CHAPTERONE
CRIMSON
Crimson 18; Micah 26
Crimson Petrovic might be the name written on the invitations, but as the driver holds the door for me to clamber out of the back seat, I know the crowd of people gathering inside the restaurant isn’t here to see me.
There’s a cold bite in the air and I shiver, hearing other car doors slam as I move to my father’s side. The occupants of those vehicles will wait, deferring to my dad at this party the same way they defer to him in every aspect of his life.
That’s the power of money.
I find it funny, but since I also accede to his demands to curry favour, I’m mostly laughing at myself.
No one looks my way as I smooth the front of my white halter neck dress. Ahead of me, Brianna, my new stepmother at the grand old age of twenty-one, takes my father’s arm.
She’s where the focus is.
A few months ago, I would have walked beside him while Brianna trailed behind, but a few lines on a pregnancy test elevated her status.
There was a tense fortnight while we all waited for the baby to reach ten weeks; old enough to perform a paternity test. Following on from the resulting celebrations, a wedding was whipped up out of nowhere and my position in the will was suddenly up for grabs.
The ultrasound that followed threw me out altogether. Instead of being sole heiress to a piece of the largest crime organisation in New Zealand, I’ll be provided for.
So, no. Nobody in attendance tonight came to see me.
“Pleased to meet you,” a man says when I walk inside, bursting forward to take my hand before his companion whispers something in his ear. His gaze immediately fixes on Brianna instead and I hide a smile at his confusion.
Apparently, despite the hours I spent matching my makeup to the tutorial playing out on my battered school laptop, I still look older than my new stepmother. Good to know.
The man beside him shakes my hand, too, but since his gaze never breaks from my dad’s face, it’s not the warm greeting that it should be.
At best, the attendees here tonight are curious about my forthcoming engagement. The one Dad began arranging the moment I lost my position in the family hierarchy to a bunch of rapidly multiplying cells.
Despite the demotion, my hand in marriage could elevate an appropriate bachelor into the upper hierarchy of the syndicate. Answerable to no one but his peers.
Money. Power. Influence. Control.
The fab foursome all tied up with a pretty Crimson bow.
I’m also curious about my engagement. Much as I’ve tried to influence my father, he’s the one who’ll make the final decision. I think I know which name he’ll read out tonight—hopeI know—but there’s no escaping the truth.
I’ll find out which man I’m spending the rest of my life with at the same time as a roomful of people, half of whom I’ve never met.
“Don’t stare at the floor,” my father chides me, and my chin automatically lifts, his tender smile taking the sting from the rebuke. As he stops to greet some well-wishers, I slip into place beside him, smiling and shaking hands like the dutiful daughter everyone expects me to be.
A few minutes of playing the role, then I can slip away. I won’t need to be back at his side until the meal is about to get started.
Once I’ve counted down the minimally required seconds, I ask, “Do you think Marigold is already—?”
“Crimson!” my friend calls out from behind me before I can finish.
Her long red hair is pinned back in an elaborate braid that makes me feel like my two-hundred-dollar session with the hairdresser was wasted.
I pat my hairstyle with some misgiving. It’s such a dark brown that under the restaurant lights, it looks black, and my ringlets have been pulled into a tight bun. Anything to get the hated spirals out of the way.
“Come with me,” she says, trotting halfway down the ornate staircase. “I’ve found the perfect spot to spy on everyone.”
I raise my eyebrows in a question to my father and he nods, kissing my cheek as he relinquishes me. “You have an hour,” he says in a warning tone. “And remember, you’re representing the family tonight. Now you’re an adult, your behaviour reflects on all of us.”
