CHAPTER EIGHT
T he air was a warm breeze, and the sunlight shone through the soft clouds and pastel sky. The view reminded me of the painting I made in Italy of the marionette band playing in heaven. A vision inspired by the dinner at the Cranes. It seemed years ago, that first week in New York City. Everything was new and exciting. I had no idea what was ahead of me then.
“You’re smiling,” Percy’s voice pulled me from my thoughts. “That’s better. It should be a crime for a beautiful woman not to smile.”
I peered at him through my lashes. “A crime? Gah.”
He grinned. “Okay, not a crime, but it was a high compliment. And you being happy about it doesn’t make me think you’re dopey for me.”
I tried not to smile, but I ended up grinning.
He cocked a brow. “See? Not that hard. Just say thank you next time.” His tone was light, with a touch of sarcasm. What had he expected? Perhaps he should be the one asking that question. Still, I gave him a courteous response.
“Thank you, Percy.”
His gaze lingered on my lips before turning back towards the water.
I left his side and removed my sweater, placing it on the back of the new bench seat before sitting down. At first sight, I thought the second gazebo looked out of place in the middle of the hill’s natural beauty. But once we stood and looked out, it was like floating above water.
Percy turned around and leaned against the railing, facing me. “So, you’re a painter?”
I nodded. “Yes, I am.” Any other time, I would have denied it, but with Percy, it seemed like something I needed to defend, especially since he seemed to dismiss it as a hobby.
A ghost of a smile appeared on his lips as he removed his jacket and adjusted his tie. “I used to dabble in the arts.”
My brows rose. “Did you?”
“Yes, Ma’am. I wanted to be a games designer and even made one.”
“Wow. That’s so cool. What type of game was it?” I asked, cheery.
He shrugged. “It was a detective game. The main character had amnesia, and he had to figure out how to piece his life together to save his daughter.”
“Sounds great,” I said, smiling.
“Didn’t expect that from me, did ya?” He smirked and ran his hand through his hair as a breeze swept through the gazebo. “Neither did anyone else. I got millions invested in it, too, but once Daddy caught wind it was more than a passing dalliance, he ended the foolishness.”
I frowned. “I don’t think it’s foolish.”
He placed his hands on his hips and eyed me coolly. “It’s not an experience I share for pity. It’s what I use to teach others that I have a greater purpose.”
I swallowed hard as dread grew inside me and took root. What Percy meant by purpose wasn’t about his own. His example of giving up dreams was for me to know there wasn’t one for me to have as his wife. I didn’t ask more about it like I suspected he wanted me to.
We both fell into silence, the urgent type. The kind where there was much to say but neither one of us wanted to be the one to upend polite etiquette. From Percy’s demeanor over lunch, it was obvious that he was privy to information about our match that I wasn’t, and I wanted him to tell me.
“Do you like to swim, Adelina?” Percy broke our silence. “We all have pools at home in North Carolina. I have one here, but it’s not the same. I miss hearing all my family around, laughing, talking, catching up.”
My hands brushed down the goosebumps on my arm. It sounded like Percy wasn’t planning on staying in New York, but I didn’t want to assume. “Do you have any family here?”
“I did, but just like them we all take a trip north but quickly miss our lives in the south.”
I tensed. “I don’t want to live far from my brother.”
He squinted at me. “Not to worry. There are good care solutions in North Carolina if you want him close to you.”
I winced. “Jacob has a life here. He’d lose all his friends and community. It took a long time for him to build his life.”
He shrugged. “Hmph. People often have to move for work. It just takes adjusting. I think most disabled people are used to adapting.”
I grimaced. “Jacob’s not disabled. He’s capable and has abilities different from you. He has a life here, a great team, and close friends.”
Percy lifted his hands. “Calm down—no need to get hysterical. We’re negotiating. I can compromise on a lot of things, but I’m not keeping a wife in two states.”
I huffed and shook my head. “You’re so confident you’ll marry me.”
His lips curved upward. “I am. Some outcomes are easy to predict. I should’ve been a banker.” He let out a dry laugh. “But I have a knack for influencing. So, politics it is for me. We all have duties to fulfill. Yours is to become a wife, and that’s what you will do.”
I frowned. “Maybe so, but I’m not moving far away from Jacob, and you’re not moving him out of state.”
He smiled broadly and wagged his finger. “There it is. I knew it was coming. Reg warned me you were stubborn, and I could see the chip on your shoulder before you even spoke.”
I clenched my jaw. “I don’t have a chip on my shoulder.”
He guffawed. “You do, and you know it. It’s because you thought you had the brass with Rocco Marini. That marriage was never going to happen.”
