Page 22 of Deceit
“Oh.”
Trepidation hit my stomach like a lead balloon had just landed.“What?”
Riley stood.“I’ll go get him; you need to talk to him.”
She made a beeline for the door, but before she could get halfway across theroom, I dashed in front of her, blocking her path.“You’re making me nervous. What’s going on?”
Her eyes darted around the room, looking everywhere but at me beforebriefly closing. When they opened again, they were filled with remorse.“Miles has spoken to your father.”
Despair romped through me. I knew it would only be a matter of time beforePapa found out what I’d done, but I hoped maybe I’d get the chance to explain myself to him first.
“He was going to find out one way or another,”I replied glumly.
Sympathy filled her eyes as she reached out and clutched my hand in hers.“No, that’s not it. It’s…”She swallowed, and once again, she wasn’t able to hold my gaze.“They’ve agreed to bring the wedding forward.”
My heart plummeted.“Wh…what? To when?”
Her lips pulled into a thin line, and my heart plummeted to the soles of mybare feet.“The day after tomorrow.”
Chapter 5
Sofia
Tension filled the car, so thickthatnoteventhe sharp blade of a knife couldcut it. Miles’ face was set in a permanent scowl as he glared at the road ahead, his hand clenched tightly around the steering wheel. We’d been in the car for nearly thirty minutes, and he hadn’t said a single word as he drove me home, an entourage of the Wolfe’s bodyguards surrounding us.
He hadn’tevenuttered a syllable about the wedding being brought forward.If it hadn’t been for Riley spilling the beans, I wouldn’t have known.
Too aggravated by his mere presence, I glared out the window, trying toignore the way his scent filled the small space between us. There was no point in trying to convince him to speak to Papa and push the date back; it was abundantly clearthatwe couldn’t have an adult conversation without it descending into a war of words.
Besides, I’d only be delaying the inevitable.
So much for my month of grace. The miracle I’d been hoping for needed tohappen soon, otherwise it would be too late. Deep down, though, I knew no miracle was waiting for me.
My fate was sealed.
The world outside flashed by, people going about their day, and completelyoblivious to the helplessness churning inside me. My entire life hadbeen leading to this point; I’d always known I was destined for an arranged marriage. It’d happened for my mom, for my grandma, and so on, but as I grew up,thatdayseemedlike it would never come.
I often wondered if Papa was using the threat of an arranged marriage tokeep me under his control. Most mafia daughters were married off as soon as they turned eighteen, but with every birthdaythatpassed, and no announcement of whom I was to marry came, I couldn’t help but hold onto a little pang of hopethatmaybe I’d get to choose a husband for myself.
When I turned twenty-one and still no marriage proposition was presented, Itook a risk and secretly dated, wanting to experience some sort of normality for once in my life.
If you could call secret liaisons dating.
Owen had been employed to work as a guard at the house, and while all theother guards pretended like I didn’t exist, Owen actually noticed me. It started with him always saying hello whenever he was on his rounds, turning into flirtatious winks, and eventually culminating in him speaking to me one day while I read by the fountain in the garden.
After a few weeks had passed of us meeting up while he was on his rounds,he finally kissed me, but honestly? There was no spark. I should have stopped thingsthen, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy his attention.
Of course, it was soon after my marriage to Miles was agreed, andeventhough I’d tried to break it off with Owen, he refused to listen and started pushing me to sleep with him, something Iabsolutelycouldn’t do if I didn’t want to disgrace my family.
When I insisted we were over, Owen turned nasty, threatening to tell Papa all about us. He even said he was going to lie to Miles and tell him that I'd lost my virginity to Owen, and that we were in love. I suppose he gothis punishment when he received a bullet to the headafter hand-delivering Riley and me to the men who kidnapped us.
Lost in memories of the past, I didn’t realize where we were until Milesturned the car into the entrance to my home and stopped at the gates to speak to the guards stationed there. Once they saw who was in the car, they waved Miles through, and my stomach lurched as we started up the driveway.
I wasn’t ready to face Papa.
Thatwas an understatement. It would have been better to deal with Milestaking me back to Hollows Bay and telling me I wasn’t allowed to leave again than deal with Papa’s wrath.
The only reason I didn’t swallow my pride and beg Miles to turn the cararound was because my gaze landed on the one person in the world I needed to see more than anyone. Rafe stood next to Papa as Miles brought the car to a stop, the two of them wearing matching emotionless expressions on their faces.
