“This isn’t a punishment, Aerin. I want you safe.”
“Well, it feels like one! He’s telling me he needs to know everyone in my life, where I’m going, what I’m doing. He won’t even let me go out tonight with Giacomo, and you already said that I could!”
Guido’s eyes snap to mine.
“I said no because I’ve yet to vet the people Giacomo spends time with or secure the places they might visit. Given the potential dangers and small time window, it isn’t the wisest choice,” I explain quickly.
“See?” Aerin whines, clutching at her dad’s arm. “You’re making me a prisoner!”
To my surprise, Guido laughs and cups his daughter’s cheek. “This is good, Aerin. He’s keeping you safe. I know you don’t understand it right now, but in a few years you will thank me for this. It’s about time someone took a firm hand with you.”
“A firm hand? When has there ever been anythingbuta firm hand?” she gasps, jerking her head away from his touch.
Guido doesn’t reply. He merely smiles at her then continues down the hallway.
“I’m not letting this happen,” Aerin snaps furiously. “I’m not some doll that can just be locked up. Just because you saved my life, which thanks or whatever, doesn’t give you the right to suddenly come in and take over my life! I don’t need any more protection.”
“Last week’s events would suggest otherwise.”
Her eyes narrow to slits. “God, you’re all the same. I hate you.”
“Hate me all you want; it won’t affect me. Your life is now my mission, which means everything and anything goes through me.”
3
AERIN
I hate him.
Falco wasn’t kidding when he said every aspect of my life would go through him.
My privacy appears to be a thing of the past.
On the first day, I caught him downloading all my contacts onto his phone so he could keep track of them, and the embarrassment that there were only seven fueled my anger toward him.
He asked me four times for the numbers of my friends before it clicked with him that I didn’t have any.
It was humiliating.
The day after, I found him downloading the GPS from the car I’m always driven around in so he could map out every single place I’d been in the last two years.
I took great pleasure in mocking him for that since the only time I’m allowed to leave the estate is for a family function, event, or the occasional take-out with my brother.
On the third day, he plied me with questions regarding my drinking habits and more.
At first I lied to his stupid handsome face about drinking until I couldn’t walk and shooting up with every drug on the market that I could get my hands on.
I had to retract that once I realized it would get Giacomo into a lot of trouble.
Underneath the quiet smiles and words of praise my father gives Giacomo, I see the truth.
They didn’t make me heir because I’m more capable than my brother, or because they think having a dona in charge will set them apart.
They did it because Giacomo lost himself.
Drink and drugs became his lifeline, and while everyone refuses to tell me the whole story, I’m pretty sure we nearly lost him.
Whatever he got up to fuels their over-protectiveness over me, which in turn just stokes my constant desire to break free of this house, this life, and be free somewhere else.
