Chapter One

I could have been anywhere else, but being here doesn't settle well with me for some reason. Not because this is a bad place, but because the home has always been an uncomfortable topic for me, reminding me of the things that I could have done to be better not that it bothers me anymore. I've come to understand that it's the Wolfe way, to pressurize your child and sharpen them until they are the purest diamonds possible.

Yet, I don't think I'd ever be able to understand the reason that they called me all the way here.

"Mr Wolfe, Sir?" The maid that speaks behind me makes it obvious that she's scared of interrupting my quiet time, which is not her fault, I find my quiet time sacred but I could never hurt her. I am nothing like my Father when it comes to that.

I turn away from the window that I'm facing and look at her. She's a meek little thing, like a rat but a pretty one. Those were his favourites. Pretty faces that could never be able to defend themselves, and due to my self-conscious need not end up like him, I find myself unable to stand women like this. 

Still, I keep decorum, my voice bearing no emotion as I ask, "Is my Mother asking for me?"

She nods a reply. Finally. Ever since I arrived here in this manor, an uneasy feeling had settled in the pit of my stomach. Perhaps, it's my business instinct that tells me something is about to happen that might make or break me, but at the same time, I knew it had to do with the memories I had hidden behind the four walls of this building. Memories that I didn't want to dig up anymore.

With a sigh, I begin to walk out of my room, the maid following quietly behind me. The manor is a masterpiece with stairway and halls that leads to corners and rooms one might not even know they did just by a glance. I remember that it used to be one of my favourite spots to play hide and seek, before the day that I had to grow up and become who I am today.

Though the maid doesn't tell me where she is, my feet do their magic, walking through the halls, familiar images going through my head as I recall running through them once, heading to the room I was sure she was in, and when I get there, I'm not wrong.

It's a lounge/balcony suit. The walls were painted with flowers, the air scented with roses, sun pouring through from the railings, lighting the place with a sensation that made one feel calm and sorted, even though things were not.

My Mother, Diana Wolfe, sits on one of the chairs, a table in front of her with a mug in her hands. Her hair is a platinum blond colour, dyed probably, and everything about her holds a regality, her composure poised and graceful. Her skin is a tanned colour that reminds me of caramel, smooth and creamy. Even at the age of fifty-three, nothing is misplaced from her frame. Not that I'm surprised. We Wolfe are known to look like we were genetically modified to be aesthetically appealing to the eyes.

I stand there, not bothering to call her out because I know she knows that I'm behind her, and in moments, a small smile spreads to her face, her eyes smiling at the sun as it slowly begins to set. "It is always beautiful to watch the day give way for the night. How... Soothing to watch them both submit easily to the other, without making a fuss. A very stable relationship." 

Ever since her retirement which involved handing me the reins of Azure Tech, she had begun to speak mostly in parables and words that barely have meanings to them, crowning herself a literary master. I usually don't mind the behaviour, but I never like being kept out of the loop, which is what she does. Trying to make me get too relaxed and then dropping a bomb out of nowhere that would disorganize my schedule.

As if she hears my thoughts, she turns to me. Her lips are a scarlet red, it's her signature lipstick for times when she believes she's being a diplomat, and says with a smile, "My darling son. Why do you stay so far away from me?" Then stretching her arms out, adds, "Come give your Mommy a hug."

I try not to outwardly cringe at her words, regretting that I hadn't just sat on the chair opposite her while avoiding her antics, and walk to her, leaning close enough to smell her expensive perfume and place a small kiss on her forehead, not daring to hug her. "Hello, Mother."

Good enough, Diana knows when not to push a topic as I pull away and sit facing her, keeping my legs crossed with my hands on my knee, my eyes studying her. We share no common features, everything of me painfully taken from my Father, but our eyes... I can see a glimmer in them, a mischievousness that I had studied for years and come to understand as I grew older because I had the same trait as well.

I wait for her to start speaking but she doesn't. Instead, she decides to elongate my wait, dragging out her time as she takes more sips from the tea in her mug, knowing fully well I wouldn't dare to interrupt. Even Father, with all his wrath and irrespective of nature to anyone else that wasn't him never dared interrupt her teatime.

Minutes after my patience is stretched thin to a bare minimum, I hear her let out a sigh of relief, her hand finally setting the mug down on the saucer, blue eyes still glimmering as she says in a soft voice, "I would ask you how your trip to the Manor was but I have a distinct feeling that you'd tell me not to overstep my boundaries."

My jaw is hard not to clench as I reply, "You don't believe in boundaries, considering how you've been following my every move for the past six years and paying off every woman I've been in a relationship with to end things with me."

She makes a shocked face. "You cannot possibly be upset that I sent those gold-diggers away, could you, darling? Plus, I couldn't imagine you knocking one of them up, by mistake. The company would be ripped into shreds, sweetheart."

Of course. She doesn't care about my happiness, or if I genuinely loved them. The company is more important and always has been. "Perhaps, I'm old enough to know when not to get a woman I never desired in the first place pregnant without your interference."

Mother's eyes widen now. "Oh? So you do know how to do so after all?" Letting out a dramatic sigh, she rests on the back of her chair. "And here I was afraid my son was infertile. Well, this makes things more simple for us both."

"There has never been an us."

"Come off it, Alexander." I know her well enough to know that when my name is being used instead of a pet name, it didn't ever end well, and, from the icy cold glare she was sending my way, I was no longer in her good graces. "You are a thirty-one-year-old grown-up man. Stop wallowing in the self-pity of your childhood."

