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“Mr. Vasile is not going to like that you’ve had a man in your home,” one of the men says, the one in the passenger seat.
“Mr. Vasile can handle it,” I grunt, crossing my arms.
“Oh, he will handle it,” the man driving adds with a smirk I can see through the rearview mirror.
My brow furrows. “What do you mean?”
“Men who touch what rightfully belongs to Mr. Vasile always pay a price,” the man in the passenger says, his tone mocking as if his point is obvious.
I hug myself tightly and try to keep my face as blank as I can. I glance outside at the passing buildings, refusing to let these men to bait me into talking more. I can’t risk giving them any details they could use against Ethan. I’ll have to talk to my father about it instead. Surely he’ll refrain from hurting him if I make it a stipulation for me leaving without a fuss. I can just tack his name up next to my mother’s. I’ll make whatever promises I need to protect both the man I love and my mother.
The drive feels like it takes forever, and I quickly lose track of where we are as the car weaves through morning traffic. It surprises me when the car suddenly comes to a stop in front of an upscale hotel I’ve heard of but have never seen. This is an expensive part of town, and I rarely have the need to stray this far from my apartment.
The man in the passenger’s seat gets out and opens my door for me, and I clamber out gracelessly. He guides me to the hotel’s entrance as the other drives off, leading me to the elevator with nothing but a curt nod to the concierge.
My heart begins to race as the elevator begins to ascend.
I haven’t seen my father since I was tiny. I have almost no memories of him. He’s practically a stranger to me. I’m not evensure if I’ve seen a recent picture of him, so I have no idea what to expect of this meeting.
What I wouldn’t give for this to not be happening. I feel so unprepared.
When the elevator chimes, telling us we’ve arrived at our floor, the man escorts me from the elevator down to a door with two men standing guard outside it, one on each side. He mutters something to one of them, and they knock on the door, barking something in Romanian at whoever’s inside. I catch my name, but nothing else.
And then the door swings open to let us in.
While I don’t recognize him, I know which person is my father immediately. Cristofor Vasile is the sort of man that commands a room, with his height and his slicked back hair and his expensive Italian suits. He looks every bit like a nefarious mafia Don, complete with a smile that instantly puts me on edge.
“Draga,” the man bellows, a sneer stretching across his face as he turns to take me in. “Look at you, so grown up. My heart is happy to see you at last, after all these years.”
He pulls me into an awkward hug and I swallow back tears, hating that this man has so handily managed to ruin not only my mother’s life, but mine as well.
My father releases me and guides me over to a couch, having me sit across an ugly little coffee table from him as he settles into his own seat.
“You’ve only gotten prettier over the year, my daughter,” he says in lightly accented English as he looks me over. “Don’t you think, Dinu?”
One of the henchman standing in the background grunt his ascent before my father continues.
“Now that you’re here, Elisabet, I want to propose a deal. But first, I have a question or two. Just a few formalities, you see.”
I feel myself tense and fight to keep my face from betraying any emotion he can use against me.
“Now, my men told me something, but I want to hear it from you before I make any decisions,” my father says, his face growing serious. “Is it true you’ve had a man in your apartment?”
I blink at him, unsure of how to answer. Thankfully, my father seems to love to listen to himself talk, because he keeps going.
“When I first heard it I thought surely not. That makes no sense, My sweet Elisabet, whoring herself out to a man she is not married to? After years of guarding her innocence?”
My stomach churns at his words. Bile rises in my throat.
“You see, I have an associate back in Bucharest. His operation is growing and he’d be a powerful ally in the coming years. And unlike me, he is young still. In his prime. And then I thought, who better than to secure this alliance than my darling daughter, Elisabet? She is sweet and virtuous, no?”
Silence rings in the room as he waits a moment for me to say something. All I can do is stare at him as his expression grows darker and darker.
“And when I propose this to young Marcel, he was exact in his word. Nothing less than a virgin would do, as he wanted no risk of a woman with connections to someone else. He’s old fashioned, you see,” he explains nonchalantly. “Even more than me.”
I watch as he stands to start pacing the room, his tall figure looming over me as he moves. Ethan’s words when he found out I was a virgin come to me as my father scowls. You’re perfect, Birdie. You’re perfect now, and you’ll be perfect after. I believedhim then, but why is shame threatening to take that away from me?
“But now, my men tell me you have someone coming and going from your apartment as if he lives there. Some construction worker, dirty and rough with his labors.”
