“I’m so sorry about her.”
“It’s fine. I don’t know. I think I’m starting to deal with it, you know. Handling it the way I can.”
“You lost her. You shouldn’t have to handle it.”
“Well, it’s not like I can say goodbye. She’s already been laid to rest.”
“I heard Mom and Dad talking with Uncle Rick. The guy responsible for killing her has been jailed for some time.”
“Yay.”
“I know it doesn’t bring her back.”
“It doesn’t help me either though, does it? Not if I want to kill the bastard.”
“Hate to break it to you, but you can’t kill anyone like this. You can’t even hurt a fly. You’re chained to a wall. I’m about to go and meet my future perv of a husband, and you can’t even be trusted. How are you going to do anything?”
Landon gritted his teeth. “Let me out.”
“Landon.”
“I mean it. I won’t let you down. You’re right. I’m sitting here rotting away. I’ve got no hope. No way of getting out. I can’t even see him. Look my dad in the eye and spit at him.”
“You’d spit at our father?”
“It would be better than carving out his heart. Please, Tamsin.”
“If I let you out, you’re not allowed to kill yourself. You’re not allowed to go crazy.”
“Fine.”
“I mean it. If you do, I’ll be gone by my sixteenth birthday. I know it’s selfish of me, but I’ve got three years to come up with a way of getting out of the marriage. Please, don’t do anything rash.”
She saw he’d been planning something, but at her words, he nodded.
It was a risk, but right now, she needed all of her brothers. Landon was the one she was closest to.
They’d spent so much time together growing up.
Being without him wasn’t an option.
So, she snuck into her parents’ bedroom and got the key.
There were spares with her brothers, but she knew where this one was hidden. Her father always thought he was so smart.
Going back to Landon’s room, she pulled out a pristine suit from his closet, putting it on the bed.
Leaning over him, she unlocked the chains, watching as his hands moved away from them.
Her heart pounded.
She had totally broken the rules just then.
He didn’t rush to the television.
Turning her back, holding the chair, she gave him the privacy he needed to get changed.
What the hell have I done?
Please don’t screw this up, Landon.
“You can turn around now, Tam,” he said a few seconds later.
Landon no longer looked like a lost little boy. There was a hardness to him, but the suit fit him perfectly. Most of the time he always looked too big for the suit. It finally fit him, and he looked deadly.
“You ready for his?” he asked.
“Yes, I’m ready.”
“One thing.” He took the heels from her and tossed them onto his bed. “You don’t need them. Come on, let’s go and put on a show.”
****
Tamsin didn’t like Mason Savona from the moment she saw him. There was nothing wrong with him. He looked handsome. He looked dangerous, deadly, and scary. Their mother was pissed with her.
The moment she came downstairs without her heels and holding onto Landon, she saw her parents were close to exploding.
It would teach them a fucking lesson. They seemed to think that because they were the youngest, they could walk all over them, and she wasn’t going to allow them to do that.
“So, Tamsin, I hear you’re a bright girl,” Paul Savona said.
She stared at him.
“Tamsin’s shy,” her mother said.
This time Landon chuckled. “Oh, please, Mother. Don’t lie to the guy. We all know Tamsin is far from shy.”
She watched her brother.
“I’m not a bright girl because if I was, I wouldn’t be sitting here right now, pretending to give a shit,” she said.
“Tamsin.”
She rolled her eyes at her mother’s sharp word.
From the look in Landon’s eyes, he was with her every step of the way.
“So, Mason, you look forward to being married to a girl?” Gideon asked.
This did surprise her. She thought Gideon, after everything he’d been through, would have been on their father’s side.
Mason merely smirked.
“This is so nice. The Dentons and the Savonas all in the same place,” Mrs. Savona said.
Tamsin didn’t quite catch her name.
There were five Savonas present in their house, the parents and three sons, Mason being the oldest son.
Tamsin avoided his gaze because the truth was, she was so fucking embarrassed right now. Her parents had dressed her up like some kind of offering, and it rankled.
With how her father was foaming at the mouth, she wondered if he’d finally take the belt to her and beat her.
This family was tearing itself apart.
Maddox Denton was clearly fucked in the head, and she had grown way past all of this.
“I hear congratulations are in order,” Paul said.
“Yes, Gideon and Emma, our latest married couple. I don’t imagine it will be long before they’re having children,” Maddox said.