Quinn #2
Tears prick the back of my eyes. No matter what I do or say, it has no bearing on what he and my mam will believe.
In their eyes, I’m the jealous bitch who’ll do whatever it takes to sabotage Dáire.
If only they knew the truth about their precious daughter, I doubt they’d think she was so fucking amazing, but then again, the truth’s been shining in their eyes for years, and they ignore it.
Well, Da does, Mam condones Dáire’s behavior. I think she may even egg her on. I doubt I’ll ever know the truth of why my sister is a raging psychotic bitch and my mam’s a master manipulator.
All I know is that once my marriage to Lorenzo happens, my dealings with them are over, and I don’t have to worry about living in this crazy house with these assholes.
“Fine,” I say through gritted teeth, not letting the tears fall. “But when I’m gone, there’ll be no one else for her to lie about, and maybe you’ll finally see what Caden and I have been saying for years.”
He sits back down and picks up a document from his desk, which means the conversation is over. "Wear something appropriate. And sort out that cheek."
Sort out that cheek. Not, I'm sorry about that cheek, not even an acknowledgement that the cheek is his doing.
"Of course," I say with a fake curtsey.
He shakes his head, a look of exhaustion on his face. “Go, do as you're told, and for once, would you behave yourself?”
I exit his office, glad that I don’t have to speak with him any longer. I decide it’s time to get whatever the hell Mam wants over and done with, but by the time I get to the sitting room, she’s gone. Thank God, because I’m at the edge of how much more bullshit I can take today.
I make my way upstairs, and as I turn the corner, I smack into someone. I step back and come to a stop as I realize who it is that I’ve bumped into.
Dáire. Fuck. Anyone else would have been fine, but her? I’m not in the mood to have to watch what I say right now.
She looks at me with those wide brown eyes, and for a second, just a second, I think I see something in her face that could be guilt.
But Dáire’s never felt guilty about anything in her life before, and I realize it’s not guilt.
No, that’s just wishful thinking. What I actually see is smugness.
God, could she get any fucking uglier? Oh, she’s beautiful, stunning on the outside.
It’s the inside that’s rotten to the core.
"How was it?" she asks, her tone is bored and dull.
"Fine," I reply, looking past her to the next set of stairs, the ones that lead right to my bedroom. God, I just want to lie down in my bed and just get through this day but it seems I have to talk to every fucking dickhead today.
I watch as her gaze finds the bruise that’s meant to be hidden beneath the makeup, meaning it’s fading or I have done a piss poor job of hiding it. Seeing as neither Lorenzo nor Caden noticed it, I’m guessing it’s fading. “You should really learn to keep your mouth shut,” she gloats.
“The same could be said about your legs,” I reply tartly as I step past her and start to ascend the next set of stairs. I can hear her blustered breath as she stamps her foot. I may be younger than her, I may even take a lot of shit from my family, but not her, never from her.
I make it to my room and lock the door behind me. I have three hours before dinner, which means I have three hours to be in here alone, and I decide to make use of them properly.
I sit at my vanity and look at my cheek properly in the mirror. The bruise is coming up through the concealer, purpling at the edge. I'm going to need to redo this before tonight and do it better than I've done it now, otherwise someone other than my family is going to notice.
We arrive at the Mariano estate at precisely seven o’clock. I’m not sure what changed from when I spoke with my da earlier, but he and Mam actually came with Caden and I. I was shocked when Caden and I walked out of the house to find our parents waiting beside the car for us.
“I expect you to behave,” Da hisses the moment Fergal exits the driver’s door and walks around the car to open the door for us. “The alliance depends on this union.”
It takes everything in me not to roll my eyes at my da. I know exactly what’s riding on my union with Lorenzo.
“And don’t think I don’t know what you said to Dáire,” Mam hisses. “We’ll be discussing your attitude when we get home.”
Absolutely not, and I know by the way my da’s looking at Mam that he agrees.
I think my da may realize that they have pushed me too damn far with this marriage to Lorenzo.
I can’t do anything about it, the agreement is set in stone.
Then again, so was Dáire’s, but I’m done playing the doting daughter who lets everyone walk over her, and I’m sick to my back teeth of taking the blame for the fact that Dáire’s a bitch.
Fergal opens the car door, and my da exits first, helping Mam out once he’s standing.
“What did you say to Dáire?” Caden asks softly when we’re alone in the car.
My lips twitch. “Dáire was being Dáire. She said I should really keep my mouth shut. I couldn’t help my reply. It just slipped out.”
Caden’s eyes dance with humor. “What did you say?”
I shrug. “The same could be said about your legs,” I whisper as the car door opens, and I look up and see Fergal looking down at me with a smirk.
I wonder if mine and Dáire’s conversation has made the rounds of the staff? It wouldn’t surprise me, they gossip more than anyone I know.
Fergal helps me out of the car, and I take a look around the Mariano estate.
It’s huge. There are four wings attached to the house.
From what Dáithí told me, it’s a recent addition.
Cesare and Vittoria expanded not long after their wedding.
Apparently, Cesare wants his kids to stay close and built the wings to ensure they had their own privacy without having to move away.
I guess one of those wings will be mine and Lorenzo’s once we’re married.
Caden places his hand on my back and pushes me slightly to begin walking toward the house. “I would have paid money to see her face when you said that,” he whispers. “I bet she was spitting mad.”
I turn to him and see the humor etched on his face. “When isn’t she?”