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He rounds on me again, and I flinch back, even though my father has never laid a hand on me in my life before tonight. His anger is terrifying, and for the first time, it gives me a glimpse into how a man like him holds onto his power at times. I’ve only ever seen the diplomatic side of my father, but all of that is gone tonight, on a tide of anger and fear.
But I’m angry, too. And I’m just as terrified.
“I could ask you the same question!” I burst out, my hands clenched at my sides. “What areyoudoing? Youpromisedme you’d marry me to someone closer to my age, someone who would be kind to me! Those were your words—thirties at most, andkind! Diego is old, and worse than that, he’s cruel. You know how cruel he is. That’s why you’re shaking in your boots right now, thinking of how to make this right. I’m just a girl, just a silly girl, that’s what I’ve been told all my life—but now the two most powerful men in Mexico don’t know what to do because I let someone else stick their cock in me?” I snort, as my father’s face twists and hardens into an expression I’ve never seen before. “Seems like I have all the fucking power then.”
“You watch your mouth when you speak to me, daughter! I didn’t raise you to be a whore, or to speak like that to me--” He rears back as if he might hit me for the first time, but Ángel steps smoothly between us as if he sees where this is going before my father can act.
“Diego is the cruelest cartel boss in our country—and even beyond, maybe!” I exclaim from behind my brother. “And you blame me for not wanting to marry him?”
My father is breathing hard, but he steps back, clearly trying to get his emotions under control. “I don’t blame you for not wanting to, but I do blame you for being so foolish, reckless, and—to give away your value like that, I—”
“It’s not my only value! And I don’t want to marry a man who thinks it is--” I start to shout back, but my brother waves angrily at me, still clearly trying to separate the two of us.
“It’s the only option,” Ángel says tiredly, speaking to my father. “We salvage what we can of the situation. Our men are holding Flanagan so he doesn’t get it in his head to run. We’ll marry him to Isabella, and then—”
“You’re right.” My father sinks into one of the chairs, looking five years older suddenly, his face sagging with exhaustion. “It’s the only thing. We’ll retract the offer to Diego, privately if possible, and accept the consequences. We have the priest marry her to Niall as quickly as can be allowed, with a bribe if need be. We’ll take advantage of the alliances that should offer us—and move forward. It’s all we can do.”
In this entire conversation, no one has asked me what I want. It’s been nothing but my father and brother volleying back and forth, deciding my future for me as always, what they can do with me that will best servethem.
And the worst part is, there’s nothing I can do about it. I can’t run, and there’s nowhere I can hide. No way for me to make a future for myself. I’m well and truly trapped—and now I’ve brought Niall down with me.
He’s going to hate me,I think miserably as my father and brother’s voices turn into hollow echoes, my mind closing in on itself.I’m going to be forced into a marriage worse than someone I don’t want—someone I do, who will despise me for what I’ve done to him.
But even that isn’t as bad as Diego Gonzalez.
My heart feels like it’s cracking open as my father opens the office doors, gesturing for Ángel and me to walk out. I can see the churning crowd just beyond, all of the guests trying to decipher what’s happening, Niall on one side of the room surrounded by my father’s guards, and Diego on the other with the same murderous expression, talking to his own men.
“Go on, Isabella,” my father says sternly. “It’s time to make this right.”
I don’t want to—but like so many other things in my life, I have no choice. I only ever thought I had one—and in the end, it would have been better not to choose at all.
So I step out of the office and towards my uncertain future.
