3. Two
Two
Kayleigh
W hy? Why would Daid and Cillian agree to this? I thought I had more time before I had to submit myself to this monster. I had finally convinced him to wait until after I graduated before we could start making plans to get married, but now that I will be living under his roof, I know it won’t be long until I have to kiss my dreams of being a nurse goodbye.
I don’t want a life with him, but what choice do I have? I thought he was actually interested in me. Me…the mobster’s daughter who is guarded and afraid of letting anyone in.
I kept pushing him away at first, but I will give Andrew credit, he is persistent. I would turn down his offers of coffee dates and lunch dates. Then he started showing up when I was grabbing something to eat in between classes. I thought maybe he was genuinely interested in me. I should have listened to my gut because it knew better.
No, he set up Oscar to beat up his friend and had it recorded, and supposedly that is not the only evidence he has of my family doing things they shouldn’t.
After dating Andrew for six months, his true colors came out. I noticed his behavior starting to change, and I wasn’t liking it. I decided I was going to end things, and he said he understood but asked to meet up at dinner so he could get his favorite hoodie back from me. I stupidly agreed.
That is when I found out his real intentions: that I become his wife and do as he says or he would turn all the evidence he has against my family over to the police.
I agreed.
I would do anything for my family.
Now, two years later, here I am, packing up my stuff to go live in the monster’s cave until he kills me. He has already shown me he has issues with being told no and controlling his temper when he doesn’t get his way.
Give it time, and I will be the poster girl for domestic abuse victims everywhere.
Knock. Knock.
I sigh and open the door to see Andrew. I open it wider before turning around and finishing packing.
“Is that any way to greet your fiancé?” He sneers as he grabs me harshly by my elbow.
“I’m sorry,” I mutter and give him a kiss on his cheek.
“Try again, cunt,” he says and yanks my face to his and smashes his lips to mine. I fight back the gag when he pushes his tongue in my mouth. His taste and touch disgust me. One of his hands roughly cups me between my legs. I try to pull away, but his other arm holds me in place.
When he finally releases me, he tells me, “This will be mine. I’m not waiting to marry you for this cunt.”
Tears start to well up in my eyes, and before he can say anything else, someone knocking at the door interrupts us. Mam walks in.
“My sweet baby. Your Daid told me everything that happened,” she says, walking past Andrew and pulling me into her arms.
“Are you sure about this?” she whispers in my ear. I nod, afraid if I talk, my voice will crack and she will know something is up. You don’t have to be a mobster’s wife who raised eight kids and to be able to see bullshit when it is right in front of your face.
“Okay, if you say so.”
I pull away and give her a smile. “I’m okay.”
“I know you are. You are an O’Sullivan, after all.”
“Hello Gr—” Andrew begins, but one look from Mam stops him.
“It’s Mrs. O’Sullivan to you. You haven’t earned the right to call me by my first name.”
“I’m marrying your daughter.”
“Okay, that means she cares for you not that you have my respect.” Then she turns her attention back to me.
“I will personally pack whatever you don’t bring with you and make sure you get everything.”
“Thank you, Mama.”
“Anything for my baby. I will let you two finish talking,” she says, giving me one last hug before leaving through the door.
“What the fuck was that? You are just going to let her disrespect me like that?”
“I can’t force Mam to let you call her by her first name.”
“She fucking disrespected me. Fix it.”
“Andrew, you can force me into this marriage, but one thing I can never do is force Mam to allow you to call her by first name if she doesn’t want you to. She grew up very old school and was raised on the whole respect is earned idea.”
“You have until we get married to fix it or there will be hell to pay. Hurry up, I want out of this hellhole.” He starts to walk to the door but stops to smile at me. “Just think, soon we will start the our life together, sweetheart.”
My stomach drops with that, and as he leaves my room, I think to myself, that’s what I’m afraid of .
Saying goodbye to my family was hard, especially my nephews. I stared into their sweet innocent faces, and I knew I was doing the right thing. I was saving them from being separated from their fathers and possibly their mothers. If that happened, they would be placed in the system even if they couldn’t find anything on Bia and Erin. Someone would call child protective services on them, claiming that the kids were in danger.
Andrew played the whole caring fiancé role as I cried saying goodbye and while my father’s guards drove us to the jet. I figured he would give it up once we were settled, but he held my hand and was continued to act like he cared. I couldn’t handle it, so I pretended to doze off. Thankfully he didn’t seem to notice.
I could hear him mutter about how finally all his work had paid off, but it would have been better if they had actually roughed me up and not just scared me.
It took everything in me not to react to finding out he was behind all this; I should have suspected as much with the evidence he has on Oscar and my family. Why did he put so much effort into getting evidence against my family to force me to marry him? Does he want something from my family? Is it revenge? Does he want a partnership with one of my family businesses?
I wish I had the answers.
I follow Andrew to a penthouse apartment. “This is where we will live,” he tells me, opening the door. I walk in and see nothing but boxes lined up in the hallway to what I guess is the living room. Three couches, a table, and a chair are all pushed together.
