CHAPTER 28 #2
“And now you will continue to do so.” Daniel descended the final stair. “You will go to your room and remain there until tomorrow’s ceremony.”
“I want proof that Dante’s alive.”
His gaze sharpened slightly then, cold intelligence flickering beneath the calm.
“You are in no position to make demands.”
I hated how steady he sounded. How utterly unsurprised he was by any of this. Calm. Cold. Controlled. It was little wonder Adamian had chosen him to take over the family. He may be young, but Daniel was also terrifying.
“Adamian said after the wedding I’d be released. Dante too,” I tried, my voice not quite as resolved as it had been before.
One corner of Daniel’s mouth moved faintly. Not a smile. Something harsher; almost mocking. He saw me as the inexperienced fool I had been that night.
“Your father is dying, Cara. Time is valuable.” He paused. “And you are painfully naive.”
Ice spread through me as those words sunk in. It had all been lies? Was Dante even alive? They obviously didn’t plan to let us go.
“No…”
“He needed this marriage completed before his death.” Daniel’s dark eyes held mine without pity. “As for what happens afterward, that depends entirely on your usefulness.”
Fear hollowed out my chest. No one knew where I was.
No one was coming after me, and even if they did, how would they find me all of the way in the country?
How could I have been so stupid? I’d been desperate to get Dante back, and I had way overestimated myself.
I was useless. Worse than useless. Useless would mean I sat on my hands at home and didn’t make things worse.
I had made things worse, especially for Dante.
What use did they even have for him now?
“You lied to me.”
“No,” he said calmly. “He lied to you.”
I took a step back, my regret and anger at my naive foolishness, slamming into me like a ten-ton weight. Daniel saw it. He knew what a little fool I was as it started to sink in for me too.
He continued as though discussing business, not a jot of feeling in his cold features as he pretty much disregarded me.
“You will marry me tomorrow. Afterward, you will do what you have been trained to do.”
“Trained? I’m not one of your people,” I threw back.
“You are Adamian’s daughter…” His gaze swept over me coolly. “…whether you like it or not.”
“I won’t help you.”
“You will. You will learn to obey me as your husband. Looking at you, I think you may be of use for only one thing, but maybe that will be enough. Maybe not.” He shrugged, like it mattered not to him whether he killed me or not.
It sent a chill down my spine, but it was the certainty in his voice that terrified me most.
I looked toward the doors instinctively, calculating distance despite knowing it was pointless. If I got out, where the hell would I go? I was in the middle of nowhere and I had seen guards outside all around the grounds. Still, I glanced back again. Daniel noticed.
“You cannot leave this estate.”
Two women appeared silently at the edge of the hall. They were both dressed the same, in neat black trousers and pressed white shirts. They wore their hair pulled back, and were similar in age, around a decade older than me.
“Take her upstairs,” he ordered calmly. Always calm.
I looked back at Daniel one last time. I couldn’t let go so easily, not with Dante’s life on the line.
“If you hurt Dante…”
“Enough.”
The single word cut through me. Not loud. Not emotional. Just absolute, and powerful enough to remind me I was supposed to be being careful.
“You will do as instructed until the wedding. After that, your role becomes very simple.” His gaze remained cool and unreadable. “Obedience will make your life easier.”
Then he turned and walked away, just like that, as though my terror meant nothing at all.
Which it obviously didn’t. This was the man I was to marry.
This was the man I was expected to hand my body over to, not that it seemed I would have much choice in the matter.
I clutched my stomach as it turned violently. I was going to be sick.
The women escorted me upstairs through endless corridors before stopping outside a large bedroom. I didn’t object. I barely even looked around. I just blindly followed them as I fought not to throw up or break down.
The door shut behind me with a heavy click. I assumed it was locked, but I tested it anyway.
“Damn it!” I growled when the handle didn’t even turn. I was trapped and definitely fucked. My throat tightened painfully. The tears were coming.
I forced in a breath, trying to cling to calm, and turned around.
The room itself was beautiful. A massive four-poster bed stood near tall windows draped with cream silk curtains.
A fire crackled softly in the hearth. Antique furniture gleamed beneath warm lamplight.
It was comfortable and luxurious, but none of that hid the truth.
It was a prison. One I had walked myself right into.
Then I saw the dress. White satin hung beside the wardrobe doors in eerie perfection, lavish and elegant and irrefutably expensive.
I didn’t know what style it was. I didn’t wear dresses, not unless they were the kind you wore with leggings.
But I could see it would be hugging on my figure.
There would be little left to the imagination with how tightly that fabric would enfold my body.
Matching shoes sat beneath it; towering heels that I would not have a chance of being able to balance in.