I crossed my arms. “Oh, so you predicted the Marinis would call off our wedding for a funeral?”
His smile was downright smug. “Something was always going to come up.”
I furrowed my brows. “What you’re implying makes no sense. No one knew Luca Marini would die—”
“And the Marinis call off your wedding, with barely over a handful of days left?” He gave me an incredulous look and tutted, his tone laced with scorn. “Come now, Adelina. Colleges still teach critical thinking, and they told me you were head of your class. You should know better.”
I averted my eyes and stiffened, not allowing myself to breathe as his words exacerbated my worries. A day hadn’t even passed before they called off our wedding. After I had a dress, we toured the grounds…but Luca. What would he have wanted? He would’ve wanted us to get married. He prepared it all especially for us. That was what I wanted to believe, but the documents left for me had me believing different.
Percy kept on speaking. “I’m not psychic, but like I said, I can predict outcomes. First of all, you’re an heiress mostly in name, daughter of a well-known drug addict and a mother who let him prostitute her. Uncle Ray has a good story about it. We all couldn’t believe it when a philanderer like Glenn Talbot decided to marry her. But according to Daddy, it set Reginald back some. It helped that Lorelei’s always been a brainless beauty—”
Slap. I was out of my seat, slapping his face before I could think.
His eyes widened in shock, and his jaw muscles clenched as he rubbed it.
“I don’t give a damn what your daddy thinks of us. Don’t you ever talk badly about my mother again,” I hissed.
He grabbed my arms and squeezed. “Don’t ever do that again.”
I lifted my arms, breaking his hold, which he let me out of. “Then you’ll watch what you gossip about. You know nothing about my family.”
He bared his teeth. “I probably know more than you, and honestly who do you think you’re talking to? You don’t get to speak to me like you’re better. You’re beneath me, and I certainly don’t want you.”
I rubbed my hands over my arms, as his words stung, but I felt the same way about him.
“I didn’t mean to grab you, Adelina,” he said, gentling his tone. “It was to calm you down. I never harm women.”
“I’ve heard that before,” I chided.
“Not from me,” he said. “I do apologize. But you’re the one that hit me.”
I folded my arms. “I know you’re not sorry for insulting my family. You don’t want me and think of me as beneath you, then why marry me?”
“It’s an arranged marriage,” he said, adjusting his tie. “My Daddy always had a soft spot for Reginald, but he didn’t think you were good enough for me. Until he saw you with Rocco. It made him believe you had value.”
“For money?” I squinted at him.
“Money?” he snort-chuckled. “No. Daddy didn’t like how Rocco enjoyed himself at Cannes after brushing off his friend’s daughter, Marjorie. He had the crazy idea Rocco wanted you, and he loves to take what others want, just like Reg.”
My stomach lurched. His father sounded as awful as all the rest. But that wasn’t the only thing that bothered me. His story was too close to what Luca had said about my grandparents before he died, but hadn’t the chance to tell me the rest. Percy might know . “What do you mean by that?”
He squinted at me and drew back his head. “Surely you know?”
My face warmed. He was toying with me, but I didn’t answer.
“Reg took Constance at the most opportune time from Luca Marini. She became unwanted by any suitable man after her miscarriage out of wedlock. Her father was smart and did the sensible thing by making a deal with Reginald—”
“That’s a lie—” I gritted.
“Ask her,” he taunted. “It’s the truth, and she hates me because I know her real story.”
My face jumped, and I felt tears well up in my eyes. However, Percy took too much delight at gossiping and demeaning, and I couldn’t allow him to feel like his story got to me.
“You’re rude and cruel, and I don’t want you either,” I snarled.
He tilted his head, smirking. “The truth hurts. Sorry to be the deliveryman. My daddy was wrong, though; Rocco doesn’t want you either. But if you wanted to keep him, you played it wrong. A man wants what he can’t have, not what comes easy. My Mama said you should’ve gotten pregnant or kept your legs closed instead of showing off your body in pictures, and letting Rocco Marini grope you in public,” he spat out, his voice rising as he stood up to pace in front of me. “It’s shameful how trashy you behaved, and now my father’s forcing me to marry you. He just loves to bring me down some pegs.”
My face heated, but I straightened my spine. “I didn’t behave trashy. I wore a designer dress to Cannes, and we kissed….” Because I wanted him.
“You kissed,” he snorted. “You did more than kiss. He fucked you—”
“Whatever we did together is none of your business, Percy,” I said irritably.
“It most certainly is my business if I have to marry you. I want a pure woman that I can take to church.”
