“Why didn’t you tell me before going hunting? I have a few names I want eliminated.”
“Send them all.”
“Planning to keep killing until she finds a suitable man? That hardly seems like a sustainable plan.” He exhales slowly. “I have a lot of sympathy for you. Once I return to San Diego, I’ll give it to you.”
“Then, I’ll wait for your return, once you’re done killing kids in New York.”
“Fuck you, man,” he says, voice calm, before ending the call.
Her live image consumes my screen again. I watch her for a few more minutes before sliding into my car and igniting the engine.
chapter 19
Avira
After assaulting my face with ten minutes of freezing, running water and forcing myself to look like a happy, excited girl for the first date of her life, I’m now sitting with my parents in the living room, discussing where the date is going to happen while eating my breakfast. The man I don’t want to think about is nowhere in sight. By the time I woke up, it was already 9 a.m., so there’s no doubt he must have left for his office before I even opened my eyes.
Mama hums. “According to the lighting there, you should wear a dark color.”
“I’ll wear one of my yellow dresses,” I reply, chewing.
I don’t even care how much I will—or won’t—impress Roxion Marco, a Formula One racer and son of some very powerful man. He’s coming to San Diego from New York solely for this blind date. I can already picture myself marrying such a hardworking man.
I place my empty plate on the table and turn to Daddy. “Daddy, honestly, I’m not ready for marriage. I’m just nineteen. There are so many forty-year-old women I know who are happily single.”
“You’re at the perfect age for marrying, pumpkin. And unfortunately, you don’t have a cool enough dad to let you stay single forever.”
I pout. “Wen is also single, and Iselyn and Autumn are too.”
“It’s Wen’s turn after you, and Iselyn is also going to marry very soon. Damir told me he’s finding a suitable guy for her. And Autumn is younger than you.”
I scrunch my nose. “Pa is better than you, Daddy.”
He laughs. “Pa forced your aunt to marry Damir, knowing very well how much she loved Alessio.”
I purse my lips. “You all married the person you loved, and now you’re making your children go through arranged marriages.”
“No one is stopping you from marrying the man of your choice,” he says, flicking my forehead. “But you have none.”
I rub my forehead. I do have one, but he’s the ass who picked these men for me.
Mama speaks excitedly, “I ordered this dress for you. It will arrive in half an hour, then you can start getting ready.”
I glance at the dress on her phone. It’s the color of dark chocolate, smooth in texture, and simply beautiful. Now that I have the opportunity, I’ll flaunt my figure, disregard his judgment, and master the happy-without-you, fake-attitude energy for Zloban Bennett.
The place where we’re having this lunch date is a cozy restaurant owned by my family. It’s not very big, but the vibe is nice, though I’m dealing with a very strange problem here.
He’s nowhere near this restaurant. I’ve looked around so many times that I could recognize the face of every person sitting nearby, even if I met them on the street three days from now. Yet I can’t shake the feeling that he’s watching me. It may sound overdramatic, but I can feel his eyes on me.
And the Formula One racer is not here. What kind of girl shows up to her first date before the guy? And not five or ten, thirty minutes before, and he still hasn’t graced his ass here.
I take out my phone from my golden purse, snap a selfie with a pout, capturing the restaurant behind me, and send it to Wen.
As usual, she’s glued to her phone and texts me instantly.
Wen: ‘Holy shit. Who are you?’
Me: ‘Your hot sister.’
