Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 82094 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82094 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
And yet.
Grandpa says, “There’s more. Carmine offered the money for the stock plus the board seats, but he had one more string attached. Apparently, he’s under some pressure to get married, and you happen to be single.” His face betrays nothing.
I want to scream.
“Grandpa.” I get to my feet and stumble back to the fireplace. The cold stone is freezing under my fingers and my grandfather won’t look at me. Horror rips into my chest and stomach, and I can taste the dirt again and feel the total and utter shame coursing through my veins. I heard Carmine got kicked out of the game for that and took some more shit from the college, but there were no real repercussions for what he did to me.
For how he made me feel.
Like I was nothing. Like I was a stain beneath his fingers.
There never are repercussions for the men that run the world, no matter how uncivilized they may be.
And I hate him for it.
“Your father did this to us.” Grandpa finally looks up at me with those searing eyes of his and meets my gaze. If he can see the terror running down my spine right now, he doesn’t seem to care. “Your father did this, Brice, and now you have a chance to put it all right. Carmine might not be the man I imagined my granddaughter would marry, but we need him right now.”
“I can’t. You don’t understand. Carmine, he’s—” How can I make him understand? Carmine isn’t only the head of a powerful mafia family; he’s also a sick monster, a scumbag, a grungy piece of trash that’ll drag me through the mud for the pure pleasure of it if given the chance. Carmine doesn’t care about me, not one bit.
This is some sick game he’s playing.
He wants to use me.
Filthy girl.
“I know what he is, Brice. I also know we’re out of options.” Grandpa straightens again and gives me his Lord Rowe stare, the one he likes to use on unruly employees. “Carmine and his lawyer are on their way now. Please go to the sitting room and wait for my instructions.”
“No,” I say sharply. “I won’t do this. I can’t do this, I can’t—”
But Grandpa only stares at me.
And all the years of being told, again and again, that the family is more important than me come crashing down.
I must be obedient. I must be clean.
From the day I was born, I was told that the Rowe family is important. Rowe Oil provides an important service to the world—it drills for needed resources and employs thousands of people in the process. The family donates to important causes and backs worthwhile political candidates all over the world. The Rowe family is bigger than any single member, and I’m lucky to be a part of it, and I owe everything that I am to the collective.
Family before everything else.
And Grandpa’s right. Daddy got us into this mess. Mommy died when I was a little girl, so she’s not here to help fix things, and I’m their only child, which means my father’s sins fall right on my shoulders. If only I’d been more attentive, or more actively involved in the family business, or maybe if I’d spoken to Daddy more over the last few years—
But it doesn’t matter.
Daddy ruined the family and I have a chance to save it.
All I have to do is marry a monster.
I close my eyes and swallow the whimper that’s pressing against my throat.
Grandpa hates displays of emotion, after all.
“I’m not saying yes,” I say quietly which makes his jaw work. “But I’ll meet with him.”
After a long pause, he nods once. “All right. That’s fine. But remember, Brice, the entire family is counting on you. We need you to step up and do the right thing. Do it for me and your grandmother and your uncles and aunts and cousins. Do it for everyone that works at Rowe Oil, because in some ways, they’re family too. Do the hard thing, Brice, because it’s the right thing.”
I turn and walk woodenly to the door. “How long before he arrives?”
Grandpa looks at his watch. “Any minute.”
“I’ll be in the sitting room then.”
I want to say more. I want to tell him that he’s damning me, too.
I want to make him taste the dirt grinding into his mouth and feel Carmine’s elated breath against his neck.
But words and feelings don’t matter.
Only the family does.
Chapter 3
Carmine
The limo rolls toward Rowe Manor, along its winding driveway, past rows of perfectly manicured bushes and beautiful flower beds, all that order hiding the chaos underneath, through the sprawling fifty-acre property and toward the massive, ancient mansion. It’s exactly as I’ve always imagined it would be, and I hate it more than I thought possible.
“I have to admit, Carmine, this is pretty sketchy, even for us.” Gareth leans back and flips through the contracts, going through them one last time before presenting them to old Graham Rowe for his signature. “The stock and board seats are one thing, that’s all standard. A bit overpriced, but it’s a good company. But the girl? I mean, you literally have a marriage clause in here.”