Suddenly, the tension dissipated, and Anna was talking about her plans to the cook, who was helping her with some ideas, too.
The men went to arrange for the ingredients to be bought, and Anna put tablecloths and utensils on the tables.
She spent the afternoon preparing dinner, and she was happy. When everything was ready, she went upstairs to change.
She chose jeans and a T-shirt, as she felt safer in these clothes. What Ryan had tried to do to her was still fresh in her mind, and she was trying to hide it somehow.
As she descended the stairs. Kate was standing there, looking at the office door, and when she saw her, she left without saying anything.
Anna went to the office door and heard Ryan's voice.
"I want her in the green house, and tomorrow all the men in the family will be here."
"She's going to marry me."
"You only had today to convince her, and I know you spent the day doing what you always do."
"You haven't won over a girl and now you want to get back at her?" Anna could sense that Adam was enjoying himself. "The day isn't over yet, cousin. I'm going to ask her to marry me over dinner."
"And she'll accept because she's afraid to say no to you! That's an unfair advantage! Let me take her with me, and when she's safe in my house, she'll agree to marry me, and she'll reject you!"
"You've had your chance, haven't you? You could have asked to take her, to try to win her over, but you didn't do it. Now it's too late. The deadline is today."
"I can convince the others to agree to postpone..."
"No."
A thump sounded on the table, and Anna jumped up startled, but listened again.
"If she doesn't agree to marry you, I'll have her in the green house tomorrow!"
"We'll see."
"Cousin... You have to marry her tomorrow, you know that, right? The deadline is running out..."
"I'm a cautious man. I wouldn't be head and practically king of nine countries, and on my way to conquering a few more, if I didn't have intuition and caution."
"As for the regions..."
"You've already signed the documents. There's no way you can go back."
"Not for my regions. But your greatest dream, there's no contract obliging me to pass it on to you."
"What are you talking about?"
"Italy."
"You're going to give me command..."
"No. For that I'll want something more."
"We haven't agreed anything other than what's in the contracts."
"You're clever. You put in the contract that if I didn't keep my end of the bargain, I'd have to pay you a hundred million dollars, but I'm not interested in staying with those regions, because I don't have the talent to be a cold killer, and I'm not going to spend all that money to maintain something I don't want, but Italy... I can convince my brother to take care of the business for me."
"Your grandfather would never allow that."
"He also won't allow me to take over the principal's chair while he's alive."
"What are you trying to tell me?"
Ryan was silent for a few minutes.
"I met with Anna today. She... I need to satisfy what's eating away at my soul. I need to have one night with her before she's taken to the green house. You know how things are in that place, and I want... privacy. If you grant me just that..."
"Even so, your grandfather will still be director..."
"I have plans to take his place immediately."
"You know you can't kill him, right?"
"I know. There's only one assassin in this room. I know how to convince my grandfather to leave me in charge of his business."
"Are you going to reveal to me how you're going to achieve this feat?"
"By giving him something that only the Gamas family is entitled to."
"The product?"
"The product."
"You're negotiating Italy to spend a night with a girl?"
"A man started a war for less than that."
"What if you're not satisfied with just one night?"
"I have other things I know you want."
It was Adam's turn to be silent.
"I need to think." He finally said.
"Of course. We'll meet in her room two hours after dinner. I want you to watch. Maybe you'll learn something." He said and headed for the door.
"You said you wanted privacy..."
"Yes. But I don't want you to record what I'm going to do to her for the other family members. What happens is just for your memory. So that you never forget when you hear her screaming my name."
Anna ran out before he discovered that she had been listening behind the door the whole time, tears streaming down her face. What had Kate heard? She already looked very haunted before the conversation turned nasty. They talked about her as if she were a commodity.
Anna didn't know if she should go down to dinner with them after hearing that conversation. She didn't have much choice. If she chose Ryan, she would have a few weeks, months maybe, to think of a plan and escape the fate of being just another 'product' in the green house, if she chose Adam, he wouldn't be kind, but she loved him and for a while she would be happy, even though she knew he would never reciprocate her feelings. Maybe he would kill her after he got tired of her, which, from what everyone said, was the best alternative for her.
Someone knocked on the door and opened it without expecting an answer. She was one of them. Anna believed that she had learned to recognize who belonged to such a 'pack'. They were tall and snobbish. They didn't work cleaning houses, washing toilets or doing housework. They were arrogant and held leadership positions.
"The boss told you to come down."
"He's not my boss."
The woman looked at Anna happily.
"Would you rather I took you? Oh, say yes! I'd love to!"
"Why? I don't know you."
"The boss makes us see your face every day, miss. We're tired of it and we've come to put an end to it. You must become what you were bought to be, and then we can get back to our routine."