Chapter 4
Imogen
Tonight’s the night.
If I think about it anymore then I’ll only back out of what is a perfect plan for my sweet escape.
Tonight I’m leaving and I’m not going to look back.
I’ll leave with nothing more but with the clothes on my back and cash to spend. Nothing can be traceable. One little mistake and pa will come rushing after me worse than a raging bull and lock me in my room until I make it up on that altar and say I do.
I’ve studied the guard’s routines. The best time for me to make a break for it is at three in the morning.
How fitting. Devils hour.
To make myself as inconspicuous as possible I’ll wrap my ginger hair in a tight bun and place it beneath a ball cap.
I’ll wear my black hoodie, a size one too big, and a pair of cargo black pants.
I’ll blend in with the night, becoming one with the shadows.
And if I must attack one of pa’s men I will.
I may not stand the greatest chance against them but self defense training has taught me where my strengths lie.
A quick jab to one’s throat will cause them to splutter and choke.
My wicked aim with a gun will render them crippling but not dead.
If not a kill shot then aim for the legs.
I never thought I would have to escape my fate. But Niall’s death changed things. It changed everything.
He was such a damn fool for believing he could go up against The Donati Famiglia and come out alive.
Not one of those bastards knows mercy.
But in this world does anyone?
I toy with the heart locket ma had given me when I was just a child.
It was one of the first pieces of jewelry she had ever gifted me.
Inside the gold heart locket is a picture of ma holding me right after delivery.
She had almost lost her life when giving birth to me.
After she had pushed me out she hemorrhaged.
Ma often tells me the story of how with what little strength she had she held onto me fiercely as they stopped the bleeding and stitched her up.
Indulging her I would listen to the story each and every time as if it was the first time hearing it.
She always finishes the story with, “you see, Imogen. Us women may bleed but we will never die. Only by choice.”
I didn’t understand what she had meant back then. But I understand now.
And I’ll carry it with me on my new adventure.
A rapping of three hard knocks has me quickly surveying the room to ensure everything I need for my escape is tucked secretly away.
“Safe to come in?” My pa asks.
I try to calm my heart yet it still races. Perspiration builds at the nape of my neck. “Come in!” I invite pa in my room while trying to appear the least bit suspicious. But even a deaf man can hear my voice is pitched too high to be natural.
Pa enters my room with an easy smile on his slightly weathered face. For a man in his early sixties he keeps himself in shape. But the lines on his forehead and the crows feet that are etched deep in his flesh tell the tales of a man who has lived not an easy life.
“How are you feeling, my sweet girl?”
“I’m fine.” As soon as I say the word fine I realize my error. Pa raises a brow at me and I recover with a wide smile that makes my cheeks ache. “I’m great, pa.”
“Lying has never been a strength of yours.”
“Who says I’m lying?” He gives me a look that says, ‘you’re not fooling anyone.’
His eyes glance around the room before they set on mine with serious intent. “You’re doing me proud tomorrow, Imogen.” My heart drops to my stomach. “You know how much this means to me? The family?”
In a last ditch effort I attempt to reason with pa to not go forward with this. “Is Sebastian really the man you want to be heir of this family?”
His brows furrow. “He’s of good stature. Intelligent. Proved himself in the ranks. I couldn’t think of a better man to lead this family. Why the sudden questioning?”
I refrain from rolling my eyes. This isn’t the first time I’ve questioned pa about Sebastian. “Forgive me but I don’t see why he’s needed to be heir.”
“Did you not just hear me, Imogen?”
I swallow. I then voice before I lose the courage. “I did. But you aren’t hearing me.”
Pa stares at me like I’ve grown three heads. And when his eyes narrow I feel my confidence shrink. This. . .this is the man that all of Ireland bow down to. The face they fear.
“We aren’t discussing this.” His tone is grave, final. There’s a chill in the air.
Too bad his stubbornness runs in my veins. “But I’m the rightful heir and you know it!”
“And no man will answer to you!” He bellows. His face turns redder than a lush at a pub. The angry vein on his forehead pulsates. The harshness of his words feels like a blow to the kidneys.
