19. A Friendly Explanation
19
A Friendly Explanation
Jessica
I’m startled by a soft knock on my door.
For a brief moment, excitement rushes through me, thinking it might be Matt, but I quickly squash any type of excitement at the thought because there’s no way in hell he’d be knocking on my door right now. It’s too risky, and this is not the point in the game where it would be okay for his connection to me to be known.
I also find it amusing that anyone would knock, so I know it must be someone who doesn’t typically come down here.
I wait, and then the knock sounds again, and I say, “Hello?”
A small feminine voice replies, “May I come in?”
I snort, shrug, and then laugh at the fact that they can’t see me. “Sure.”
The door cracks open and then swings inward barely a foot, and a small figure squeezes in, quickly closing the door behind.
She turns to face me, and I cock my head, trying to place why she seems familiar, and then it occurs to me where I’ve seen her before.
Sneaking out a doorway when I was waiting outside what turned out to be Matteo’s door.
This must be her.
Matt’s betrothed.
I grind my teeth together, incredibly annoyed at the rush of jealousy that eats at me.
She gives me a tentative smile that I don’t return. I squint at her, having no idea why she would bother coming to see me, of all people. Finally, I ask, “What do you want?”
The smile falls from her face, and she looks at the floor as she says, “I need to speak with you.”
“I can’t imagine why,” I respond rather pissily.
I know whatever has gone on with her and Matt isn’t anything personal against me. I’m sure this woman knew nothing about me, and most likely, she still knows nothing about me. But that doesn’t make me feel any better about it.
She moves to walk toward me, and I put my hand up. “Stay over there.”
She nods and then swallows, watching me thoughtfully. “You have nothing to fear from me.”
“Not the first time I’ve heard that.”
She laughs softly, her eyebrows lift slightly. “I get that.”
She’s quiet, so after a brief pause, I say, “Well, you may as well spit it out, then.”
“I just want you to know that this thing between Matt and me is nothing.”
Well, I wasn’t expecting that.
I frown, unsure what to say, and when I remain silent, she says, “Matt’s a great guy.” She pauses and laughs, bobbing her head around as she adds, “Like I need to tell you that.”
I stare at her in puzzlement, unsure where she’s going with this conversation, though certainly curious to find out why she decided to come all this way to explain herself. Then she says, “We have no plans ever to be married. Frankly, he’s too old for me and sometimes kind of a bore.”
Now, I laugh. Most people mistake Matt for being a bore, but once you get to know him, that idea just becomes laughable. She does look quite young, though, so considering him to be too old seems reasonable.
“You don’t need to explain anything to me,” I say tiredly. “It’s really none of my business.”
Her eyes widen, and she rushes toward me so quickly that I take a step back. She stops when she’s a couple of feet from me as she says, with great feeling, “Oh, but it is. Of course it is.”
“I don’t see how it’s any of my business. Given my current circumstances, I don’t really have a lot of leeway to be upset.”
She shakes her head vigorously and then exclaims, “Oh, don’t you worry about that. Matt will fix it. He’s going to fix everything.”
I laugh humorlessly, my arms crossing over my chest as I retort, “Well, I wish him a lot of fucking luck with that. Because from where I’m standing, this seems kind of final.”
She looks at me thoughtfully for a moment and then says, “He told me about you.”
Startled, I scoff, “Seriously? Try again.”
She smiles brightly and nods. “He told me he has a girl, and he hoped she’d still be there when all this shit was over.”
Now, I’m annoyed that her statement has warmth flaring inside me. Because I really don’t have time for warm tingles and butterflies.
“That’s all good and well, but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s an idiot.”
She snorts, and for some reason, such an indelicate sound coming from such a delicate-appearing person makes me a giggle. And then she says, “Well, that goes without saying.”
I like her. And now I’m annoyed that I like her.
She glances around the room, and I scan her while she’s distracted. She’s not as delicate as I thought she was when she first entered the room. While she’s on the petite side and certainly smaller than me, I can tell she’s strong.
