Chapter 2
Lakeland
There is nothing worse than not feeling chosen.
I’m never the first, second, or even third choice. Never have been and never will be. I like to fool myself into thinking I’m okay with that, I’m used to it but the truth is, I’m not. It stings so fucking badly. People crave love and hearing those three stupid words from their significant other, but not me. I want them to tell me that they would choose me no matter what. I want them to want me before anyone else. I want that feeling of knowing that I am their person, their one and only. Love comes and goes but finding your person doesn’t fade, ever.
I wish I could have that but given what my last name is and who my father is, I have no chance of finding that one person that sets my soul ablaze inside me.
“Daydreaming again?” I shake my head and push away those silly thoughts as I smile at my sister when she claims the seat across from me. Riverland Deveraux is stunning, she puts no effort into her appearance at all, she just wakes up and deems herself ready. Her long black lashes enhance her moss-green eyes. Her brown hair is piled into a messy bun atop her head but it’s her style that gives her that edgy look. She has such a skater vibe about her and she constantly wears a pissed off look on her face. I hate that I can’t remember why she decided to change.
“Yeah, it’s the only way I’m gonna be able to get through this,” I mutter bitterly. God, I wish taking over my dad’s empire didn’t mean I had to marry some egotistical prick who thinks he is a prize to women. Giovani is a pig.
“I’m sorry, Lake.” River drops her gaze to her lap and guilt gnaws at me. I know if she could trade places with me she would.
“It’s not your fault. I’d rather it be me than you anyway.” I force cheer into my tone but River sees through my bullshit and pins me with a look that has my walls crumbling. I let her see the heartache and loathing I feel for my situation.
“Why do you allow him to do this to you?” Before she can continue, the front door opens and we both tense. I shoot my sister a worried look. She isn’t supposed to be here. Dad kicked her out a couple of years ago after they had a nasty fight. She tried to take me with her but he stopped it and had his men throw my sister out. I cried for weeks and begged him for months to change his mind and allow her back but even if he had, I don’t think she would come back. As Dad enters the room the smile vanishes from his face when he spots his eldest daughter.
“What the fuck do you think you are doing in my house?” he shouts. I push to my feet, ready to intervene but I’m too late.
“If I recall, this is my mother’s house and you just live in it.” Dad’s lips thin and his eyes blaze with anger, my head begins to throb like it usually does when my emotions heighten. I fight through the pain as best I can to block my dad from reaching my sister when he moves forward.
“Daddy, please,” I beg. He grips my shoulders and shoves me aside. I scream out for him to leave River alone and not to touch her but it’s no use. I watch as he backhands her and sends her tumbling to the floor. My vision turns hazy as pain explodes inside my head. I cry out when it becomes too much then quickly bite my lip to silence my screams.
“Come on, you old cunt. Touch me again and I’ll put a bullet between your fucking eyes.” I snap my eyes open and gasp. River has a gun pointed at our father, her cheek bruised and her lip split. Tears fill my eyes at the sight of her injuries.
“You have thirty seconds to get the fuck out of my house before I kill you,” Dad grits out through clenched teeth. River keeps her gun pointed at him and never turns her back as she slowly edges toward me and holds out her free hand. I stare at it in confusion.
“Lakeland, this is your chance to be free, you won’t get another one. Come with me now, please.” I dart my gaze from her to my father who is shaking silently with anger until his gaze collides with mine.
“Don’t even think about it. You gave your word to Giovani. You will marry him for this family and do your job.” I flinch at the cold tone and hesitate for a second longer before I place my hand in hers and allow her to pull me to my feet. “You walk out that fucking door and I will hunt both you worthless bitches down and murder you with my bare hands.” His threat sends a cold shiver down my spine.
“We’ll take our chances, you sadistic fuck!” Without warning River fires the gun and then blinding pain explodes inside my head as I pass out.
I come to, groaning and clutching my head. It feels like a band is playing heavy metal inside it. I fucking hate that I have these severe migraines. The doctor Dad took me to said it’s common. I have no idea what the fuck could be common about these things since I know no one who suffers from them this badly.
I haven’t been allowed out of the house unless it’s with my father for years and I have no cellphone or access to the internet, hence why the only way to see my sister is if she sneaks into the house.
“Take your time, Lake.” She may have whispered the words but it feels as if she shouted them. I hate that this is a common occurrence. I pass out whenever my stress levels are heightened. I slowly blink my eyes open and whimper when the stabbing pain in the back of my head intensifies. “Here,” River says as she gently slips her arm behind my shoulders and sits me up, handing me some pills and a glass of water. I hope she thought to bring my medication with her, without those pills my headaches are always present. I hate how they make me feel like a zombie but they are the only things that keep the pain at bay. I smile my thanks as I down the pain killers and look around.
We’re clearly not at my father’s house anymore. From the size of the room and the fact there is a tiny bathroom off to the side, I would assume we are in a rundown motel. The wallpaper is peeling and the ceiling is yellowed from guests smoking in the rooms. God, I hope this isn’t one of those rooms you rent by the hour!
“Where are we?” I croak out.
“Not far enough away. As soon as you are okay to travel we need to leave.” Her words have the events of earlier rushing back to me. I gasp and shoot her a worried look.
“What happened, Riverland? You had a gun? Oh my God, he is going to kill us both!” My hysteria begins to rise the longer it takes for her to answer me.
“Calm down, you passed out and I got you out of there.”
“How did you get me out?” My sister may be a badass but there is no way she was able to carry me out and keep our father at bay.
“Colson helped me carry you out.” My jaw unhinges and she rolls her eyes.
