His voice was ice cold. “It doesn’t matter. This world is cruel and unforgiving. We need to play the cards we’re dealt. Can you play, Amanda?”
The words I lived by. My motto for life. Forged in my very being since I could talk.
“Do we have time to plan another wedding?” I whispered, hating myself for rising to the occasion.
The truth was, I would do anything this man asked me. But it wasn’t for his sake that I found myself agreeing. It was the mention of my sister. The sweet, innocent Nicole, who was living a happily ever after—and expecting her first baby! I would never, ever let anything happen to her.
“A few weeks. But you’ll be moving to Karsovia by the end of July.”
I didn’t even know where that place was. If it was a country, a city, or a gutter, it didn’t matter. I had time. Time to fix a small detail, so that this option was available to us. A court could fast-track an annulment. Hell, the paperwork might not have even been submitted since it was still the weekend. Just because I hadn’t signed the marriage certificate didn’t mean Vincenzo would skip that minor detail. My namewas on that paper in someone’s handwriting. I knew that it would take a force of nature to make the beast I was shackled to relent.
The monster wouldn’t let me go without a fight.
I would beat Vincenzo down to a bloody pulp. He wasn’t going to stand in the way. Not if this was the course that needed to be taken.
“Nicole will be safe?” I demanded.
Dad scoffed. “She’s married to a mobster. She’s never been safe.”
I disagreed. Cristiano wouldn’t let anything hurt her. But…I would need to call him. To tell him the shortened version of this conversation. He needed to know what was coming. If he chose to tell my sister, that was his prerogative. They were married. But I would urge him to keep it quiet.
Nicole wasn’t talking me out of this.
If this was the only way, if this needed to happen to keep her safe, she would be.
“I’ll do it,” I said, voice surprisingly steady.
My father splashed another drink into his tumbler. “I’m glad to hear you’ve come to your senses.”
I nodded weakly.
“We’ll keep in touch.” Dad went to his desk, tapped into his laptop, and didn’t look at me.
That was my cue to leave.
Pulling my bottom lip between my teeth, I bit hard.I won’t ask.
If this was our only option, it was because Dad would have found another way. I had to believe that. And later, when I had time to process, I would dig and see if I could find a way to save myself.
But my dad wouldn’t sell me to a British earl and now to some Eastern European criminal if there was another path. He just wouldn’t. He was my dad. He must have tried everything in his power to prevent this. If it was this bad, there must not be another option.
Still, it wouldn’t hurt to look. If I was the one who found a way out of this mess, if I could solve our family’s trouble, then it would prove that I was everything I ever wanted to be. Dad would see my abilities stood on their own merit. Not because my last name was Loring, but because my first name was Amanda.
“We’ll keep in touch,” I answered.
Dad looked up, brows knit after so long a pause. “Where are you staying?”
“I’ll….”Crap.I didn’t want him to guess why, but I had to be truthful. “I’ll stay up in Boston for a few days.”
He only hummed in response. Then looked back at the computer screen. He didn’t even question that.
Nor did he apologize for terminating my lease.
I left the office quickly and shot a look at the bathroom. The door was still shut. Shuddering, I scooped up my laptop bag and grabbed my suitcase. Such meager belongings. My clothes, my shoes, they were all gone. But I didn’t need them to survive. I hurried downstairs, not wanting to run into the newest suitor trying to marry me.
“I told you not to go up there,” Glenda hissed, popping out of the front parlor.
I glared at her. She knew. Of course, she knew! And she chose to side with Dad, not warning me what was happening behind the scenes. This all could have been avoided if this family just fucking talked.
