“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 hatesdisplays 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.
Chapter3
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.”
“I want to make sure they can’t back out.”
“Fine, I get it, but you have the Rowe family by the balls right now and you’re dangling them over a lava pit. Do you really need to fill that pit with crocodiles too?”
I smile to myself, enjoying the image of holding old Graham by his wrinkly sack. “Your metaphor is a mess.”
Gareth laughs softly to himself. “Okay, true, but you get my point. Why this girl? And don’t feed me some bullshit. I remember the softball fiasco. You nearly got thrown out of school for that shit.”