My hand forms a fist but my face now is stoic. I sometimes forget that as her child, for as long as I can remember, I wasn't expected to show my emotions of anger and pain because a real Wolfe doesn't. "Forgive me."

She nods, pleased now. What she says is true, I am the age she says I am, and yet, I always tend to do as she wishes. Not that I fear her, I never have, but perhaps, I hope that one day, she would treat me like how she used to when I was younger though I know full well it might never happen. "It's understandable. I heard you walked around the manor instead of sleeping so it must have been a terrible flight, darling."

It wasn't, but I don't say so.

"Do you remember Mr Rossi?" She asks now. The question catches me unaware as it's a name I've not heard in many years, or I had, but not in this manner. Seeing the recognition on my face, she continues, "I'm glad you do. Ever since the death of your Father, his visits here dwindled and came to a stop some few years ago, but recently, he has reached out to me to form an alliance of a sort."

I can't help the interest and curiosity that pours into my voice as I ask, "An alliance?" It's not as if I'm not aware of the relationship between my Father and Mr Rossi. Though they were completely different species of men, they cherished each other's company more than anything else and there had been many times the man would come over, with a kind smile on his face and a gift in his hand, all for me.

Diana nods. "Yes. You are to marry his daughter, Scarlet Rossi, next week, on any day of your choosing."

At those words, I don't breathe, I don't move, all I do is blink, staring at the woman in front of me, hoping that she is joking but I know full well that is beyond her. What's the point of one of the most powerful women in the world making a joke? Nothing. "Excuse me?"

"It's a very reasonable proposal, my love." She says, taking a scone from the saucer close to the one with her mug. "We have sensitive family secrets we would like to be kept... Secret, and so does he."

"Secrets?" I ask. "He's in the Mafia. He rules the Mafia."

"So he kills a few people?" She asks like this is a normal day-to-day topic. "If I remember clearly, you adored him when you were younger and he used to kill people then. This shouldn't faze you now, you're bigger than that. Besides, he's not the one you're marrying. It's his daughter, do you still remember her?"

The question for some reason calms the turmoil gathering in my belly, images of the girl flashing in my head. I remember the long black haired and pale female that followed me almost everywhere. Her oldest siblings, three boys who were triplets, liked to prank her all the time and since I never engaged in such activities, felt safer with me.

She used to be a meek thing, quiet and used to keep herself in the background. Scarlet barely ever spoke to me, not like we would have has grounds for conversation since I was ten years older, but somehow, I couldn't help but be attracted to her.

It was clear she stayed with me for the protection I gave, as her brothers never liked to cross me considering how I had once beaten them all up, but she always stood out, like a lily flower, floating with its petals looking soft and fragile, making someone like me who was older, and more damaged afraid to hurt her.

Still, I might have been attracted to the gentle glow she had but my preference for women had changed drastically. There was no use of a wife that desired to merge into the background like a shadow. "I am not interested."

"Oh, I wasn't asking." She says, smiles widening. "This wouldn't be happening if you had found a suitable bride before you turned thirty, as you were told to."

I can't help the scoff that leaves my lips, muttering quietly. "Of course. Blame me for it."

I know she has heard my words but she continued nevertheless. "Before your Father died, he made you promise him... We both promised that you would have a child early enough to continue the family legacy and become the heir to Azure Tech." I can hear the disappointment, the irritation at my failure. "And you failed even that. I am sure that right now, he is rolling in his grave, disappointed in you."

"I couldn't care less."

"Alexander."

I am too angry, too pissed to be reasoned with as I snap, "I have spent my entire life trying to be the child that you both hoped I would be because he was too old enough to give you another one that would have been the one you desired. While people made friends, I was finding ways and paths to make Azure great again, and I have. The company has flourished a thousand times better than it ever has in your hands and his. So if you find me lacking in any other thing, if he does, both of you should blame yourself for making me feel unworthy of love from anyone because you never, never, did so to me."

I am aware that this is the sort of thing a Wolfe should never do. Give emotional outbursts. Speak without restraint, but I am tired of them trying to control my life. I loved them, I did. They were both powerful people I thought I would never be able to catch up with but now, I have become better than them and their approval of me doesn't matter as much as it used to.

Diana stares, saying nothing to rebuff me which surprises me, before the glimmer in her eyes slowly fades away, her voice bearing the littlest of emotions as she says, now looking at her mug, "Your Father, Jethro and I, was made to marry and bring forth an heir as well. He was older by so many years and I wished for more. It took a while for both of us to come to an understanding as we both cherished Azure, but perhaps... Perhaps, the love we didn't feel for each other must have slipped into you at some point." She looks up at me again. "But we did. We loved you more than we could have ever put in words and we only want what's best for you."

"You have a very nice way of showing it."

She ignores the remark. "Marry young, while you still can and bear a child. I could never go separate ways with your Father because I knew no one else asides from him but if you... If you marry Scarlet, and you both have an heir early enough, you both might have time to find your other soulmate." Then she adds, her voice soft. "And if you are not as unlucky as I am, she might be yours."

I stare at her. I have no idea if this is her trying to make me pity her and let her toy with my emotions, but I stand, not wanting to be with her any longer. "I don't feel well, if you may excuse me." Then turn around and walk away, though deep down, I know that eventually, I will do as she wants.