Page 2 of Rosetti Family New York
Juliet’s breath comes in quick bursts. My father laughs, low and too easy. “You want into the gem business. We want better distribution. Think of this as a mutually beneficial arrangement.”
Arrangement. A marriage is nothing more than a business deal to him. Just another exchange of power. Another profit to be made. Domenico isn’t nearly as shocked as I am. “Salvatore won’t agree unless there’s something in it for us.”
“There is.” I can almost hear father smile. “One of my daughters.”
Bile rises in my throat. The hand holding mine has gone limp.
“That’s a large commitment.” Domenico’s words are clipped. He’s not offended, just careful. “Which daughter?”
Juliet stiffens beside me. My heart is in my throat as I try to come up with a gesture to comfort her. This is my job, to shield Juliet from the worst of it. This is my role in this family, the only one I’ve ever been any good at. But I pull a blank.
“Juliet and Eleanor, they are beautiful girls, as you can see,” father says, with a dead little laugh. “And intelligent. Well-trained. Either one would be an asset to your family.” His voice is so calm, so devoid of warmth, that it chills my bones. “You can choose whichever you like.”
Like we’re nothing more than his diamonds, to be cut and polished and traded away. My grip tightens on Juliet's wrist, and for a moment I can't breathe. I should be used to this by now. To him, we’ve always been assets, never family. It shouldn’t hurt, but it does.
There’s a long silence before Domenico speaks again, his words as calculated as my father’s. His is the kind of voice that might command a room without effort. “I’ll talk to my brothers.”
“We’ll make the arrangements,” father says. “No need to involve either of the girls just yet.”
I dig my fingers into Juliet’s knee, feeling the thin fabric of her pants under my nails. No need to involve us just yet. How simple it all sounds. How easy.
The Rosetti man pauses, and I can hear his breath, deliberate and serious. He must be standing near the door, ready to leave, and we're still crouching outside like kids playing hide and seek. “I’ll send word within the week.”
I can almost hear father nod. I can almost see the smile on his thin lips. The image of them fills my brain: two men in expensive suits, the Price fortune and the Rossetti muscle deciding our fate without so much as a blink.
“Good,” my father says. “I’ll expect to hear from you soon.”
Juliet’s hand is limp in mine. “He’s selling us to them,” she whispers, horrified.
I tug her to her feet and put my fingers to my lips to quieten her. We need to get safely away from here before we dissect what just happened.
“He’s trying.” I tug her up from the floor and far along the corridor and around a corner, away from the door, out of father’s reach. “He won’t succeed.”
“He’s already succeeded. Eleanor, he’s going to marry one of us off to a Rosetti.”
The floorboards creak as I take Juliet’s hand and drag her down the hall and into my bedroom, my blood running hot. She’s so fragile, I think she might shatter if I squeeze too tightly. Her body moves like it’s mechanical, and as soon as I shut the door behind us, she slumps against the wall and presses her face into her hands.
I turn the lock. “He’s not.” My words are brisk, and I know she hates when I speak to her like this, like I am a general and she is a solider. But if I don’t keep a grip on my emotions, I’ll dissolve too. “We’ll figure something out. We’ll think of a way.” I know how father operates. I know how to outmaneuver him. But even as I say it, my chest tightens with fear.
Juliet pulls her hand from mine. “Eleanor, I don’t want to marry into that family. I don’t want to—”
“You won’t.” I grip her shoulders, stare into her eyes until I’m sure she believes me. “He’ll have to go through me first.”
“What are we going to do?” Her voice is small.
“We run.” The words come out fiercer than I mean them to, but I feel like a ghost, thin and see-through. “We leave. We don’t look back.”
Her face is pale, the blood drained from it. “Eleanor,” she says, her voice cracking. “We can’t run. Where would we go? How would we—we have no money, and father would find us.”
I cross to her and run my hand over her head like I did when she was a child. I open my mouth to disagree, but she's right. We can't run. Even if we get away from him, which we haven't managed in years of trying, he'll send the Rosettis after us.
I sink onto the bed, next to where she sits on the floor, my arms wrapped around my knees. I have to come up with a plan. A good plan. Juliet is counting on me.
She's next to me before I even realize she has moved, her arms around my waist. She holds me like I am the delicate one, like I am the one who needs it. Her breath is warm against my shoulder. “Eleanor, I believe in you. I always believe in you.”
The words are a salve on my breaking heart. I don’t know how I will keep us safe. But I know that if it comes down to me or Juliet, I’ll be the one to go. I’ll be the one he trades. I'll make sure of it.
I touch the ring on my finger, twisting it slowly. It’s the one piece I have left of my mother, the one treasure that father hasn't snatched away. Her thin gold band. I’ve worn it since she died, a reminder of the unconditional love I once had.