I motion to the chairs in the corner, and we walk over, and both take a seat. I look over at her and ask, “What’s your name?”
“Marieka,” she answers easily. I must have another puzzled look because she smiles and adds, “My father allowed my mother to name me anything she wanted. That’s how come I ended up with a name that didn’t line up with my heritage. Same thing happened with my brother, Kaian.”
“Oh, that was the man with Matt when I first got here?”
She nods. “Yes, that’s my older brother. He’s the one who set up the situation between us.”
“But why do that if you don’t plan on going through with it?”
“It’s all a ruse,” she explains. “Just a cover to keep me out of harm’s way until we can make other arrangements. Being connected to Matt will at least keep most of the undesirables away from me and prevent my father from accidentally making a deal with someone else.”
“Accidentally?”
“I know it sounds stupid, but when those assholes get drinking and then start running their mouths, anything can happen.”
I’m sure more bad deals have been made over a bottle of booze than anything else, so I can’t really argue with her logic.
“So, what would you do if you found yourself forced down the aisle?”
She waves her hand dismissively as she replies, “That wouldn’t happen. This is just a short-term Band-Aid until we can get me out of here.”
“But how can you know that?” I ask incredulously. “You can’t control anything with these people.”
“This is true, but my brother wouldn’t have allowed it. Even if we made it to the altar, none of it would have been real. And even if it had been real, it could have just been annulled.”
“I can’t decide if you are delusional or not.”
She frowns and asks, “What do you mean?”
“Are you so sheltered that you haven’t been privy to the disgusting bullshit that goes on around marriages here?”
Her eyes widen, and she swallows visibly before whispering, “Probably.”
“I don’t know about your specific family, but a lot of these families require proof of the legitimacy of a union.”
“What do you mean proof?”
I stare at her, and she stares back at me wide-eyed, and then I say, “Like, actual, visual proof of consummation of the vows. And I don’t mean just the bloody sheets after the fact. A lot of times, they’re going to watch.”
She gasps, her hand moving over her chest, and she grimaces. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah,” I reply. “I thought maybe it was just some overly fictionalized craziness, too. But I know people who have told me some of the horror stories of what goes on. And frankly, Matt already told me that at some point, he’s going to have to do some nasty shit that I’m not going to like, and I’m going to have to pretend not to care. He was very clear on that.”
Her brows pinch together, sadness falling over her features. She grasps her hands together on her lap as she says softly, “And that is probably true. He’s going to fix this, but God only knows what lengths he’ll have to go in order to do so.”
I nod, sitting back in my chair with a sigh, and then I say, “Luckily, I had an extensive briefing by some women who knew exactly what could go on here. They didn’t sugarcoat anything. I’d even say they went so far as to smash any type of rose-colored glasses I could possibly have just to make sure I understood how bad it could get.”
She goes to reply, but a ruckus on the other side of the door cuts her short. She whirls around and then turns back to me and whispers, “I can’t be caught here.”
I groan, rising from my chair, reaching for her hand, and pulling her to her feet. “Hide under the bed. The odds of them thinking someone is here is basically nil, so there’s a high likelihood you’ll be safe there.”
The ruckus turns into pounding on the door, and it’s obvious that it’s more than one set of fists, and then boisterous voices sound through the thick wood, and my heart rate increases. She squeezes my hand. I meet her eyes, and she says, “This can’t be good.”
I nod, shooing her with my hands as I say, “Hide, quick.”
She drops down on the floor, looking up at me and saying quietly, “What about you?”
“If things get fucked, you wait until the coast is clear, and you go find Matt and your brother.”
She meets my eyes again, staring intently as she nods, and then she drops to the floor and rolls under the bed.
I move back to the chair, and I’ve just sat myself back down when they finally realize the door is unlocked, and then the door bursts open, and a whole group of men flood in, led by a wild-eyed Matteo.
My stomach bottoms out, and my heart races in my chest as I try to keep the bile down, knowing that things just got fucked.