Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 128290 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128290 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
My muscles lock, an array of emotions washing through me, the biggest one being shock.
Philip Mitchell wanted an arranged marriage. He wanted—no, wanted isn’t right based on his father’s reaction alone.
Philip wants to marry me, and he went as far as to ask my father.
My eyes are wide as I stare at my dad. “Why didn’t you tell me?” There’s no point in asking if it’s true, and he doesn’t deny it.
“Because the offers were as irrelevant then as they are now.” He lifts my left hand, inspecting my ring with a rare, soft smile. “Your mother would love this.”
“Stop.” I wrench my hand away. “How dare you mention her to me after the shit I learned today!” My eyes burn but I fight the gleam of moisture threatening to pool. “You said offers!” I hiss quietly. “As in more than one, or more than one person?”
His blank stare tells me it’s the latter.
“Oh my god.” I take a step back, hurt and confusion washing over me. “You knew all I wanted was a path for my life. A place in this world where I belong.”
“You belong as much as anyone.”
“I belong as much as your son did!” I snap.
He rounds on me. “That is not fair.”
“No, what’s not fair is you not holding on to that promise you made Mom to never marry us off as a duty to the family when you knew I wanted an out. No, I needed one.”
“And now you have one.” He peeks around, smiling at who the hell knows somewhere behind me. “So, this is not only inappropriate, considering where we are, but a waste of our energy.”
I glare. “You should have told me.”
“And what would you have done, daughter?” he bites out in a low whisper.
“I wouldn’t have—” My words cut off when my gaze crashes with Enzo’s across the space.
What would I have done?
Philip has been a shameless flirt for years, but I assumed he wanted me to remember his name when people came asking where they could score an upper when exams rolled around—not that everyone wasn’t already aware he was our own personal pharmacist. It’s literally his family’s “contribution” to the underground world. So yeah, it was either that or that he just really wanted to fuck me. Never once did I think he wanted an arranged marriage.
I think back to all the times I felt so desperate to get out that I purposely put myself in perilous situations, not caring what might happen. At some points in my life, I’d convinced myself anything was better than being below…everyone else. Being second best or simply not enough.
Not enough to get into the dance school of my dreams thanks to my body, not enough to be trusted with the family business thanks to my “reckless behavior” because showing any sort of emotion when the situation called for stony-faced fake shit was not allowed. I was a little girl, for fuck’s sake, and then a teenager. An angry, bitter, and yeah, a sad one.
I had everything yet I had nothing.
Pretty sure I would have taken his offer right to the altar.
Would I regret it later? Who the hell knows, but is that not my exact situation now?
In the middle of a mistake that left me married to a man for a matter of convenience.
As I said before, same stray, new view.
My eyes snap up to my dad’s and I hate the pity I see staring back at me.
“Forget it.” I burst around my father, rushing across the giant fucking cocktail room, and down the hall. I skip the first set of lavatories and continue past the main hall, pausing for the retina scan that grants access to the private section of The Enterprise. Once through, I shove my way into the closest powder room.
Clinching my fists around the cool granite, I close my eyes as I roll my ankles and try to flex my aching toes.
No sooner than I let out a long, choppy breath do the doors burst open, and Enzo steps inside, locking the door behind him.
“Lovely.” I drop my chin, glaring at the ring on my finger. “Can I help you with something?”
“Why are you in here?”
“To have a fucking party, Enzo,” I snap.
“You’re upset.”
“I am so far past upset it’s hilarious. I literally might laugh until I cry because I am so damn…” I trail off, mumbling to myself, “Why did I allow things to get this far?”
“I don’t understand your issue.”
My head jerks up, gaze clashing with his in the mirror. “This entire fucking evening is my issue.”
“You mean Katana.” His eyes narrow. “People need to see she’s protected by me.”
I close my eyes, pressing at my temples with my fingertips.
Don’t stab him. Do not stab him.
“You’re acting like a brat,” he accuses. “No one knows she’s—”