AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My brows pinch. “What plans?”
“Our wedding plans.”
I spin to see Rowan entering with a skinny older man close at his heels. Like prey that’s just spotted danger, I watch him carefully as he moves around the room. Every one of my muscles tenses when his scent reaches my nostrils, and I want nothing more than to flee.
Dropping into the chair behind the large mahogany desk, he indicates the two seats across from him. “I’m glad the clothes Axle brought you fit.”
When I don’t move, Mom takes my hand and escorts me to my chair, then takes the one next to me.
Both the skinny man, who I assume is Axle, and Declan stand flanking Rowan, a display of their position within the McKenzie family. It’s one I’m accustomed to seeing, with my father as the head and my three brothers surrounding him whenever they’re about to make deals.
And that’s exactly what this is, so I get right to the point.
I cross my right leg over my left and relax my hands on the armrests, willing them to stop shaking. Steeling myself against the effect of Rowan’s glittering gaze, I stare into it, hard and unrelenting. “What do you want?”
“Nothing more than what is rightfully mine.”
“You want access to Duran territory.” Smirking at his arrogance, I disengage from our locked stares and pick at a thread on my pants. “Of course you’d assume it’s yours.”
“What I want is access toyou,” he says in an intoxicatingly deep voice that has me snapping my eyes back to his. “And I assume you’re mine, because you are. Or have you forgotten what you said to me the night before our wedding?”
My mouth goes dry as heat rises over the skin of my neck and into my cheeks. “You can’t be serious.”
Mom clears her throat and I turn to her mechanically, my mind struggling to make sense of this conversation.
“Mr. Kane has made an offer. Your hand in marriage, along with selling rights in Duran territory, in exchange for peace.”
“Peace?” I ask dumbly.
She smiles wearily. “If you don’t accept, he will start a war.”
“If I do, Papá will.”
“I believe he’ll come around,” Rowan adds. “Once your mother has a chat with him.”
“ThenI’llstart the damn war!” I snap, slamming my palm against the desk.
“Lulu,” Mom says calmly, placing her hand on my shoulder.
“Please tell me you’re not actually considering this?” I implore her. “Don’t you remember what he did to me?”
Sighing, she nods. “I’m not considering anything. The choice is all yours. I simply ask thatyouconsider the offer and the ramifications of your decision.”
I stare at her in confusion. Why isn’t she screaming in outrage at such an offer. A threat, really. She believed in the love Rowan once claimed to feel for me, but surely she doesn’t think he actually wants me?
Then I see it in her expression, the choice she’d like me to make. If there’s war, her three boys would fight. Yeah, they’re grown-ass men with deadly skills that have more than earned them their place by my father’s side, but to her, they’re still her boys.
It’s a discussion that has been debated many times at the family table. Whether or not the Durans and the McKenzies are still as equally matched. Would another war finally end the debate, or would it be the same bloody massacre on the streets of Boston that nearly took us both out. Would my brothers and father end up dead this time around?
Rowan must sense my inner thoughts. “Leave us,” he orders everyone.
Mom squeezes my hand and gives me a pitiful glance before following the men out. I stand and go to the window, peering out at the small enclosed garden behind the house. Unlike this garishly decorated study, it’s lovely. A little piece of paradise in a busy city.
A few moments later, Mom appears out there and sits on a bench to enjoy a cup of something—tea, perhaps. She takes a deep breath, then exhales it, seeming to appreciate the quiet.
She likes it here. It’s in her body language. I hate that.
“So what’s it going to be?” He stands so near me that I have to move over so as not to feel his heat.
