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“What is this about?”
Niallan glances up, his eyebrows raised. “What?”
I wave at the man in black. Niallan shrugs.
“He’s your new bodyguard. He’s here for a few weeks until we find a more permanent solution.”
“I don’t need this.”
Niallan’s eyebrows go up higher. “Really?”
I roll my eyes as I blow out a breath. Mr. Foster strolls in, his lips down in a frown. He looks at me, then Niallan. "We need to have the wedding either today or tomorrow."
I gasp and shake my head. I don’t know the old man and I don’t want to marry him.
“Dad, I think it’s too soon. Also, I’m not sure you should do that right now.”
Mr. Foster narrows his gaze and shakes his head. "Me? Are you daft? I'm not marrying her. You are. Why do you think I went to see Mr. Gale? You need a wife before I die."
Niallan is mopping up the coffee he spewed all over the table, and I’m standing with my jaw on the floor.
“Hold on, you can’t mean that. I thought she was here to marry you,” Niallan says.
I look from the older Mr. Foster to Niallan. Shock spins through me. “What is going on?”
Older Mr. Foster squares his shoulders and his lips thin. “She’ll marry you.”
“No.” Niallan’s voice reverberates around the room, bouncing off the walls.
The old man narrows his gaze, looking from me to Niallan. "What is so confusing? You need a wife, and Gale needs us to do that thing for him. It's the perfect setup."
I jump up, anger and rage mixing into a potent combination. “No one asked me!” I take off upstairs. My father has as good as sold me. Not to some old man, but the sexy son who I’ve been lusting after. Based on his reaction, he doesn’t want me.
I guess I’m not desirable. No one wants me at all. I might as well disappear.
ChapterEight
Niallan (Neo)
My stomach clenches as Adali runs away. I turn to stare at my father. Has he done this on purpose? He knew all along that Eric Gale expected him to marry Adali, not me. I’m too young. Sure, Eric Gale’s son married before he turned thirty, well, before twenty-five, but the circumstances were different.
“Dad, there’s no way Gale will be happy with me marrying his daughter. You know he expects you to marry her.”
"That's ridiculous. I'm close to death, and then she'll be on her own. She needs someone to help her, not an old man to die on her. If your sister were still alive, I wouldn't have allowed her to marry some old fart."
Memories of Laetitia played through my mind. She would be turning twenty-four this year. We’d been so close. I wish I’d been there in the end for her, but no one knew. The cops said it was suicide, but I still didn’t think it happened that way. For her to have flung herself off that building seemed unlikely.
Sadness shifts through me. “You were good to her.”
Dad nods. “Adali isn’t a bad match.”
I shake my head. “It’s not that. We don’t know each other.” I can’t imagine marrying Adali so soon after meeting her. She’s beautiful, and there is desire, but I don’t want marriage right now.
Dad moves close, his eyes clearer than I’ve seen them in weeks. “Eric Gale means to harm us. We have no choice in this matter. One of us has to marry Adali, and it shouldn’t be me.”
I take in his expression and the clarity I see in his eyes. He’s not joking, and he’s not having an episode. Something happened that I know nothing about. “What is Eric Gale holding over you?”
“It’s best you never find out.” Dad turns to leave. Before he’s gone, he spins to face me. “Eric Gale will get us killed if we don’t take care of his money. Make no mistake, we have no options. Gale is our only salvation.”
