“No,” I hiss into his face.
“Yes,” he hisses back, grabbing my arm and dragging me toward one of the closed doors. His grip is strong but doesn’t hurt. And this is the only reason why I’m not clawing at his arm. “I need a minute alone with my bride,” he announces to the room in a tone that suggests not to argue.
“Mae?” Bea’s only word for the day.
“I’m fine.” I nod to her, following Ezra to a separate room which looks to be a small restaurant area.
Shutting the door behind us, he turns to me and leans in. “You fucking owe me. You nearly cost me my company because of that fire. And now you’ll help to get it back.”
I move my jaw from side to side, imagining his jugular between my teeth.
“Youwillmarry me,” he repeats, using the same commanding voice he saves for bed. “Or I’ll turn you over to the authorities back in New York and you will go to jail for arson.”
Jail sounds much better right about now than the prospect of marrying him.
“My father told you that you will regret it,” I say to him, truly believing my own words. “I am the way I am because I wanted to run away from this life. And now you want me to return to the life I hate?”
His nostrils flare. The muscles on his jaw move under his skin as he leans to my face. “Why are you here?” His voice is an angry whisper.
“What?”
He inches closer. “Why the fuck did you come back to this island? Back to your family and this lifestyle if you despise it so much?”
I clamp my jaw tight, trying not to bite his vile tongue off.
“Why did you come back, Maeve?”
He doesn’t need my answer because he already knows it. I’ve said it before, and he’s using it against me.
“You know why,” I hiss through gritted teeth.
His eyes dart between mine before he pulls away. “Exactly.” With that, he opens the door and walks out, right to the bar where he pours himself a hefty drink, almost to the brim. And then he downs it in one go.
When I’m done shooting daggers into the back of my probably-groom, I walk back into the room too, where my mother rushes toward me. “You will marry him,” she announces loudly with a raised head, like she’s announcing the queen of England entering the room.
“What is it with you people and your obsession with this archaic tradition?” I say more to myself, knowing well enough I’m losing this battle.
“This is how our world works, Maeve, and whether you like it or not, you’re part of it,” she says, picking invisible lint from her shirt. “The faster you accept it, the easier it will become.”
My blood starts boiling. I’ve been here for all of two hours, and my parents have already put the weight of their decision-making on my shoulders. They’ve always done that. Always making life-altering decisions for us, only to inform us when it’s a done deal.
I shift my attention to Ezra who’s watching me from behind the rim of yet another full glass. His stare is intense. He’s not the same person I spent the last week with. He’s just another dictator.
If I marry him, I get financial freedom. I think. He’swealthy, and he’ll become even more so after this deal is done—he clearly needs something valuable from my father if he’s willing to marry me of all people. Plus, I get to be away from them, my own family, who obviously didn’t miss me much.
Half of all marriages end up in divorce, and we for sure will be among them. I’ll just have to figure out how to survive until then.
I find my sister who still hasn’t uttered a word throughout the whole scene. She’s silently watching everyone in the room with arms crossed over her chest. Her stare is heavy. Offended.
She was the one who wanted to marry him. Will she forgive me if I take this unfortunate opportunity as my own way out? Maybe I can help her when I have my freedom.
“Okay,” I sigh, making everyone let out the breath the whole room had been holding. All for different reasons.
The only one that surprises me the most is Ezra’s. It’s not victory I see in his eyes.
It’s relief.
28
