He takes his time but still has fun.

If you asked Dante a few days ago he'd tell you that he would simply take her and that would be that. That was typically how Dante operated. Business first, pleasure a close second but second all the same. The destination was what mattered not the journey.

This was how Dante's way of thinking went and there was good reason for it. Marcus Jackson expected his heir to excel and gain good results in everything he did. Catherine Jackson believed in everything following a certain order and should fall in line with that or else it was worthless.

Failure meant enduring a verbal beating via his mother with a slap or three across the face for good measure or his father having his men hold Dante in place so he could properly motivate him to do better. With such tyranny reigning supreme in his home getting things done quickly and efficiently was simply the best way to ensure he wouldn't fail. Taking his time only happened because playing the long game was the only action he could take.

'However with these earrings that's no longer the case is it?' Dante chuckled to himself.

Once the full weight of their power settled into his mind Dante had spent the next half hour laughing like a lunatic with tears of relief rolling down his cheeks. The two pieces of jewelry had taken years of anxiety and stress off his shoulders. He was free from the consequences of failure and disappointment.

So with this in mind Dante bade farewell to the ball of stress and nerves that was his past self and wished him a quiet happy retirement. The new Dante would handle everything as it came on his time and no one elses.

After greeting Milly and helping her into her chair Dante took his own and took a moment to take in the young woman while she looked over the menu.

Blonde hair that framed her lovely face, blue eyes like the sky and healthy skin made it clear that despite her current status as a fallen noble she was a cut above the commoners. Dressed in a rather lovely yellow shoulderless sundress that both highlighted her body while remaining tasteful only enforced what a catch she was.

Yes he was going to savor making Milly Ashford his.

After letting Milly order the house blend and a small strawberry tart and making his own order for the house blend and some stew he decided to get to work.

Taking out a pack of his favorite cigarettes he adressed the blonde, "Do you mind?"

She of course didn't, with the earings on he could call her a filthy sow and at best she'd say that he was entitled to his opinion.

With her 'permission' granted he lit the little cancer stick and took a nice deep pull before exhaling in her direction. A petty move on his part but it was a small price for her to pay considering her tardiness and forcing him to endure this godsforsaken heat. After letting her wave the smoke away he addressed the elephant in the room.

"Milly," the mafia heir didn't bother with Miss Ashford seeing as she'd soon be his anyway, "let's be honest. You, for whatever reason, have little desire to marry me correct?"

"Yep!" Milly chirped cheerfully. While she may not have animosity toward Dante because of the earrings she still didn't have any intention of marrying anyone, alleged mafia ties or not.

"That's fine." Dante nodded and made a note of her happy disposition. Apparently that was just her default setting. "However our families still expect this to work for the betterment of both sides." He stated calmly.

Dante wasn't stupid. Anyone with eyes and a single brain cell could tell that both of their parents were using the younger pair to further their own agendas. Milly's family wanted to regain the glory days of a nobles' lifestyle and his parents wanted more coin in their pockets and more power and prestige to the Jackson family name.

Personally he had no problem with this. Thanks to the pair of earrings he now wore Dante was literally only a sentence away from taking over the family anyway. Any profit Marcus would make would be his son's profit. The only wrinkle was the young lady sitting across from him.

Something he'd be fixing before the day was over.

The blonde gave an exaggerated sigh before giving him a tired smile "Yeah mom and dad are pretty deadset on this one."

Dante nodded and gave a sarcastic smile of his own "My own old man and hag are rather eager for success as well." Not that that mattered to him anymore. "So..." he trailed off.

"So?" She questioned. Dante gave a smug smile as he made his next words reality.

"So with that in mind it's normal that we both do our best to ensure this betrothal works out for the sake of our pride as nobles or for the duty of ensuring our Houses rise higher. Even if your House has fallen on hard times you are still nobles of the Britannian Empire."

The mafia heir took a moment to take another drag of his cigarette watching the slight change. Before Milly simply appeared to only be sitting here because decorum was expected of her. With his words she grew far more personally invested in their meeting. Pride and duty were damn good motivators he'd come to see when amongst the rest of the noble class.

"True. They are going through a lot of trouble and we do have our duty." The blonde tapped her chin contemplating the situation while Dante took note of her favoring duty over pride, "Guess you and I should really set our best foot forward on this huh partner?" Milly nodded along with a smile as well as no doubt killing whatever further shenanigans she may have planned to get out of their betrothal.

_'She makes it sound like it's a science project.' _Dante stifled a snort before further weaving the web he'd been preparing for her, "That's right. These things can't have personal feelings stifling the process of us becoming husband and wife." He watched her nod again though her smile dimmed a bit. She clearly still didn't want to marry him. The blonde girl's only hope now would be that he wouldn't want this to work either. Something Dante wasn't going to allow her to entertain for long, "That said we will be spending quite some time with each other. So it's perfectly normal for you to grow more attracted to me the longer we're around each other during this summer break and admit you've fallen in love with me by the end of it."

He didn't want her falling so deeply in love with him she couldn't function. Dante had a deep hatred for sycophants and yes men. His goal here was to restructure Milly into being more receptive to him. Not make her an air headed whore. Hence the deadline for having her fall for him

By the end of August she'd be his and the earrings would make it happen.

"Heh heh! Someone's confident." Milly giggled, though she did take a moment to drink her betrothed in. To Dante's amusement her cheeks gained a light pink dusting.

"It's one of my best qualities." He boasted. 'Interesting, so she was at the very least physically attracted to me when she got here.' That was only going to make the next part more fun. 'Speaking of which...' he chuckled seeing the waitor approach with their orders. 'Right on time. Talk about impeccable service.'

After recieving their meals and waving the man away Dante put out the cigarette in the provided ashtray and stood from his seat and went around to Milly's side. With ease he plucked the young lady up from her chair then took her seat while placing her in his lap.

"Last time I checked it's normal for the engaged wife to sit in the lap of her soon to be husband if he desires it." He laughed as Milly squirmed to get comfortable in his lap. "From what I read in our sociology book it's normal for the woman to be even more attracted to him when he does so."

A lightbulb seemed to go off in Milly's head as the blush on her face increased, "Right, we went over this last year in class. Something about the man seeming more caring and strong to help the woman feel more natural around him and safer right?"

Dante grinned and nodded along enjoying the scent of vanilla shampoo from her hair. There was no such study mentioned in their book before but the earrings would fix that little detail.

"Well I don't have anywhere to be for today so why don't we enjoy the meal and talk about ourselves. Getting to know each other better is normal after all." Dante suggested.

"Sounds like a plan Dante." Milly nodded with a playful wink.