Page 11 of Veiled Vows

“To who?”

“No idea. I’ll meet him at the party next week.”

“Wow.” She pours herself another glass and tops off my own. “You know, in any other circle that would get you some really strange looks.”

“Well I’m lucky I have you.”

“Too true.”

“I just…” Nibbling softly on my lower lip, my attention drifts away from the table and out toward the bustling city that has no idea we exist. Planes streak across the deep blue sky, distant car horns and screeching brakes rise above the soft music playing across the balcony speakers, and very distantly the sharp bark of a dog reaches up to us. Normal, busy life where the people of New York have no idea or care about my turmoil.

Catherine waits patiently for me to gather my thoughts while our food is served, and her attention remains on me even as she carves into her steak.

“I still think about him,” I say after a moment, spearing a meatball onto my fork but not eating it.

Catherine’s smile turns sly. “Your mystery man?”

“Yep.”

“The man you haven’t seen since you were fifteen.”

“That’s the one.”

“You know, normally I’d play along with you and your mystery man fantasy but…” Catherine sighs softly as her smile warms. “Heisjust a fantasy. And I know whoever your parents have picked out might be awful, but at least he’s real, y’know? You deserve someone, Jasmine. You deserve a real person to make you feel good and take care of you, to be there for you and love you. Your mystery man can’t do that because, well…” Around a mouthful of steak, she rolls her eyes. “He’s basically a ghost if someone like that is even alive. I mean who charges into a Yakuza den wearing only a T-shirt with no care for his own life? It’s kind of crazy. Plus, if what you said is true and that some of his tattoos were definitely Yakuza, then he’s probably dead for being a traitor.”

“Wow, shitting over my dreams after I buy you lunch?” I tease with a laugh. “Remind me not to invite you next time.”

Catherine laughs and shakes her head. “Listen, I’m just saying. Your mystery man is all good and well for a fantasy, but you can’t chase that forever. You deserve someone real. Look at me and Seth. He loves me, he cares for me. I have a sexy man to cuddle at the end of a long day, someone to cook me breakfast in bed and more. You deserve all of that, is what I’m saying.”

She’s right. And I know she means well because as sweet as Catherine is, she rarely says anything she doesn’t mean. I’ve been chasing this fantasy since I was fifteen years old and it’s gotten me nowhere.

Not a single hint of his existence beyond my dreams.

But that doesn’t dampen my determination to find him. Even if he is dead, that kind of closure would surely help me in the long run just as much as finding him would. Can I really do that while married to another man?

“Just think of the bigger picture,” Catherine continues.

The bigger picture.

Marrying a stranger doesn’t mean I have to love him or even care for him. But it could strengthen the family enough to finally end these ridiculous wars with the Yakuza.

Then, and only then, will I have the freedom to search for what I really want.

My mystery man. Alive or dead, I will find him.

“You’re right.” I raise my glass and offer it to Catherine, who raises her own with wide, surprised eyes.

“What are we cheering to?”

“Marriage,” I grin, clinking our glasses together. “And the opportunities it brings us!”

5

JASMINE

Breathe. Just breathe.

It’s not my first time attending a Mancini party, but this one feels infinitely more daunting than last year. My future fiancé is inside that building, the man I’ll be expected to spend the rest of my life with—or at least be beside until I track down the man I’m really in love with.

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