I run a finger across my neck. “Or maybe something worse, if their mob brains can think of nastier options.” I shrug. “Outwardly, it’s about the family reunion, but in reality, it’s about control over the mob. Mom knows she has a better chance of swimming to Mars, so she’s trying to create a great-grandchild to soften his heart.”
Understanding dawns on Fiona’s face. I give her a few minutes to think it through and figure out the implications.
Finally, she exhales and shakes her head. “That still doesn’t meanwe should get married. I have plans for my future that include a man who loves me and a family I can really belong to. I’m not going to throw that away just to keep your mother away.”
Fiona’s dream isn’t unreasonable, but the idea of marrying a man who’ll love her makes my jaw clench. The nasty, acidic feeling in my belly is jealousy. I’m not dumb enough to deny that. Unfortunately, the awareness doesn’t lessen the frustration of knowing that I’m never going to be that man. I can’t be, when I’ll wake up every morning wondering if today’s the day she’ll betray me.
I could try giving her another chance, but in my experience, people never change, not where it counts. Just look at my own mother. A moment of hesitation was all it took for her to take advantage. The fact that she got to hurt Ares kills me. I should’ve been the one who was grabbed and left to die in that fire.
“Okay, let’s say we don’t get married.” I recline and stretch out my legs. “What’s your plan to get my mom off our backs?”
Surprise fleets over her face, and her expression softens for a second before it firms. “Our backs? I’m going to worry about mine, thank you very much.”
“Fine. Your back.”
She glares at me. “I don’t know, since it hasn’t been twenty-four hours since I got this big news thrown in my face. But don’t worry. I’ll figure something out.”
“If you think going to Wisconsin will save you, you’re wrong. She has tentacles everywhere in the country. If she doesn’t want to send her own men out there, it doesn’t take that much money to hire someone.”
Fiona’s jaw drops. “Are you trying to scare me into marrying you?”
I shrug. “Just giving you the full picture. Mom doesn’t care what she has to do or who she has to hurt to get what she wants. The ends always justify the means. And she holds a grudge.”
“That’s…” Fiona shakes her head, like she can’t think of a word. But then, Mom has that kind of effect on people. “So she’s literally going to kill me for having gotten in her way last night and continue to drug you to get women pregnant?” Horror and shock twist her face. “Oh my God, she’s basically attempting to have you raped to suck up to her father.”
“I guess.”
“It doesn’t bother you?” Fiona asks in a hoarse whisper.
I shrug again. “It’s just…what it is. Mom has never cared about anyone else’s agency or consent. She just does what she wants.”
Fiona gives me the strangest look. If I didn’t know better, I might think it was pity or sympathy. She doesn’t seem to notice the tears filling her eyes, probably because they aren’t falling. The unexpected intensity of her reaction is stunning. I start to open my mouth to tell her I’m used to it and it isn’t a big deal, but—
“I don’t know how you can sound so blasé. The Bryce I knew in college would never have been okay with somebody messing with his life like that. You were always headstrong and proud, and I admired that about you because those were two traits I wished I had.” Her voice cracks.
Her broken tone clenches my heart, and the horror and sympathy in her words take me back to the past, when she fooled me into thinking she reciprocated my feelings.
She exhales softly. “One year with the two million dollars between us cleared and settled. I want to give us an opportunity to live our lives freely without anybody meddling in them. I’m hoping that by then, your mother will give up or her brother will find a way to deal with her.”
The depth of my desire to want to take her at face value is terrifying. But I can’t allow people I love to get hurt because I stupidly believe someone I shouldn’t. The guilt would destroy me. So I force a light laugh. “A year? Are you kidding? Do you think you’re worth two million dollars a year?”
Fiona shoots me a death glare.
I continue, “I say you owe me two years—actually, more like four. No, really more like forty.”
“How did you get toforty?”
“Fifty thousand a year?”
If this were a video game, her rage gauge would explode. Her chest heaves as she puts her hands on her hips. “Bryce, I know it’s difficult for you to understand, but I’m not as cheap as you think.”
I should quit pressing her buttons, but I can’t stop. “Itwouldbe difficult—”
“Arrrgh!”
She comes at me, her face crimson with rage and a finger pointed in my chest. But she steps on one of the discarded stilettos, losing her balance and pitching forward. She grips my shoulders to catch herself. At the same time, I catch her waist, cushioning her fall with my body.
She immediately pushes herself up, sitting in my lap. From the fury burning in her eyes, it’s obvious she’s pissed at my provocation and her own clumsiness. I don’t think she realizes that she’s sitting directly on my crotch.
