6. Ronan #3
I sighed. I finally had another choice. It wasn’t a great choice, I’d be the first to admit that.
Knox was scary and Ronan angry. Jett was like a giant toddler, and I didn’t know what his real intentions were.
At least he made me laugh. Talon? He hid behind his sarcasm, and maybe it was good, but maybe it was just as scary as the others.
Those four men felt like some kind of sick, twisted choice.
And I couldn’t stop thinking of them. I couldn’t stop thinking about Ronan and the way he watched me.
Or the way Jett seemed almost protective when he gave me his shirt.
Talon? He was smart mouthed, but he seemed to want to make me smile.
And Knox? What was with the way he stole the air from the elevator with one single movement?
My uncle cleared his throat.
“Margaux, greet Mr. And Mrs. Thorne. Carrow, so glad we can finally meet.”
Those four men were becoming an escape, and I nearly forgot where I was for a minute.
Back to perfect little Margaux mode, pushing aside all the things that made me me.
I cast my eyes down because I didn’t trust myself not to try and kill any of them with my next glance. Or tell Carrow I knew his dirty little secrets. Not that it mattered. There was no love here. There never would be.
“Mr. Thorne. Mrs. Throne. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
I did sneak a glance up at Mrs. Thorne, and her eyes were already glazed over. I couldn’t feel bad for her. Although I wished she would share whatever it was she was on. It was probably the wine. Her glass was already empty when the rest of us hadn’t even been served.
“Harrington, you’ve done well. What a beauty. Carrow, help your bride with her chair.”
It was harder to swallow down the vomit with the smile plastered on my face than I would have thought.
Shit. This was going to be a very long afternoon.
I kept the smile on my face and my eyes averted.
I couldn’t keep my face from having subtitles regardless of the act.
I’d worked too long and hard to make my uncle think he could control me, all so that someday I’d be able to get the hell out of here.
But first? Well, suddenly I rather liked the idea of revenge on not just my dear, dear uncle.
Suddenly, I wanted to avenge every poor woman who’d ever been caught in the trap of this pretentious ass. Still, I smiled.
“Thank you.”
I didn’t have to look at him to know just how pompous his face looked.
I went through the motions. Pick up the napkin.
Unfold it. Put it on my lap. Listen to the mindless chatter of the rich people at the table.
I did enjoy the way my not-future-mother-in-law was drunk.
What a future this family would hold. It wasn’t obvious to anyone outside of the table.
She wasn’t falling over or anything. But the way she would just let out a small giggle every so many words or the slight slur to very mumbled responses?
I just kept my head down and sipped the water I was allowed.
Assholes.
The phone, the one that was not from my uncle, still confused me, but it also felt like a lifeline.
Why had they returned me?
I wanted to ignore the tightness in my throat. It was fine. This was my life. They weren’t anything but rich assholes.
But I wanted to know more. What was their game?
There had been no ransom. They’d even fed and clothed me.
They’d left me a virgin. That last part burned a different kind of anger.
The man I sat next to was a reminder of what my uncle was capable of, and those four strangers?
I was certain they could break me in a different way, if only I could figure out their price.
“What do you think, my dear?”
I looked up at my uncle's voice.
“Oh. I’m sorry. What do I think about what?”
He laughed it off. It helped that I played the airheaded little niece well.
“Holding the engagement party in five days. The Thornes have already stated their downtown hotel is open.”
Wedding. Right. Engagement party. Had the prick ever proposed? I would not roll my eyes. I would not kick him under the table. A single deep breath, and I smiled and nodded.
“Of course.”
This whole thing had been sprung on me and was the reason I’d sped up my need to leave.
But I really wasn’t prepared for an engagement party.
All I wanted to ask was why it mattered if we had an engagement party.
The wedding would be coming quickly after, but maybe I was the one that didn’t have a clue.
“And Carrow has requested you move into his home sooner rather than later.”
That got me looking up. I couldn’t remain passive.
“I… He what?”
The cards had just been dealt, and now I had to figure out who was bluffing. The issue was that, my uncle had more tricks up his sleeves than I could anticipate. I didn’t see this coming, at least not yet.