“Has it ever occurred to you that you have the power to make them listen? You can make them see reason. You just don’t want to see me lead, do you?”
“Do you honestly think you can, Imogen? Niall was driven. He had ambition. Purpose. He bled for this family and he would have done anything for it to thrive. He killed. He manipulated. He —“
“Is dead,” I boldly say and pa looks stricken.
“Niall is dead because his ambition was too great. He’s dead because you and him believed an alliance with the then Fiore Famiglia would’ve proved to be successful.
And had you listened to me maybe your precious heir Niall would still be here.
But you couldn’t listen to a woman, could you?
I had always thought better of you than that.
But maybe it’s just The Donati Famiglia that respect their woman.
After all, Carina leads alongside Constantine. ”
He aggressively points his finger mere inches away from my face.
And it feels like a loaded gun pointed at my head.
I don’t falter. I stare him in the eye like any man would do.
Challenging him. “You do not dare say her name in this house, do you understand me?!” The pure undulated fury in his voice rattles my bones.
“And you will certainly not speak ill of your brother while he’s in the grave. Have you no fuckin’ respect?!”
“Why should I when you don’t even respect me?!”
He spins on his heel and punches a hole through my bedroom wall. I’ve known my pa to be a violent man but his violent nature was never exposed to me. And despite my brave exterior I can’t help but feel slightly shaken.
The vicious snap of the impact of his fist reverberates long after it’s done. And the awful thought creeps in the back of my head, did he imagine the wall to be me?
“You want to know why you will never lead this family, Imogen?” He flexes his hand.
His knuckles battered and split open. It’s not the first time his hands have been ruined, and it won’t be the last. His eyes meet mine and I’m sucked into a void of disappointment and aggravation.
It’s a tough pill to swallow. Especially when Pa has always looked at me with adoration and love in his eyes.
“Because to lead you must sacrifice. You must put the family first before your own selfish desires. And look at you, Imogen, you can’t even put this family first to marry Sebastian tomorrow.
You don’t have what it takes to lead. You never will. ”
My heart splinters. Tears unbidden burn at the back of my eyes. I never imagined my pa to think so lowly of me. I could wallow in my sorrows. Lick my wounds. But the anger blazing through me is consuming.
“Until today I have never felt more inconsequential and insignificant to anyone. And yet you, my own pa, have made it crystal clear that all I am is a means to an end with this family.”
He remains silent. His mouth set in a firm line. That damn Irish pride. It won’t allow him to admit his wrongs. Even with his daughter he claims to love more than anything.
My lips curl in disgust. “My unhappiness means nothing to you. I see your love and loyalty to the family is greater than your love and loyalty to me.”
Pa’s face crumbles for only a second. A twinge of regret enters his eyes but in a blink it’s gone. In return is the face of the mob boss all must bow down and adhere to.
“I don’t expect you to understand—“
I say harshly, “I understand just fine.”
He sighs heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“I love you, Imogen.” I scoff and he repeats it with more warmth.
“I do. I love you. You’re my daughter. My only daughter.
My now only child. Do you really think I would marry you off to some monster?
Place you in the hands of a man I didn’t trust? ”
“No,” I breathe. “But the fact you’re placing me in the hands of a man at all is what I don’t agree with.”
“Nothing I say will change your mind, will it?”
I raise a brow. “And nothing I say will change yours, will it?” He sighs once more. I nod my head bitterly. “Then I suppose we have reached an impasse.”
“If we did that would mean the marriage wouldn’t be happening,” he points out much to my dismay. “And I’m sorry, my sweet girl, but I will be walking you down that aisle tomorrow.”
In my mind I know nothing I could have said would’ve swayed him on the matter, but my heart had such high hopes that he would. And that poor organ has just taken a vicious blow.
Somehow it makes the decision for my escape that much easier yet harder at the same time.
Because while I have every right intention to make my own fate I’ll also be mourning a family I’ll never be able to return home to.
And that . . . that kills me.
So I find myself nodding resignedly with a sob lodged in my throat.
“You’re doing the right thing.”
My smile is strained at best, my voice chokes. “I know.”