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“No, not really. Where the hell am I? I need to get home. My dad’s going to kill me this time. He isn’t going to settle for the usual punishment.”
Sparks flashed in Andro’s eyes, and I could tell he was pissed, but I had no idea why he would care. “Why do you let them treat you like that? Like you’re a piece of shit under their heel.”
Ashamed that he knew my truth, I waved my arms around the room, turning in a circle. “You’ve just kidnapped me and brought me to some strange place, and you think my family treats me badly? They’re just part of the same club you’re in.”
Pain was evident in his gaze as he watched me. “Look, I’m sorry I took you. But I have a proposition that I hope you’ll at least consider.”
Still feeling a little woozy, I went to the far end of the bed and sat down, leaning against the wall to keep my balance. “What kind of proposition? If you want an alliance, then you ought to talk to my brothers. Though, personally, it would be stupid to ally yourself with them. You don’t need them.” I fought back a wince.If I were a true Santoro, I would be saying “we” not “them,” and I would be begging Ferrini for his family’s connection.
“I’m looking for a husband. I don’t actually want to get married, so this is more of a marriage of convenience.”
What now?I shook my head, wondering if maybe I was still unconscious because the words I was hearing could not have possibly been coming out of his mouth. “Say that again.”
Andro sighed and rested his hands palm up on his thighs. “I know taking you last night was a shitty thing to do. But I also know that you have a shitty family, so if I promise to treat you better than they do, would you consider marrying me? We’ll have to produce an heir, of course, but other than that, you’ll just be my mate on paper so my father will get off my back and finally step down as the patriarch.”
“You want me to be your omega? Like, your husband omega. For real?” It sounded like an indecent proposal from some cheesy romcom. “Are you insane?”
Andro’s jaw ticked. “You’re the second person to ask me that in the past day. I seem to be losing my touch.”
We sat awkwardly staring at each other, the proposition running through my mind.
A marriage to a Ferrini would get me so many things. Freedom from my family. Protection in the form of the formidable Ferrini name.
But at what cost?
Andro threw his head back, staring up at the ceiling. “You don’t have a lot of time to think this over. I wish we had more time, but you were unconscious longer than I anticipated, and, well…I didn’t plan this at all.” He stood up and stomped to the other side of the room, resting his head against the far wall. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
It was fucked up, but I felt bad for the guy. Clearly, he’d made some bad decisions, but after the initial shock wore off, the offer didn’t sound too bad. “What would I tell my father?”
His whole body stiffened before he slowly turned to face me. “Are you actually considering it?”
I shrugged, unable to look him in the eye. “Do I have the option of saying no? I mean, you did kidnap me.”
His chin fell to his chest, and he stared at the floor. “You can say no. I may be a lot of things, but I do not take away a person’s free will—least of all an omega’s. If you refuse, I’ll take you home, if that’s what you want.” Then he looked at me, really seeing through me. “But is that what you want? I’m not the greatest guy out there, but I’m not the worst. Think about what I am offering you. I would definitely treat you better than how your family treats you.”
Kind of a low bar, but I knew what he was trying to say. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “Okay.”
“Okay?” Andro walked back to me and reached for my hand. “Okay, you’ll do it? That’s it?”
“Yeah… Should I not do it?” I was starting to wonder what the right answer was. Nothing made sense.
He laughed and pulled my hand up to his forehead, pressing the back of it against his warm skin. “Fuck yeah, you should do it. This is perfect for both of us.”
I wanted to buy into the fantasy of it being perfect, but there were still way too many unknowns for me to actually feel good. “What about my family? My father. He’s gonna want to kill all of us now. What about your family?”
Andro sat beside me and let my hand drop onto his thigh as he shrugged both shoulders.
Funny how I could sit so close to him without flinching. The man had kidnapped me, and I had no fear of him. If my brothers so much as breathed in my direction, I cowered. “Your dad’s an idiot. No offense, but he can’t hurt shit. You’ll be under the protection of my family from now on, and if you want to maintain a relationship with yours, they’ll have to learn to treat you with respect as a member of the Ferrini family, not some whipping boy they can smack around.” His jaw clenched together, and he narrowed his eyes at me. “They will never fucking touch you again. Do you understand me?”
I just nodded, swallowing hard at the intensity in his eyes. Shivers ran through my whole body at his possessiveness. “Yes…alpha. Andro? Um, what do you want me to call you?” My instincts screamed at me to submit to him as my alpha.
He ran his tongue along his lower lip, and his eyes darkened even more. “Andro is fine, for now. If you want to call me alpha at some point, I’d like that. But I’m not gonna force you into any kind of submission. That wouldn’t be fair, given the circumstances.”
“Okay, uh, Andro. So, should I call my dad and tell him? Do you want to do that or… I dunno. Maybe your father should do it?” This was all uncharted territory, and I had no idea what the next move was. Marriage to any person, least of all a Ferrini, had never been in the cards for me.
Despite all the questions swirling in my mind, I felt surprisingly safe under Andro’s protection. A part of me was relieved that he had chosen me out of every other omega that would have happily signed up to be his mate.
I just wished I was as confident as he was about my father not trying to retaliate. He was almost as significantly impacted by this as I was. “And what about my job? I work as my family’s accountant. Should I still do that or do you want me to work for your family now?”