My skin crawled as Carrow reached for me. My body reacted and I had to swallow the vomit.
“You are my fiancée. It’s time for you to start learning how I do things. Besides, I have a business gathering tomorrow night. A charity auction really. I expect you to be at my side.”
I don’t know why, but I glanced at the mom to see if she would give away anything about this. All I saw when I glanced her way was a woman who seemed rather broken.
I took my free hand and pushed his away from my forearm.
“I, um, I need to go to the bathroom. You’ll excuse me.”
I stood quickly, rattling the ice in my water glass as I grazed the table. I squeezed my small clutch so tightly I was worried I'd break the thing.
“Of course, Margaux. Please hurry back. Perhaps we move you tomorrow morning then?” It was my uncle's voice, and although he seemed to be requesting with his words, the way he looked at me made it clear it was anything but.
Shit.
I backed away from the table, no longer able to hold the fake smile.
I walked away as fast as I could without my uncle’s suspicion. I needed to get out of here. My time was up. Did he know my plans?
I walked to the front of the restaurant where I thought the bathrooms might be. Either way, I was hoping I could just walk out the front door and keep walking.
“Miss Harrington.”
I froze. I didn’t have to look. I knew it would be a guy in a black suit that followed my uncle everywhere.
I suppose they followed me too, until recently.
Reina had somehow tricked my uncle and made him trust her.
Or rather he believed she had guards too.
I took another breath and turned on my heel.
I didn’t want this to get back to my uncle.
“Is there a bathroom here? I seem to have missed it.”
The guy had a poker face I couldn’t read, but he moved aside and waited to take my elbow in his hand and pull me back toward the restaurant. I held my breath until the bathroom came into sight.
“Miss, the bathroom is right there. You will come straight out when you are done.”
I nodded to the guy in black and hurried into the room. I leaned against the door and considered my options.
If I went home tonight, I would be forced to go to that asshole's house tomorrow.
If I went to his house, something told me I would be just as controlled, and I doubted even Reina would get through.
I flattened my hand against my too tight chest, fighting the heavy weight of an imaginary boulder pressing down on me.
This wasn’t supposed to be my life. My parents loved me, or as well as they could. At least they’d allowed me some freedom and my mother did truly care that I was happy. The awful scene of their last moments pushed past all the panic. Blood dripped down my mother’s face as she reached for me.
My father hadn’t moved, and neither had the driver. I wasn’t sure, but the way my father's head had hung, I thought I’d thrown up back then. Now? Anger had replaced the sick.
My mother, though, she had told me to trust no one. But that wasn’t it. There had been a name on her lips. Ro something. I never got to ask her to repeat it. I never got the full name, but in this moment, all I could think was, what were the chances it was Ronan?
My hands shook at the idea that my uncle or that future jail keeper of a fiancé would be coming to find me. There were plenty of stalls and all with their own doors that locked. I moved quickly to one and closed myself in.
I pulled out the phones from my purse. Who could save me now? Not Reina.
I unlocked the new phone and pressed the green cell button. Four names, or rather letters that stood for four very real men.
J.
R.
K.
T.
Jett, Ronan, Knox, and Talon. That was what each had to be.
I hated the way my fingers shook as I tried to open the text message icon. Which one would be able to do anything? Would they do anything? Jett seemed like he would be willing to play a game and this might be the best one of them all. One where I had to read the cards to understand what hand I had.
My thumb hovered over the screen. Finally, I tapped to add one of the contacts, then the second, and third, and fourth. Now it was a group text and I had a one in four chance someone would help me.
Me: Anyone willing to come kidnap me again?
I hit send and waited a few breaths that felt like I was sucking in liquid rather than breathing.
Me: Please. I can’t go with Carrow. They said I had to move in tomorrow.
Still nothing. I put the phones away with shaking hands and swallowed past the panic winding around my neck like a snake. This couldn’t be the way my story would end. I would figure something out. I always did. I would avenge my parents. I hoped.
My family wouldn’t die like this. My uncle wouldn’t wipe them from existence and me with them. At least not before I took him with me.
The questions for me were how did I make them pay and could I do it if those four assholes didn’t show.