“I already answered that question once,” I say, rolling my eyes. My head throbs, and it ends up being a bad move.
“Nah, you sidestepped it hard.” He chuckles.
“My fathers made a deal a long time ago. They promised me to one of the other families. Not Moretti, just to be clear.” I sigh, snuggling back against the cheap pillows. “I finally got myself out of that mess, but I actually made it worse. Now my family owes theirs a penalty for breaking the contract. My fatherdoesn’t want to pay, so he’s shopping around to see who else might want to buy me.”
“Buy you?” he scoffs. “You’re a grown-ass woman.”
“Yeah, and as it turns out, who’s interested now is worse than the guys I was betrothed to. That’s an ironic turn of events that I should have seen coming.” My stomach wobbles as Grigoryan pops into my mind.
I refuse to be tied to that disgusting man.
I don’t care if he hasn’t been charged for it, I’m convinced that he killed at least one or two of his wives. No one has bad enough luck to outlivethreewives at sixty.
“He’s like two-and-a-half times my age, and he goes through wives like they’re dessert spoons.”
“Damn, that’s fucked up,” he says.
“Yup.” I nod. “But it’s not like Moretti was actually going to help me. I was just desperate.”
“And then you got kidnapped for your trouble. Sorry, princess. It sounds like you’re having a worse day than me.”
That’s an understatement.
Chapter Three
Vanessa
Blade is every bit as vile as I clocked him the first time I set eyes on him. Luckily, Magnum doesn’t let me out of his sight until it’s time to do the trade. He’s chatty, and after several hours of talking about everything under the sun…
I kinda like him.
Okay, at the very least, I don’t hate him, which is weird because I’m his prisoner, but he’s as friendly a face as I’m going to get under the circumstances.
He’s probably around my age, maybe a few years older, and he has a lightness to his personality that I don’t see often. While I don’t think he’s awful, I keep most things to myself. I’ve learned throughout my life that you never know when someone will try to use something against you, and the more the drugs wear off, the easier it is to censor what I say.
He must not like silence because I learn all about a woman named Candice and how she nearly killed Blade a few years ago before she ran from the MC.
Everything in me says that she’s the woman currently shacked up with the O’Connor brothers, but I keep my mouth shut about that too.
Magnum knows she’s in Boston, and he thinks Moretti can find her.
I know where she is, or at least I think I do, but I don’t owe him anything.
They kidnapped me as leverage to get back some poor woman and her kid.
That’s all kinds of fucked up.
I want no part of it.
I’ll reassess later if it looks like I might need to negotiate to save my life, but right now, I’m feeling very muchfuck anyone with a dick. I’m tired of women getting caught in the crossfire of disagreements started by men. Except maybe Magnum. He doesn’t seem so bad.
They don’t blindfold me when we head to the meeting spot, and once again, I can’t tell if they’re inept or they just don’t think I’ll be a problem in the long run.
It’s a huge relief to recognize the area.
I’ve spent a lot of time down here recently because it’s where Wilder’s office is. I’ve been here more than normal, as we’ve had a lot of appointments relating to my supposed upcoming marriage to the O’Connors.
The Jacksonville Demons’ president smells vile, and he keeps me close to his side as soon as we’re out of the SUV.
