Whatever. I’m a catch and everyone knows it.
After getting some sleep and waking back up at noon, I stroll into the kitchen where Sally serves me a sandwich, grumbling under her breath about how late I slept in and how bad it is for me. I’m in the middle of eating it when my father rushes into the room.
“Kira, I have news.”
Slowly, I set my sandwich down. “What news?”
“Enzo has changed his mind. He wants to marry you. He agreed to it. He called Nikolai and told him that’s what he wants. Nikolai just told me.”
“What… but why?”
“I have no idea why but this ass—,” he stops himself from saying the full word as if my ears can’t handle it. “I have no idea why he’s playing us like this but I’ll put a stop to it. I won’t have you married to a man who plays games.”
“But Dad, won’t we go to war with him if you refuse to marry me to Enzo? Isn’t this a good thing?” Not that I want to be married to Enzo. I can’t stand his stupidly handsomeface and the way he thinks I’m a whore. But I also don’t want my brother to get shot again. I don’t want a war on my doorstep.
Gregor sighs. “It is a good thing that Enzo has agreed to make peace. But I don’t trust him and I don’t want you married to him.”
“Do you have a choice? Do I? It seems like something Nikolai has decided. And he’s your boss.”
Suddenly, before my very eyes, my father sinks into the chair across from me and begins to cry. I have never seen my father cry in my entire life. “I can’t lose you, Kira,” he sobs.
I have no idea what to do. My dad is someone who’s never needed comfort before. “I don’t want to marry Enzo but…”
“But we don’t have a choice. And I hate that. I don’t want to lose you to him.”
“Is there any way out of this?” I’ll fight tooth and nail if there is but my gut is telling me there’s no chance.
“No.” He wipes his tears and sits up straight. “Nikolai wants this. He told me so. He said it was final. He said that we’ll need to start planning the wedding soon. That you and Enzo will be married by the end of the month.”
My heart skips a beat. Married to that asshole? I want to shudder but I hold it back for my father’s sake. All I want to do is ask Enzo why he agreed to marry me after he said he didn’t want me. None of it makes sense and it makes me trust him even less.
“I have to marry Enzo?” I whisper.
“You have to marry Enzo,” he says in a defeated tone.
Then if that’s my fate, I will make Enzo regret ever messing with me.
I’m forced to plan the wedding. I realize this when my father plops a wedding magazine down in front of me and tells me to get started.
“But I have no clue how to plan a wedding.”
“Nikolai said it was your duty to do this. You have no choice, Kira. We need peace and to do that, we need this wedding. So get started.”
“What about Enzo? He’s a part of this too, is he not? Shouldn’t he help me plan?”
“That’s like asking a tiger to hold a baby. It’s never going to happen. Enzo agreed to the marriage. I am fighting everything inside of myself to not find him and kill him forplaying games with us. But he agreed and this means peace. We all have to give something up to achieve it. I have to give you up and you…”
“I’ll have to give up my safety. I don’t trust Enzo.”
My father’s eyes darken. “Neither do I.” He walks away without another word.
With a sigh, I flip through the wedding magazine, only to be filled with an intense anger. Who does Enzo think he is? Saying he’ll agree to marry me one day and then the next day say he wants nothing to do with me only to change his mind the following day. It makes no sense. And why should I have to plan this wedding when I don’t want this marriage? He clearly wants it since he agreed to marry me.
When I leave the house, Jason doesn’t try to stop me again since he knows it’s pointless. Nothing can stop me.
I drive to Enzo’s club, which is dead in the middle of the day. But the guard out front lets me in when I say who I am.
The club is empty except for a few women dancing on poles. In skimpy outfits, I notice. And Enzo has the audacity to imply I’m a whore when he employs women to dance practically naked.
