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“Yes. I saw something I shouldn’t have.”
“That’s right. Even though we didn’t do anything wrong, it’s not good for us to get mixed up in anything. Not officially.”
“I won’t tell anyone.”
“I believe you.”
I leaned forward to tell him again. This man held my fate in his manicured hands. If he believed me, then why not let me go?
But he cut me off as soon as I opened my mouth.
“I said I believe you, and I do. I know you think that you won’t tell anyone. But you will. Eventually.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because it is human nature. Because you are a nice girl, a good girl, and it will weigh on your mind. More than you think it will. The pressure will build up, and someday, maybe soon, or maybe years from now, you will tell someone.” He steepled his fingers together and leaned back. “It is inevitable.”
I looked at Antonio. His eyes looked pitch black in the soft ambient lighting. I had noticed the gorgeous antiques when I walked in. Chandeliers and even a couple of Tiffany lamps. They looked real, not like the cheesy faux ones you saw in chain restaurants.
“So you can’t let me go.”
“That’s right. Unless we can come to some sort of arrangement that makes it worth your while to stay quiet.”
“Arrangement?”
I would agree to anything if it meant I could go back to school. Anything.
“If you were tied to us. To the family.”
I leaned back in the chair.
“If you were married to my brother.”
I stared at Vincent, then at Antonio. They were serious. He even looked like . . . almost eager. As if he actually wanted to marry me.
“I don’t believe in marriage,” I blurted. That made the man across the desk laugh. I frowned at him, finally looking back at the man who was offering to marry me.
He was staring at . . . my mouth.
“That’s funny,” Vincent said. “You are a funny little thing.” He leaned forward, resting his thick arms on the smooth wood of his desk. “My brother thinks you are smart. Are you smart, Evangeline?”
I swallowed. I didn’t know what to say to that.
“Yes, I think so” I answered cautiously. “Relatively speaking.”
He smiled at that, giving his brother a look.
“Be smart. A wife can’t be forced to testify against her husband. I hope you wouldn’t want to.”
“I don’t. Not after what Antonio did to . . . save me.”
He had saved me from those men, I reminded myself for the hundredth time. But now I was in an even worse situation. I felt like such a damsel in distress, it was almost embarrassing.
“If you are one of us, you have no reason to fear anything.”
“One of you?”
“My brother thinks you are special. He is offering this solution because of that. He doesn’t have to do that.” He leaned back in his seat. “There are . . . easier solutions.”
“Keep me locked up forever,” I said softly, “or kill me.”
“We don’t hurt women if we can avoid it. But yes, those would be our options.”
“I . . .” I looked at Antonio again. “I have to think about it.”
They were both insane, I decided. But if I could have a normal life again . . . Think, Evie. This is your chance to ask for what you want.
“Would I be able to go back to school?”
He steepled his fingers and looked at me. I could feel his authority over me. This man, and his brother, held all the cards.
“Maybe. In time. If you earned our trust.”
“Oh.”
So, I would still be trapped here. But maybe not forever. I swallowed and looked at my hands. How had this happened to me? I had gone from a free woman to a . . . pet.
A bird in a cage.
Antonio wanted me. I couldn’t lie to myself about that any longer. I didn’t know why, but he did. I could feel the heat coming off him when he looked at me.
How long until he just took what he wanted? Whether or not I married him. Like Vincent had said, it was inevitable.
How long until I let him?
I was already getting a touch of Stockholm syndrome. I was already attracted to him, more than any of the passing crushes I’d had in the past. I was already grateful for the little things he was doing, his generosity, as much as I hated the need for it at the same time.
If this was my life now, maybe I should just embrace it.
I saw them nod at each other and that was it. The audience with the ‘King’ was over. Antonio took my arm and led me back up to his suite.
“I need time . . . to think.”
He nodded, a muscle ticking in his jaw.
“I have to go out for a few hours.”
“Okay.”
“Evangeline . . .” He stepped closer, his hand brushing my cheek. “Let me take care of you.”
