If I can’t have Micah, I don’t want anybody. My feelings for him are too genuine to substitute.
“Don’t you dare. I swear if you do this terrible thing to Micah, it’s the last thing you ever do. I’ll turn you in to the rest of the syndicate so fast it’ll make your head spin.”
“Turn me in,” he scoffs. “Because they’ll listen to a little girl, over me.”
“Yes,” I say, finding the steel to inject into my voice for once. “They will.”
I could name names, scare him by mentioning the men Micah introduced me to last night, but it doesn’t matter. Because even if he hadn’t, I would try my hardest to put a stop to this. The man who I’ve long revered above all others has lost every ounce of my respect.
“You think money is the most important thing in the world? See how much it’s worth when your compatriots discover your betrayal.”
My dad gets halfway through a roar before he cuts himself off. Listening to him gain control of himself is like listening to a wild beast succumbing to a tranquilising dart.
“I thought you’d be pleased,” he manages when he’s calmer. “Ever since you left, Gabriel has been hanging around like a lost little lamb. Well, more like a furious lamb but it’s obvious he misses you.”
It makes me think of what Micah said that first night. About his kid brother not being emotional, unless the only emotion that counted was anger. From there, my mind leapfrogs to another recent memory. What had Teodor called him again?The snitch.
Those words are the worst label that can be assigned inside any organisation that requires members to be loyal. When taken in connection with my father’s plan, the likely meaning behind it finally clicks home with such force I expect there to be an audible thump.
The detective. Micah’s arrest.
My blood runs cold. Is this why Micah was so eager to intervene in my intended engagement? Because his brother was something far worse than a run-of-the-mill angry teenager. More dangerous than just the unfulfilled son of a failed mobster.
Had Gabriel told tales to people he shouldn’t? Been the one to cause Micah’s run-in with the law?
If so, I can hardly believe Micah’s compassion. To let his brother live when by all rights, he should be rotting in a grave by now. Eschewing the normal path of revenge out of respect for a family member who doesn’t deserve to hold his name.
I shake my head, overwhelmed with sadness that the man I’m falling in love with should be betrayed by those who should hold his safety dearest.
No wonder he stays closer to his mother. The spirited woman I met this morning would never become involved in something so cowardly.
“You need to fix this,” I tell my father. Not asking. Not begging.Telling.“Find a compelling reason for the detective to stop sniffing round Micah. Kill him if you must, but I never want him near my husband again.”
“Your husband?” My dad’s voice is softer, perhaps putting together his own set of puzzle pieces to view the image that should have been in front of him all along. “Youwantthis marriage?”
“More than anything.”
The burst of clarity is a relief. I’ve finally selected a path for myself. To love Micah. To give our fledgling relationship a proper chance. Even if we fail as a couple, I will always have this. The knowledge that when it came down to it, he wasn’t forced upon me.
I’mchoosinghim.
Meanwhile, my father still seems flabbergasted. “But it’s only been a few days.”
And I smile enough for my dad to hear it in my voice. “When you know, you know.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-ONE
CRIMSON
I’ve been back at home for twenty minutes before Micah arrives back from meeting his mother. The moment he walks out of the lift, I run over to greet him, scared to think I could so easily have lost him to my father’s ambition.
In apology for an evil plot I hope he never learns about, I wrap my arms around my fiancé, giving him the world’s largest hug. Before he can question me, I ask, “What’s the verdict?”
“Hm?” Micah returns the embrace, pulling back to read my face. “The verdict on what?”
“Don’t play coy with me. It was obvious your mother wanted to give her opinion on me. Since she didn’t want me present while she was unloading, I presume the first impression was bad.”
“She wanted to rail at me about delegating authority to my subsidiary heads despite the fact that’s exactly what they’re there for.”
