He puts his hands on my shoulders and I jump, yelping loudly.
I turn, stumbling away. My jaw aches and my stomach growls. I’m hungry, thirsty, exhausted, in pain, dizzy, and sick of this hell. Rinaldo smirks huge and his suit hangs off him, clearly a size too big, swallowing him up like a hungry black hole.
“This won’t work,” I say, shaking my head, and I’m about to tell him that my father’s dead—but I stop.
If he knows Papa’s gone, that might make him do something desperate.
Like kill me.
I keep my mouth shut and Rinaldo fills in the blanks himself.
“It will, believe me.” He paces back and forth. “I have it all worked out. We’ll take it slow, you and me. You’ll convince your father that you actually want to be with me, because I’ll cut your throat in your sleep if you don’t. Once he’s convinced, it’ll just be a matter of making him see that I’m worthy, and believe me, Karah, I’m worthy. I am very worthy.” He snarls slightly as he stares at me. “They never saw how strong I can be, but I’ll show them.”
I stare back at him and blink slowly.
He’s insane.
He’s a dangerous, remorseless psychopath, and whatever is left of his sanity is slipping away.
I’m dead. I’m so very dead and I don’t know what to do.
“Now you see it,” he says quietly as he approaches. I stumble backwards until I slam into the door. He caresses my cheek. “We’ll be happily married, you and me. All you gotta do is trust me. Do you trust me, Karah?”
No, no, god, no, I don’t trust him.
But something screams in the back of my head, play along, play along, play along and I nod quickly.
“I trust you.”
“Good.” He beams at me. “Now let’s get going. We’ve got a long drive ahead of us.”
He gathers his things and drags me back outside toward the van.
Chapter 32
Karah
I’m sweating like crazy in the back of the van and every bump sends a jolt of agony through my body. The wedding dress is hot and uncomfortable and big dark blooms form beneath my underarms. I’m a disgusting mess, streaked with dirt from the night before, my hair a frizzy wreck, but Rinaldo doesn’t seem to care so long as I keep my mouth shut and don’t make trouble.
He stops twice but doesn’t let me leave the van. He keeps it locked and promises to kill me if I make a noise. “Trust me, Karah. I will make it hurt.”
I stay docile and silent in the back and he brings me some food and a bottle to pee in.
“Girls can’t pee in bottles,” I say, gaping at him.
He only shrugs. “Figure it out.”
I try and it doesn’t go well. The physics of bottle peeing don’t work out for ladies unfortunately—one of the few things I’m jealous of men for. But at least I get to eat a sandwich and drink some water, which makes me feel marginally better.
My brain spins as he drives. I don’t know where we’re going, but based on how long we’re in the car—three hours, four hours, five hours—we must be going somewhere pretty far.
I recognize the lights when we pull into town.
Las Vegas.
He drives through the desert heat and right down the middle of the city. The place is bustling and alive, and I lean forward over the passenger side seat to stare at the glittering hotels and the neon signs. It’s gaudy and gorgeous even in the daytime, and Rinaldo seems energized as he looks around.
“Have you ever been here before?” he asks, putting a hand on my arm.
I shiver but don’t pull away. Play along.
“No, Papa never let me. I know the boys used to come here sometimes and they’d gamble all their stipend away, but Papa never let me go with them.”
“It must be hard being the princess in the family. I bet your father didn’t let you do very much, but don’t worry, Karah. I’ll be a much more lenient master. You might even enjoy being my hostage.”
No, no, no, no, god, no. “If you bring me here sometime and let me see some shows, I might even be happy.”
He laughs and nods. “We’ll discuss that one day. I’m not an evil man. I can be convinced.”
I do my best to smile even if I’m utterly repulsed by him.
I need to get my head together. There has to be a way out of this. Rinaldo must think we’re going to march into one of the many marriage chapels and get hitched right here and now, but no chapel in their right mind would let me anywhere near a wedding altar. I look like he just trafficked me over the border and I smell like body odor and urine. I just have to keep going along and let things play out however they’re going to play out and hope it works in my favor.