My brows knitted, and my temples throbbed. “Then don’t marry me.”
“You honestly think we have control? You’re smarter than that…My lovely wife died, and I can’t marry the woman I want because she’s poor.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. “So now you want to take your disappointment out on me; you can marry her if you want—”
“And become poor? No thanks,” he said and cringed. “This is our destiny, Adelina. We don’t want each other, but we’ll marry.”
“Just tell them no, or maybe Rocco could….” I mumbled and didn’t know what I expected Rocco to do. He’s the head of the Marini empire, he has choices now.
He chuckled. “You still believe in Rocco. He really did a number on you. Where is he? Has he called? I bet he hasn’t. He’s done.”
My temples pounded, and I touched them, not having another argument to give. Instead, I looked away and lowered my head.
“So, you’re getting it. Good. You’re just a pawn for Rocco’s desires. You’ve got nothing to offer a man like him. He fucked you because you’re easy, but he never planned to keep you.”
I scoffed. “You won’t keep me either.”
“Oh, I will, Adelina. You can put that idea completely out of your head. I’ll marry you because I have righteousness on my side. I came here today to give us a chance to come to an understanding.”
“And what is it?” I rasped.
I lifted my head and his expression was flat. “After we marry, that’s the end of your contact with Rocco Marini. You have an affection for him, and I deserve a chance to court you without him being in the way.”
I blinked. His desire to want a connection surprised me after all he shared. Maybe it’s for show or to not compare him to someone he may think above him? But maybe it was Percy’s way. His frankness was harsh, but to be honest, I usually preferred when someone laid out all the cards for me. Then he said, “Now, I don’t know if we’ll love each other, but we will share mutual respect. You’ll be kind to my family and friends, and we’ll grow our families with good children and raise them well.”
I turned away from him on the seat and clasped my stomach. Percy was merely repeating what I’d heard the past eight years. And some of the things he shared made sense. Rocco didn’t need or want me. He got out of the marriage the second he could, and I, like a fool, ruined my prospects by sleeping with him. I did as my grandfather asked instead of what grandmother told me, and now I’m stuck with a man and family that will look down on me, and I’ll live at his mercy for the rest of my life.
Bile rose in my throat. Talking to him left me exhausted. I pulled my sweater off the back of the seat, averted my eyes, and stood. “I’m going back inside,” I mumbled and stepped out of the pavilion.
“Yeah, go on. I decided I won’t fuck you today.”
I whirled around and glared at him. “What the hell did you say?”
He snickered. “I said, I won’t fuck you today.”
My eyes narrowed, and I fisted my hands. “I know you won’t, why did you even believe you could?”
He raised a brow and gave me a shit-eating grin. “You’re surprised by that? You spread your legs like butter for Rocco out of marriage. Why shouldn’t I get a taste? Hell, even your grandparents expected I’d want to—”
“You’re lying,” I snapped.
His eyes bore into mine. “I’m most certainly not. Ask your grandparents about it when we get back to the house. That’s why they left you alone with me.” He brushed my hair off my right shoulder, and I jerked away, horrified, my face burning in shame. Why am I ashamed? Percy must have made it up to torment me, but still there was doubt in my head. However, I didn’t want to go there with him.
“What about the woman you say you love, Percy?”
He shook his head dismissively. “She’ll understand. You’ll be my wife, and she’ll be my wife in spirit. She knows it’s our duty to procreate. Besides that, I’m a virile man, and you’re a beautiful, desirable woman.”
I gritted my teeth. Had Glenn said the same to Mama? He always treated her like a prize on his arm, her beauty undeniable even after all she’d lived through. It never seemed like love, more like a business arrangement. She told me he cheated and she felt alone. Maybe that was why she never gave her heart to him. But I wasn’t her.
“If you try to force me to have sex with you, I’ll kill you.”
He laughed at my back. “I won’t need to force you. There are many ways to break a wild horse. I’ll surely break you. But go on, run away, Adelina. I know when girls need to work through their tantrums. You run along and cry, but I expect you to be sweet to me the next time we meet.”
I walked fast away from him and up the hill. In my head, I planned to leave my grandparents’ home and start over, using the ticket Mrs. Cosgrove gave me at graduation. I won’t take any of their money. I could use the money left in my bank account. Find a job .
However, when I reached the top of the hill, I knew I’d never do it. Couldn’t do it.
“There are good care solutions in North Carolina if you want him close to you. It just takes adjusting. I think most disabled people are used to adapting.”
My life has always and will always revolve around what Jacob needs . I’ll never resent my brother, but I will also never forgive the men who lord my love for him over my life.
There was only one choice now.