“Mom…”
She smiled softly. “I didn’t have a choice, Cia. As much as I’ve grown to love your father, things might have been different. You’re my daughter. My only daughter. I’ve been where you are. I didn’t have a choice so I’m giving you one. Regardless of what you decide, I still love you. Your father and brother will also. Merrick wants to keep his promise to you but he’s also torn between his duty to your father. I’m going to have the same conversation with him. This is not his mess to fix.” She hugged me, kissed my cheek, and walked out of the room.
Hide in plain sight.
Merrick taught me that when I was younger which was why I was currently pacing the floor in a luxurious suite at the LuxAria. I did, however, pay with cash instead of using my card and provided a false name, hoping the hood I tossed over my head before entering the lobby would hide my identity from any cameras in the area. I also learned that small tidbit from Merrick.
They could tap into just about any system in the city. He had people on his payroll who were connected to all walks of life and hackers were at the top of the list. Whatever Merrick needed was handed over on a silver platter, even if blood stained, because he had the money and resources. Which was why I didn’t understand how I’d become the payoff to whatever debt my father incurred.
Merrick should have simply paid the price.
He did, idiot.
You. You’re the price.
Warren Harte didn’t want money. They were equally yoked with our family, if not more affluent. Money had never been the negotiating price. He wanted me. I wasn’t naïve. Years ago, he became fixated, and when I turned him down, Warren promised me that one day I would be his. The thought only further infuriated me because my father had to consider this when he made whatever poor choices led him to my life being handed over to a man like Warren.
As livid as I was with my father’s lack of consideration, I still couldn’t help but worry. I was promised to a terrible man and I ran. That meant my father could be…
I turned on my heels and traveled across the massive suite for what felt like the millionth time.
One year wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe I should consider the proposal. I could negotiate terms that would ensure I survived this with my dignity intact and my father would be alive and well. I wouldn’t have this terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach, knowing that my refusal to wed a sadistic monster could mean his demise.
One year. I could survive one year married to Warren.
Who was I kidding? The man was impossible. He was known for degrading women. My attitude would be the cause of another Malone death,mine, unless I killed him first and damn if I wouldn’t try.
As much as I believed I could completely walk away from the clusterfuck my father landed us in, I needed to know he was okay. I had already ditched my phone but that didn’t mean I was entirely disconnected from my family happenings.
My mother rushed me out of the house against my brother’s wishes which meant he was likely attempting to locate me. Therewould be calls and texts and I had access. I halted my steps and hurried to my laptop to login into my Privy account. The phones we had were black market and untraceable by anyone outside of our family, a precaution put in place by Merrick.
I demanded detachment from the family dealings but that didn’t mean Merrick wanted me in harm’s way. He protected me…
Until today.
Demanding I marry Warren was throwing me directly into the lion’s den.
After I powered up my laptop, my fingers danced across the keys until the screen illuminated, providing me access. After a few clicks of my trackpad, I pulled up my secured access to our family Privy account and my heart dropped with the number of texts under my account in the past hour. Almost all of them from Merrick.
Cia, where are you?
Call me immediately.
Would you really run and put our father’s life in danger?
Fuck, Cia, pick up the damn phone.
You want to run, fine, this is all on you. I hope you can live with the consequences.
I couldn’t do this. I refused to be the reason we lost my father. But I couldn’t marry Warren either.
I closed my laptop and dropped my forehead onto the sleek cool metal. Fuck, what the hell was I supposed to do?
Run.
You’re gonna fucking run or your life will not be your own…
3
