Dishonorable

“It’s done,” he said, handing it to one of the men who slipped it into his briefcase then clicked it closed. No one sat back down. “Gentlemen, thank you. I’ll be in touch.”

They were shaking hands, almost at the door, when I spoke. “Why did you want the marriage consummated?”

They all stopped. Someone cleared their throat. My grandfather turned to me, a coldness in his eyes that chilled me, then shifted his attention back to them.

“Forward official copies electronically and in hard copy.”

The men left. Grandfather closed the door behind them and faced me but remained where he was.

“What an inappropriate question to ask in front of our attorneys.”

“What an inappropriate request to make.”

He walked over to me. “I did this for you.”

“You also did this to me.”

“I told you, I was making amends.”

“Tell me why you wanted it consummated?”

He studied me. “Because I didn’t think he’d go through with it. Because I thought when faced with an unwilling virgin bride—”

I flinched at the words.

“His morality would stop him. End this. Hell, maybe I thought you’d cry rape.”

My mouth fell open. He was willing to go that far? No. God, no.

He stepped closer and cocked his head to one side, any weakness I’d thought I’d seen when we’d first come into the room vanished.

“But you weren’t unwilling, were you, Sofia? You whored yourself out to that man. Just like your mother did to your father.”

I breathed in tight breaths and, collecting every ounce of courage, I rose to stand. “Don’t you dare call her or me a whore, old man.”

He did something then that he’d never done before that moment. For all his coldness, for all his distance, he’d never raised a finger to us. Not until today.

The sound of him slapping my face reverberated off the walls, snapped my head to the side, and sent me stumbling backward.

I touched my cheek. It throbbed, growing hotter under my hand.

“Don’t you ever speak to me like that again, understand?”

The door opened just then, and one of the attorneys returned.

“Sorry, I forgot—” He stopped short. “Excuse me.”

He made to walk back out, but before he could, I spoke.

“You’re a vile old man,” I said to my grandfather. “You’re a selfish, greedy old man. You never forgave my mother for falling in love with a man you didn’t approve of when you never should have had any say at all. You used me like a pawn. You treated me no differently than your enemy. You’ve been stealing from my sister and me all our lives. It’s about time this ends.”

I turned to the attorney.

“I want guardianship of my sister. Draw up whatever paperwork I need—”

“And you’ll support her how? With what money?” my grandfather asked. “The state will never allow it.”

“If you stand against me, I’ll go to the authorities with what I know. You’ll be investigated. You’ll be arrested. You will be imprisoned.”

For the first time in all the time I’d known him, my grandfather didn’t speak. He stood there, color draining from his face just a little.

“Walk away, and you can keep what you’ve stolen,” I added.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he started, opening his mouth to continue before I stopped him.

“Are you willing to take that chance?” I asked.

My grandfather’s cell phone rang just then. I imagined the relief he must have felt, the gratitude for the distraction. He stepped away, taking it out of his pocket. When he did, I scooped up the ring Raphael had left on the table, dropped it into my purse, and walked out.

I didn’t know where I was going. Didn’t know if my credit card even worked anymore, didn’t have any clothes. Luckily, I had my passport. And I needed to get out of there. Get out of that stifling room, that building, before the walls crushed me. I walked out the front doors into the heat and noise of the busy city and lost myself in the crowd, somehow managing not to fall down, not to break into tears as I walked farther and farther away, not knowing where I would go, needing to disappear.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Raphael

It had taken all I had to turn my back on Sofia and walk out of that office. I knocked someone’s shoulder on my way out but didn’t look back, didn’t apologize, couldn’t stop. I went out the door and into the hallway and flew down the stairs and out the front doors where I stopped, gasping for breath, my hands on my knees, wanting to vomit.

Lying to Sofia on the chapel floor, that had wounded me. But this? Today? Leaving her like that, signing that damned contract and walking out on her, it finished me. I’d promised her truth, and I’d kept my promise, finally. And it destroyed me.

I straightened, wiping sweat off my forehead.

I didn’t remember walking through the city to the parking garage. Didn’t remember driving home. As soon as I stepped out of the car, though, Charlie came running to me. I stopped and looked down at him. Watched him wait for the passenger side door to open, for Sofia to step out. He barked several times, ran back to me, tail wagging, then returned to sit by her car door to wait.