact on Dalton that she intended, so she took another angle. "Nope, that’s not a good thing, Black. It should be your worst nightmare. Vico is using the family to make Maya accept her new life as a mafia princess."

Dalton let out an unhappy grunt, causing Natalia to smirk victoriously.

"Oh, and he is personally training Maya to take over his empire when he dies. Oh boy, the evil that your innocent wife is being forced to witness is enough to drive her insane. But thanks to our family, who adore her, she is going to be fine "

"So Vico is using your family to balance out the evil. That’s a good manipulation tactic," Aiden remarks.

"Glad you it," Natalia replies with a wink, and Aiden frowns in disgust.

"Her eyes are dead," Dalton suddenly said. He stared at her blue eyes in each of the photos, and they looked lifeless. He continues. "She likes her new family, but the happiness she feels when she is around them isn’t enough." Dalton deduced that he was the biggest source of her happiness, and he thought this with a sense of smugness.

Natalia huffed. "Blah, blah. Dude, like I said, our entire family loves her, especially our aunt and grandma. These two women might do everything to keep her in Italy. So, say goodbye to ever getting her back." She waved.

Dalton looked at her sternly. "Well, go back and tell your uncle, aunt, and grandma that Maya is my wife, and I’m coming for her."

Natalia laughed mockingly. "You are underestimating Vico. Ever wonder why Vico is still operating freely in Italy when he is wanted by the FBI and Interpol? He is still thriving, even though you literally destroyed his American territory and half his Mafia empire."

Dalton didn’t need to answer; Aiden beat him to it. "Because Vico made a deal with some very powerful men in the government who have had shady dealings with him in the past. In exchange for making the FBI back off and allowing him to walk free, he buried evidence to cover up for these powerful men."

Aiden paused and sniggered. "As for his ’thriving’, he is only powerful in Italy and perhaps Europe, but when he sets foot in this country, he is a nobody."

Natalia bitterly chuckled. "My uncle will regain the power he once held in your country through an arranged marriage between Maya and a man who has his own empire here."

Dalton was perplexed. "Between Maya and whom?"

Natalia had a sour expression on her face. "You might know this person, or maybe you don’t."

Aiden growled, "Stop the teasing and tell us who this guy is!"

"I don’t owe you that," Natalia poked her finger at him. "I just came here for this." She tapped on a manila folder that was on the glass table between them. "These are the divorce papers drafted by Vico’s American lawyer. Sign them."

Dalton shot daggers at the papers and reached for his lighter to burn them, but Aiden beat him to it and grabbed the manila folder, and shredded it into pieces.

"It was drafted without Maya’s consent, so it’s invalid," Aiden said. Natalia’s reaction was minimal, as if she didn’t care that the divorce papers had been turned into trash on the floor.

Aiden squinted at her. "You aren’t happy about this; it’s written all over your face."

Natalia grumbled and parted her lips, wanting to say something, but then clamped her mouth shut. She was holding back from revealing something, and Dalton wondered why.

Natalia ignored Aiden and composed her face. "I have other commitments, so the meeting has come to an end." She signalled to one of her men, and a box was placed on the table. "These are about 50 copies of the divorce papers, and we will continue sending you more copies until you sign them." With that, she stood up.

"Goodnight, gentlemen," she said as she strode out with her men.

, "That was the most useless meeting ever." Aiden grumbled. " We have a flight to catch, we need to be at the airport." He reminded Dalton.

Dalton was extremely pissed; he would have been in Rome by now if it weren’t for this mundane meeting.

The arranged marriage that Natalia mentioned bothered him a little. It won’t happen unless he signs the divorce papers, and he never will. He is confident that Maya won’t either.

"Let’s get out of here," he said. He is going to Rome to fetch his wife.