“He’s right about that much. It did disappear.” Constantine sliced into a peach bursting with juice. “As for the rest of the story. Let’s see. Where should I start?”
She spared him a swift grin. “Where all good fairy tales start. Once upon a time…”
“Once upon a time,” he repeated obediently. “There was an adorable Italian princess named Ariana, who was the apple of her father’s eye. One day, when Princess Ariana was just six years old, a prince from a faraway land came to visit. His name was Lazzaro Dante.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously,” Constantine confirmed. “Like all good fairy tales, the instant Ariana and Lazzaro touched, something odd happened between them.”
Gianna dropped her knife on the counter and spun to face him, openmouthed. “Are you kidding me? They felt The Inferno? At such a young age? I didn’t even realize that was possible.”
“According to my father it was an incipient form of The Inferno. But, yes. Something sparked between them. For some reason, Dominic went insane when he realized what was happening and demanded that he and my father create a marriage contract. He wanted to ensure that my sister and your cousin were strongly encouraged to marry once they were older.”
“No way.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “No one ever told you any of this?”
Her eyes narrowed in displeasure. “Uh, no. And trust me, someone will pay for that oversight. All I heard was that they felt The Inferno when they met in Italy and decided to marry.”
“Ah, but they never actually met in Italy. That was merely the story they put out to explain their whirlwind wedding so that your grandparents and my grandmother wouldn’t find out about the contract and the true reason for their marriage. They needed to wed quickly in order to fulfill the terms of the contract.”
Gianna picked up her knife again. “Okay, now you’ve lost me.”
“There was a stipulation in the contract that the two must marry by Ariana’s twenty-fifth birthday. When the contract came to light they negotiated the marriage by phone and email. They never even met until the actual wedding ceremony.”
“But, that’s…that’s barbaric,” she sputtered. “You’re telling me they had to get married because of some contract your father and Uncle Dominic signed? Why didn’t they just tear it up?”
He hesitated. “There may have been a small incentive that made it worthwhile for all parties involved.”
Comprehension dawned, turning her eyes a brilliant shade of green. “Brimstone.”
Constantine nodded. “Dominic knew about my family’s financial issues. So, he offered to give my family half of Brimstone when Lazz and Ariana married.”
“And if they didn’t marry?”
“Brimstone would be thrown into the ocean and neither family would profit.”
“Dear God,” Gianna said faintly. “From barbaric to insane.”
“You and I think alike, piccola. My father, who might be barbaric about some things, is not the least insane when it comes to financial opportunities. He jumped at the offer.” Constantine couldn’t prevent a hint of bitterness from crawling into his voice. “After all, what did he have to lose?”
“Oh, Constantine,” she murmured.
He focused on decapitating strawberries, using a shade more force than strictly necessary. “Not to worry. As it turned out, we never did succeed in selling Ariana off. Though the two married, when the time came to turn over Brimstone, we discovered the diamond had gone missing.”
Gianna smothered a laugh. “You’d have thought Lazz and Ariana would make sure they knew where the diamond was before going to all the trouble of marrying.”
Constantine’s mouth tightened. “My father didn’t inform Ariana of the disappearance until moments before she walked down the aisle. None of the Dantes realized it was missing. You see, Dominic made the mistake of leaving the diamond in my father’s safekeeping. I gather it was part of the contract negotiations. As it turned out, Gran… My Grandmother Penelope—”
“The author of the Mrs. Pennywinkle books?”