“I will be back in a few hours. You need to unpack everything and move the furniture to where it belongs. The designer left the blueprints for where I want the furniture. I expect it all to be done.”
“All of it?”
Andrew spins toward me, and before I can apologize for questioning him, he backhands me across the face.
“You do not question me. Get off the floor and get to fucking work,” he orders. I nod and lift myself to my knees, and before I can stand up, he spits at me and pushes me back down and then storms out. I sigh, slowly getting up. I grab the blueprint that his designer left. Table, two couches, a chair, two end tables, and a coffee table for the living room. Okay, so everything I need for this room is here. I check the dining room and see the table and eight chairs are here but still in the boxes. I continue and all the rooms in the apartment are the same; at least I don’t have to drag furniture to different parts of the apartment.
I go back and begin with the living room, moving the couches where they belong and putting the tables together. I’m surprised Andrew even had tools here; maybe someone else left them because I don’t see Andrew being handy at all. Mr. Have A Hissy Fit When Things Don’t Go My Way has hands as smooth as a baby.
I chuckle to myself as I continue to screw the table leg into the table. If I was lucky enough to choose who I get to marry, it would be a man who isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty. I’m not just talking bloody; I mean one who isn’t afraid to do physical work. I know it comes from the way my parents raised me; yes, we had money and lots of it, but Daid was never afraid to get his hands dirty.
I remember a kitchen pipe busted in the middle of the night once, and instead of calling someone, Daid had Oscar go get his tools, and because Cillian, Oscar, and I were woken up by the noise, he had us help him. Aiden was a baby, so Daid had Mam keep him occupied. But the three of us in our PJ’s and boots stayed with Daid and helped him fix the pipe. Handing him different tools, helping him turn the wrench when tightening a pipe. I was completely fascinated. Hell, when I got the chance later on, I would go and join Oscar when he was working in the field clearing out a plot of land. Not that any of the men in my family wanted me anywhere near there because I was the family princess, and if they had it their way, they would have wrapped me in bubble wrap.
I had to fight them to let me go to school instead of doing it online. Maybe I should have listened to them. I would never have met Andrew and been in this situation. I shake my head and keep working.
Andrew waltzes back in three hours later. I started shaking knowing I still wasn’t finished. I got the living room, dining room, kitchen, and the guest room done, but I still had the office and master bedroom left. I was praying he would go out and get drunk and be out all night.
I hear him shuffle from room to room.
When he opens the office door and sees me, he smirks and shakes his head as he steps inside and shuts the door behind him.
“Can’t do as you are told I see.”
“Andrew, I tried. I promise.”
“I’m sure you did, but as you can see, your best isn’t good enough. Don’t worry, I will help you fix that,” he says as he lifts me by my hair and tosses me across the room into the pile of boxes I haven’t broken down yet. I land with a yelp.
“Stupid useless bitch.”
He goes to grab me, but I smack his hand away, and he wraps his other hand around my throat. “You don’t ever swat my hands away from you. If I want to touch you, then I will touch you. There’s not a damn thing you can do about it.” He snarls as he pushes me back down only to straddle my waist and punch me in my face over and over again. I give up fighting. No one is coming to save me this time; everyone who would care is hours away, and it’s not like they would be concerned about me because when Mam called, I pretended I was happy even though I was fighting to down break down on the phone.
I’m on the edge of passing out when I feel my clothes being removed from my body. I let the tears flow. Of course he would rape me after beating me. Why should I expect him to have a shred of decency in him? He walks away, and I hope maybe he will just leave me here.
The tears fall and I don’t bother to try and stop him when I hear him come back. He lifts me in his arms. “Don’t worry, I won’t fuck you yet, but I won’t have you smelling in my presence.”
What?
My question is answered when he walks us into the bathroom and sets me in the tub. I squint at him through my busted face. I’m sure I will have matching black eyes in the morning along with a broken nose at least. Andrew rolls up his bloody sleeves and squats next to the tub. He squirts some body wash on a loofa before he starts to wash me down, making sure he uses his hand to play between my legs.
“Soon this will be mine.” He smiles.
I just close my eyes and lean my head against the tub. He continues to wash my body then my hair.
After I’m cleaned to his satisfaction, he gets me out, barely drying me off before picking me up again. I lean my head against his chest; my mind is foggy and it has taken everything in me not to pass out.
“In you go.”
Before I realize what is happening, he tosses me inside a metal dog crate.
“What?”
“Did you really think I’d let you, a mobster’s princess, sleep in the bed with me? Can’t have you trying to kill me in my sleep now, can I?” He smirks as he locks the crate with a key. I watch as he slips the key into his pocket. When I think it can’t get any worse, it does. Andrew places a fan in front of the crate.
“To help you dry off,” he says, smirking and watching me shiver as the cool air hits my naked skin.
“See you in the morning, sweetheart.”
The door closes behind him. I curl my shivering body into a ball hoping to keep myself at least a bit warm. No doubt, when I wake up, I will be sick. I can only imagine what torture will await me in the morning.