Page 212 of Arrow

“By making me promise to watch over you. To make sure you didn’t end up with the Albanians.” Arrow took my hands in his. “She made me swear I would find a way to save you from that fate, even if it meant making you hate me.”

Tears slid down my cheeks, ruining my carefully applied makeup. “You watched my mother die.”

“I held her hand,” Arrow corrected gently. “I made sure her last moments weren’t spent alone. And I’ve kept my promise to her ever since.”

I pulled my hands away, standing up to put distance between us. “All these years, you knew. You’ve been watching me. Planning.”

“Not at first,” Arrow said, rising to his feet. “You were so broken when she died. But as you grew older, I watched from a distance. Made sure you were safe. When your father started negotiations with the Albanians again last year, I knew it was time.”

I stared at him, my world tilting on its axis. Everything I thought I knew about my mother’s death, about Arrow, about this marriage—it was all unraveling before my eyes.

“So this marriage,” I whispered, “it was never about peace between our families. It was never about humiliating my father. It was about a promise you made to my dying mother.”

Arrow took a step toward me, but I backed away. I needed space to think, to breathe.

“It started that way,” he admitted. “But it became something else. Something I never expected.”

“And when were you planning to tell me?” I demanded, anger rising through my grief. “After the wedding? Never?”

“I was protecting you⁠—“

“From what?” I shouted, not caring if anyone outside heard. “The truth? That my mother killed herself to try to save me from the Albanians? That you’ve been manipulating my life from the shadows for years?”

Arrow’s jaw tightened. “I’ve never lied to you, Harlowe.”

“Lies of omission are still lies,” I hissed. “You should have told me.”

“And what would you have done?” he challenged, his voice rising to match mine. “If I’d approached you three years ago and told you I’d held your mother’s hand while she died? That I’d been keeping tabs on you since? Would you have trusted me, or would you have tried to put a bullet in my head?”

I turned away, unable to look at him. He was right, and we both knew it. I would have hated him even more than I already did.

“You had no right,” I said, my voice breaking. “She had no right to make that decision for me.”

“She was trying to protect you the only way she knew how.”

I laughed bitterly. “By abandoning me? By leaving me with him?”

“She knew you were stronger than she was,” Arrow said quietly. “She knew you would survive him.”

I wrapped my arms around myself, suddenly cold despite the warmth of the room. “And all this time, my father knew you were there that night?”

“He suspected. He had his men investigate her death thoroughly. One of the staff saw my car in the driveway.”

I closed my eyes, piecing it all together. “So when you approached him about this marriage . . .”

“I suspect he saw an opportunity,” Arrow finished for me. “To place you in my household as his spy. To finally get revenge for what he believed was my role in your mother’s death.”

“And what about you?” I asked, finally turning to face him again. “What did you get out of this arrangement?”

Arrow’s eyes held mine. “I got you.”

“Me,” I whispered. “The girl you watched from afar. The daughter of your enemy. The sister of the man your uncle murdered.”

“The woman I couldn’t stop thinking about,” he corrected, taking a step closer. “The woman who was never afraid, even when she should have been. The woman who deserves more than being traded like property.”

I shook my head, trying to process everything. My mother hadn’t just abandoned me—she’d made arrangements. She’d extracted promises. She’d tried, in her broken way, to secure me a future.

“You lied to me! Last night you told me there would be no more secrets, and here you are, keeping the biggest one of all.” I wiped my eyes with trembling fingers, trying to steady myself. “My father had to tell me about my mother. My fucking father, Arrow! You would have taken that to the grave with you, wouldn’t you?”