Enrico laughs. “I don’t doubt that he will. But he will fail, as have hundreds of husbands before him.”
Nina’s eyes widen. “You’ve done this hundreds of times before? You’re sicker than I thought.”
Enrico nods. “It’s a tradition that has gone back hundreds of years. You just happened to get caught up in it. But you have one thing very wrong if you think this is illegal. What we are doing is very legal.”
He glances to the piece of paper in front of Nina. She jumps up in her seat when she sees her signature at the bottom of the paper.
“You forged my signature on some document. So what? It doesn’t mean anything.”
“We didn’t forge anything, Nina.”
“I would have never agreed to anything as twisted as whatever this is,” Nina says.
“Fear will make a person do things they never dreamed of,” I say, stepping forward.
She won’t believe it if it comes from my father. I know that much. But, for some stupid reason, she trusts me.
Nina shakes her head, but I already see the hint of realization at what the truth is hidden beneath her long, dark lashes.
My eyes guide hers back to the document she signed seven years ago. The document that saved her yet sentenced her to death at the same time. All it did was prolong her life.
She starts reading and realizes all the things that I already know the document contains.
That she offered up her freedom for seven years in exchange for my family saving her from Clive and Erick’s family the night that they put something in her drink and tried to kidnap her themselves. That she had two choices. Pay seven million dollars or pay with seven years of her life. She doesn’t have seven million dollars. She doesn’t even have one million dollars.
Nina skips most of the fine print of the document, her fingers tracing her signature that rests on the bottom of the page along with my signature and the rest of my family’s signatures.
I know the moment it finally sinks in that she can’t escape this. That this is completely legal even if the law wouldn’t really support it. We have enough power in this country to get away with anything. Including owning her for seven years.
She takes a deep breath as she realizes that she is the one who got herself into this twisted mess. I tried to warn her. I tried to keep her out of this, but she didn’t listen. Now, she has to pay the consequences.
She looks back at the document.
“It even says the date you would come for me. It has yesterday’s date on it.” She rubs her head, trying to remember. “That night is fuzzy.” She stands up from the ch
air and starts walking around the room, trying to remember that night.
“I remember drinking the shot that had the drugs in it. I remember your face of terror as I drank it,” Nina says, looking at me.
But all I see is my father’s disappointment on his face.
She rubs her head some more. “I remember you all being there. And I remember yesterday’s date. It’s why…” She hesitates.
I smirk. “It’s why you picked yesterday as your wedding day.”
She nods and wraps her arms around herself, trying to comfort herself. Like that is going to help. She doesn’t understand that she is surrounded by monsters.
And that she can’t save herself anymore. She had her chance seven years ago. But she let her obsession with me get the best of her.
“So, the document is real. Now what? You’re going to rape me and make me your slave for seven years?” Nina looks directly at me.
My father laughs. “Basically. But you aren’t just Arlo’s slave. You belong to all of us.”
Nina’s eyes don’t hide the fear well. If she is going to survive here, she needs to hide her fears better than that. My family lives for fear. They love twisting and playing with others’ minds. They love the control they wield over people. And they won’t stop until they destroy her. That’s the game.
“Matteo, why don’t you introduce yourself to Nina? I don’t think she remembers you,” Enrico says.
I watch as Nina looks at my brother. She doesn’t recognize him even though she has met him before. I can tell from the shock in her face of seeing another man who is almost identical to me. Matteo has longer hair now, and he took a knife to the face that left him with a bad scar under his eye, making it easy for people to tell us apart now, unlike when we were younger. It makes him look menacing. Terrifying. And he is. But that’s not his game. He won’t seem terrifying to Nina. He’ll convince her that he’s sweet and loving, unlike me.