“Colson?” I squeak.
“Yes.” I shake my head, unable to comprehend what she is saying. Aside from Wallace, Colson is my dad’s second most trusted man and not to mention Wallace’s son and grew up with us. “Colson has seen what we had to put up with for years and when I reached out to him a couple of months ago he didn’t hesitate to offer his help.”
“Dad is going to kill him!” I whisper.
“He can’t because he is here with us, keeping watch outside.” A whoosh of air escapes me, this is a lot to digest.
“What are we going to do, River? We have nowhere to go, no friends, no money?—”
“Don’t worry about all of that, Lake. We have each other and that is all that matters. I swear I will never let that bastard hurt you again.” Her every word is laced with hatred but I feel like there is a double meaning to what she is saying. “We need to get going. Are you able to move?”
I nod and accept her help to stand when she offers. I make quick work of using the restroom, then splash some water on my face before staring at my reflection in the mirror. My hair is a mess of knots, so I use the elastic on my wrist to twist it into a messy bun like my sisters. I pinch my cheeks to give them a bit of color and sigh. My green eyes are lifeless and my brown hair has no shine to it, I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with me but I feel like a huge part of me is missing and I can’t figure out why.
“Lake, we need to move,” I hear River call from the other side of the door. I quickly exit the bathroom and follow her downstairs to the parking lot, only to cringe when I see an old man leading a woman around my age to one of the rooms on the lower level—this is definitely one of those places that rents rooms by the hour. A shudder of revulsion runs through me as I climb into the back of the car. Colson shoots me a welcoming smile as I buckle in.
We’ve been driving for about an hour and night has fallen but I still haven’t said anything since muttering a greeting to Colson. He rides shotgun next to River and they are both tense, constantly checking the mirrors to make sure we aren’t being followed. I can’t stop taking in the view outside my window. It feels so strange to be outside without my dad beside me. At first I summed it up to him being a worried parent and wanting to keep me safe but after a while, I figured out it was just his way of trying to control me. I’m the sick child, he would say. If only I wasn’t such a burden and more like River, I would be the perfect daughter, he had said.
I don’t know what I did to make my father hate me so much. Growing up I remember him being kind, caring and loving to us and our mom before she passed away, but everything after our mom’s death feels hazy. I can’t recall much and she has been gone for nearly seven years now.
“Do we have a destination?” Colson asks, breaking the silence. I haven’t spoken to him in a long time. The last time I recall actually seeing him and having a conversation was around the time my mom passed away. Dad wouldn’t let any of the young guards near me. The only men allowed around me were old and of course, I had the maids watching my every move and dictating what I could and couldn’t eat. Dad would never allow me to have fast food, he’d say if I got fat I would be worth nothing.
“I’ll take the first shift driving then we can switch. I only want to stop for gas and that’s it. We need to get to Calgary.” I reel back.
“Calgary?” I practically shout, earning a scowl from my sister in the rearview mirror.
“Yes. We need to put as much distance between us and Winnipeg as we can. It’s a thirteen-hour drive but we don’t have a choice. Percy will have all the airports locked down and we need to get out of Giovani’s territory as fast as we can.” Her words have a pit forming in my gut.
“If Gio or Dad find us, they will kill us,” I mutter.
“Percy won’t kill you, he needs you to keep his deal with Gio.” Colson’s words offer me no comfort.
“What deal?” River asks.
“Percy is marrying Lake to Gio in order to form an alliance against the Re Della Strada. Gio gets Lake and Percy’s finance companies throughout the US and Canada to clean money while Percy’s debt with Gio gets wiped and he makes millions.”
“Percy’s broke, isn’t he?” My eyes widen at River’s question.
“He ran your mother’s family’s companies into the ground. He made some sketchy investments and owes Gio a shit load of cash. Percy was lucky to walk away with his life but given what La–. Percy had something that Gio wanted and knew it would piss Knox off, so he gave your father a way out.”
“Who is Knox and what is the Re Della Strada?” I ask, interrupting their conversation. Colson shifts in his seat and turns back to face me. His warm brown eyes are filled with sympathy and that confuses me.
“Knox Bronson is the leader of the Re Della Strada and the head of the Da Luca family.” It takes a second for that to register inside my head, then I’m gasping.
“Oh my God, he’s the guy that is at war with Gio. Dad hates him and the Da Luca family.” Knox is the man who ran me down. Dad had business dealings with him and six years ago their deal went sour and Knox came after me as revenge against my father.
Colson nods. “They aren’t known as the Da Luca family now, they go by the Re Della Strada. Percy has something that means… a lot to Knox and was willing to sell that to Gio in the name of revenge.”
“Why does Dad hate this man so much? I know they had a deal that went bad years ago, hence my accident,” I say bitterly. Colson and River share a weird look. River subtly shakes her head and Colson straightens gazing out the window without answering me. “Someone answer me!” I snap.
River sighs. “Lakeland, believe it or not, Percy promised you to someone else before Gio but that plan was ruined when that man was murdered.”
“You’re lying,” I bite back.
Her shoulders hunch as she meets my gaze in the rearview mirror. “Percy had promised you to Roberto Da Luca when you were sixteen.” I hear the truth in her words. Horror fills me with the notion that my father was planning to sell me off to some mafia Don at the tender age of a child. “If he wasn’t… taken out, then Percy would have gone through with it.”
“Why was he murdered?” I mutter in shock.
“His daughter was murdered. Someone who loved his daughter very much sought out revenge and killed him when he found out that he was trying to pimp her out as a child before her mother ran away and kept both her children safe.”