And I feel the same way about him.
“She didn’t know,” Karah says, joining her oldest brother. She touches his arm. “Maybe we should take things easy. Maybe she can stay with her father for a few nights, you two can talk—”
“No,” Casso says and his tone’s the sound of bullets locking into a gun’s chamber. He looks at Papa. “The deal stands?”
Papa nods once. “Yes, Don Bruno. The deal stands.”
“Then she stays here. Olivia and I will marry in a few weeks and our business arrangement will proceed. Does that work?”
No, god, no, it doesn’t work. Papa says, “Yes, Don Bruno. I look forward to mending the bad blood between our families.”
“I do as well, Senor Cuevas. The war you fought was against a different Bruno family, one with different leadership. But I have a vision for the future, and together I believe we can bring it into existence. You head a great family, Senor Cuevas, a strong cartel worth allying with. Marrying your daughter is the first step into a stronger, safer world for all our people.”
I watch Papa’s chest swell, his chin tilts up, and I want to scream at him. How can he buy these words, this nonsense? A great family, a strong future together? These people killed us, drove us away, treated us like we were beneath them. We were murdered and bled in the streets, and now all that is forgotten because the old man’s dead and his asshole son is in charge?
All that is forgotten because I’m expendable?
“I look forward to working together, Don Bruno. And please, call me Gerardo.”
Casso’s smile is like ice poured down my spine. “And you call me Casso. Come, Gerardo. Let’s have a drink with my brothers and some of my Capos and we’ll discuss what happens next. Your daughter and her things will be shown to her room.”
Papa hesitates. He looks back at me and I see the sadness in his eyes, the sadness I’ve been desperate to see—some hint that his humanity is still intact—but it’s much too late for that now. They have me, I’m trapped here, the wolves have surrounded me and now I’ll be torn to pieces.
Casso Bruno. God, this is a sick joke.
“You’ll be fine,” Papa says. “It might take some time to adjust, but you’ll be fine.”
“You marry him then,” I say but there’s no real fight left in me.
He only shakes his head and follows after Casso. The two men speak quietly as they step into the hall. Fynn goes next, ignoring me, and Gavino pauses as he walks past. “Welcome to the family,” he says with some levity and follows after the others.
Leaving me alone with Karah, her little boy, and Nico.
“I know this must be a shock.” Karah’s voice is small. I turn to her and feel so much anger well up through me. I want to scream and shout and kick her teeth from her mouth.
But the little boy gurgles and laughs and wriggles in her arms, and all my rage fades to a low simmer.
“I’d like to see my room, please,” I say and my own voice sounds dull and dead to my ears.
Karah looks like she wants to keep talking, but thinks better of it and stands. She does her best to smile. “Right this way.”
Nico follows on her heels like a trained dog.
This is my life. Stuck in a mansion with people I loathe. Forced to marry a man I hate so much it hurts my insides.
The only man I truly despise in this entire world.
Now I understand why Papa didn’t tell me.
If he had, I would’ve tried to drown myself in the pool to spare myself the misery of this moment.
Chapter 2
Olivia
The room’s more like an apartment minus the kitchen. Ivory-colored couches cluster in front of a fireplace with a flat-screen mounted above it, a little reading nook with a bay window and lots of blankets is tucked in the corner, there’s a small bar, but no bottles, and a hallway leads into a master bedroom with an attached bathroom and an antique four-poster bed as big as an oil tanker. I stand and stare at it all.
Karah bustles quietly. She places my things on the bed—two bags, no more, my entire life condensed into wheelie suitcases—and chatters away. “Bathroom has everything you need from towels to toothbrushes and if there’s anything else you want, just ask one of the staff. They’ll give you whatever, including food. Casso says no alcohol but eventually they’ll stock the bar again once everyone gets settled. The TV gets lots of channels and the internet is fast, although I should warn you that everything’s monitored, and if you—” She hesitates here, looking at the floor, at the lovely dark hardwood floors that must cost a freaking fortune. “—Well, if you say anything, you know, anything you shouldn’t say, uh, Casso will speak with you about it.”