I wondered how happy Mr. Control would be if I hobbled down the aisle to him on a twisted ankle.
On the large dressing table to the side there was makeup, hair products, and styling tools with which I was not familiar.
My hair was wild, naturally curly like my mother’s.
I’d never bothered styling it. I washed it, threw some curl products in, then let it be.
I hope they aren’t expecting great things from me in the hair and beauty department, I thought with a bitter laugh.
Beside all of that there was even jewellery laid out - a string of pearls with a matching bracelet and small earrings. Everything was laid out carefully like tomorrow was some fairytale wedding instead of a transaction built on coercion and blood.
A note rested on the vanity table.
Be ready by ten AM.
My knees nearly gave out and I stumbled across the room, sitting heavily on the edge of the bed, staring at the dress while panic clawed its way up my throat.
This wedding was going to be tethering myself to more pain, violence, and fear, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. What had I done?
I’d walked willingly into the hands of dangerous men believing promises from a dying criminal who had manipulated me.
He’d probably been the one to order the death of my mother.
He orchestrated my kidnap from Jewels, and those men who had hurt me - the fucker who violated me – they worked for him!
I knew this. I knew he was likely behind Rafe’s shooting, and so much more, and still I trusted him.
He even laughed at me when I asked him to give his word!
God, I was the biggest idiot to ever walk the Earth.
I had been blinded by my need to save Dante.
God, Dante….
He might already be dead because of me and if he weren’t, surely it wouldn’t be long before they got rid of him. Shame burned so hot inside, it made my eyes sting.
I pressed trembling fingers against my mouth, fighting the urge to completely fall apart.
I glanced down to my black clothes with disgust. Who had I been kidding?
There was no strength inside me any longer.
Putting on clothes I used to wear wasn’t going to magically make me tough again. I was broken. Weak. So fucking stupid.
Naive.
Daniel’s words echoed viciously in my head because I knew he was right.
I used to be street smart. I used to look out for danger like it was my lifetime hobby.
Being with Rafe and the guys, letting them shelter me more and more with everything that happened to me, it had destroyed me.
It had taken that fiery, strong side of me that I had built over years, and crushed it. It had made me forget.
I let myself break silently in that beautiful prison of a room. I’d never see my brother or the guys I was in love with again. Dante. I’d never even get to tell him that I loved him. I’d die as I’d lived most of my life, alone, afraid, and in violence.
I don’t know how much time passed, but I cried until there weren’t any more tears to come, then I just lay in a ball and drowned in despair. Hours passed and I knew Dario, Arran, and Cal would be losing their minds trying to find me. Rafe too if he had sobered up.
Then, sometime in the early hours of the morning, slowly - painfully slowly - the panic began to harden into something else. Something bitter and angry.
My thoughts changed from despair to disbelief of the life I had been given.
I didn’t understand what I did to deserve the horror I had faced.
I didn’t know what it was about me that meant the people I loved and cared about were always torn from me, or me from them.
I didn’t want to lose anyone else, damn it!
And I didn’t want to die in that nightmarish house at the hands of a husband I didn’t consent to, or the will of the man who had given me my crappy genes in the first place.
I wanted a life. I wanted my guys. I wanted Dante alive so I could help him heal and work through what happened between us.
I wanted to tell him I loved him and have him hold me the way he had before.
I wanted a future. I deserved a future. A good one.
And I didn’t want Rafe to lose me. He’d already lost so much.
Yes things between us were tough right then, but I loved him and I knew he loved me.
We needed each other and he was a part of the future I wanted.
I wasn’t going to let monsters control me anymore. Daniel was not going to pin me down tomorrow night and use me the way so many others had. I would never fucking obey him! I was weak, broken, and stupid, but I wasn’t going down without one final fight.
I lowered my hands and looked again at the locked door. Tomorrow they would let me out, they had to, and there would be people everywhere. Movement. Distractions. Opportunities. It was time to start thinking smart.
I inhaled shakily. No more weakness. I’d made a catastrophic mistake that night, but collapsing into fear wouldn’t save me or Dante. It wasn’t over yet.
Somewhere beneath the guilt and terror, I could feel the part of myself I’d lost these past months beginning to stir again - the harder part. The stronger part.
I stood and walked to the window overlooking the dark gardens below. The manor loomed around me like a monster waiting to swallow me whole. But monsters could bleed.
If this family thought I was walking quietly to that altar before disappearing into whatever life they planned for me afterward, they were going to learn exactly how dangerous desperate women could be.
I had skills. There would be weapons all over a house like this.
I’d do it. I’d find a way out. I’d find Dante and we would get the hell away from there together,
And if I had to burn that entire place to the ground to do it, so be it. I refused to give up on myself, or on Dante without one hell of a fight.