“Rialta, I need you to take a deep breath and calm down. Then I’ll let you go.”
She kicks one more time and then does as I say. I take a deep breath with her. When she’s taken two more breaths and seems to have calmed down, I gently loosen my grip on her.
It’s enough for her to finally break free of my hold. “You’re an asshole.”
I frown. “I just saved your life. I’m sorry I didn’t get here sooner. I promise I’ll never let that happen again, but you should be thanking me, not calling me an asshole.”
“I should be thanking you?” Her eyebrows shoot up.
“Yes, I just pulled a rapist off of you. He probably would have killed you.”
She shakes her head incredulously. “You guys and your constant need to save the damsel in distress. I’m not a damsel, and I wasn’t in distress.”
“Oh, so you had it completely under control as that bastard was thrusting inside you?”
She’s in denial.It will hit her soon, and she’ll collapse into darkness.I’ve seen it happen before; it’s happened tomebefore.
“He’s not a bastard.”
My eyes narrow. I replay the situation again in my mind, realizing too late what she’s going to say.
“That man wasn’t raping me. He’s myboyfriend.” She crosses her arms and swings her hip as she waits for my apology.
Well, she’s not going to get one from me.I did nothing wrong.She snuck out without telling anyone, and she sure as hell shouldn’t be having a boyfriend. She almost married one of my best friends.
“Well, I hope you enjoyed your last fuck with him.”
She glares at me. “That wasn’t my last fuck with him.”
“It was, actually.”
Her eyes flick across mine, trying to understand the meaning behind my words and what I’m even doing here. Her eyes widen slowly as the realization hits her too.
“I’ll propose under more romantic circumstances soon, but you and I are arranged to be married in a week.”
Chapter3
Rialta
Five daysuntil I marry Lennox. That is how my life is going to be divided now—days I have left of my own life and days I’m a prisoner. As much as I hope this wedding will be called off, I know deep in my heart that it won’t be.
I could run away.
I could refuse.
My father, Vincent Corsi, loves me and has done everything he can to protect me, but when it comes to this, he won’t give me a choice. He won’t let me refuse. He’ll force me down the aisle if it comes to it.
He’ll force me because it’s what’s expected of him: find a successor to run the family business and marry me off to him. Then have me bred like a fucking farm animal, ideally impregnated with a boy, who would then carry on the business after Lennox dies.
But Vincent will also force me because he loves me. There is nowhere I could run, nowhere I could hide that I would ever be safe. He hid me away for a while, but it could have never lasted. Vincent has decided that Lennox is the best protection he can find me, so Vincent will force me to marry Lennox even if it means I hate my father for the rest of my life.
I’m tired of hating so many people in my life, though. So if this is what my father wants, if this is what my sister River thinks is best, then so be it. I’ll do it. I’ll marry Lennox Crane, but I won’t be happy about it. And until the day of the wedding, I’m still going to hold out hope and do everything I can in my power to convince everyone that this marriage is going to end in shambles.
Beckett walks up to the hostess stand, while River and I wait back. They’re both tense as she and I stand in the foyer of one of the top steakhouses in the city. I don’t care about the steak, but the view from the top floor of this high-rise is to die for.
When I glance from Beckett to River, I’m afraid that’s exactly what they think is going to happen.We’ll all be dead in a matter of minutes.
“No one is going to attack us here. And if they do, you and Beckett will kick their asses. Stop worrying,” I say.