Chapter 3 #2
My dad’s hand gripped my knee, but I refused to play nice. There was no use in pretending. Everyone in the room knew I was there under the threat of violence or worse.
“I was hoping we would get some time to speak in private before the exam,” Roderick stated.
“Exam? What exam?” I asked, looking over at my dad.
“Zenia, the preliminary health exam is required before every marriage. You know that.”
I scoffed. “Health exam? You mean I have to be violated and prodded again to make sure I’m still a virgin.”
Roderick laughed. “Phrase it however you choose. It’s part of the process. I can’t just trust that a thick and pretty thing like you has never had sex in your whole twenty-eight years of living, especially when you didn’t think you were ever going to get married.”
“I can assure you that she’s pure. Even so, the doctor is already here. He will complete the process after dinner.”
“Nobody around here gives a damn what I want.”
Roderick snorted a laugh. “I actually love my women strong-willed. I’m going to have a ball breaking you down.”
“You’re not breaking a damn thing!” I spat.
“Zenia, enough!”
“She’ll learn her place,” Roderick declared.
My dad nodded. “I have no doubt about that.”
I focused on the servers coming in to fill our plates with food as the men continued their conversation and negotiations as if I weren’t right here.
My own father talked about me like I was just another one of his assets.
No one bothered to ask me any questions as the wedding date and time were finalized, even the minister who would conduct the ceremony.
I heard one of them mention that the forty something thousand-dollar tab that I’d run up was completely paid for by my dad.
He wanted to make sure I got everything that I wanted.
That way when it was time to sign my name on the dotted line, I wouldn’t have any excuses other than my basic morals and principles to not want to go through with the marriage.
Every detail of my future was being planned as I dug into the medium well prime rib and buttery scalloped potatoes.
As hopeless as I felt about my future, at least the food was good.
“You know you’re not supposed to have potatoes. You’re on a strict diet,” my father warned.
“Can I at least have something that I want?”
“I just paid fifty thousand dollars to give you everything you wanted, or have you forgotten!”
“That was what you wanted! I don’t want any of this,” I said, shoving the plate away.
“Come take a walk with me, Ms. Morgan,” Roderick suggested.
My head snapped back as I looked over at him. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“You’ll do as you’re told,” my father barked.
I sighed, pushing back from the table and standing.
Roderick shook his head slowly as he stood.
He walked around to me and grabbed my hand.
One of the security guards opened the double doors to let us out.
I followed Roderick as he led the way outside to the courtyard garden.
The flowers always smelled so good on a warm summer night.
He kept his stride until he was next to the fountain, then turned around to face me.
“Ms. Morgan, you’ve disappointed a lot of people in the past few years. I won’t be added to that list. In thirty days, we will be husband and wife.”
I shrugged. “So, I’ve heard.”
“You don’t seem to be as accepting of the idea as I’d hoped.”
“What do you expect?”
“I expect you to accept this situation and try to make the best of it.”
“I wasn’t aware that my opinion mattered.”
That made him chuckle. “Oh, it doesn’t. I just need you to understand that I’m not a man you should test.”
“Noted.” I rolled my eyes.
He laughed. “I’m sure you know what happened to my cousin Heather when she failed her preliminary exam,” he mentioned.
“Turns out she was fucking her driver of all people. I saw to it that she was taken care of. I loved her, but I will never let anyone betray this family. She had a beautiful funeral. I even shed a couple of tears over her cold, dead body. They probably won’t ever find all the parts of his body, though. ”
“I hope you didn’t come out here thinking you were going to scare me. You do know who my father is, don’t you?”
“I do. My goal is never to scare anyone. I’m all about action. If you think I’m a toy, I will show you how to play. Respectfully, I will make sure you can have an open casket just like Heather.”
“Kiss my ass.”
“I actually can’t wait to do that. Contrary to what your father thinks, I love myself a big girl.”
“Good for you,” I said, finally turning on my heels to head back inside.
Within seconds, he was at my side with a death grip on my arm. “Don’t even think about trying to run, Zenia. No matter how far you run or how good you try to hide, I will find you.”
After making his point, he continued walking into the house.
I stopped and dropped my head back, looking up into the night sky.
What kind of man would confess about murdering his own cousin to his future wife?
Oh yeah, the one my dad let buy me. My father had literally sold me to a family of monsters.
Roderick was not too different from my father.
I knew that it was only a matter of time before I did something that he didn’t like.
How long would it be before I met the same fate as his cousin?
I knew one thing. I wasn’t going to stick around much longer waiting for someone to decide how I lived and died.
If I couldn’t be happy, there wasn’t much reason for me to stay in this world.
I was leaving, and there was nothing anyone could do about it short of killing me.
Since my mind was made up, there was no longer any reason for me to be afraid.
First, I had to go see the person responsible for every one of my problems. If I was going to have some semblance of happiness before I left this earth, Reed Fuller had to die.
I knocked on the door to Emerson’s office before pushing it open and letting myself in.
Knocking was always a formality. She’d told me a hundred times that it was unnecessary to knock, but I was so used to knocking before entering a room, due to my father’s demands.
You never knew what kind of nefarious or unscrupulous activities he was doing on the other side of a closed door. Most of us had learned the hard way.
Emerson’s curly afro was twisted into a neat bun at the crown of her head, and wire-rimmed glasses sat on the end of her nose as she scribbled on the sketch pad in front of her.
“Can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Sure,” she said, looking up from her next masterpiece and pushing her glasses up on her face.
“I need an escape plan. I remember you saying Cruz helped someone with something like that before.”
“You mean like witness protection?”
“No.” I quickly shook my head. “Witness protection won’t be good enough. My father has eyes and ears everywhere. I can’t take a chance of someone knowing where I am. I need an identity and a car. All of our cars have trackers.”
Her brows slowly lifted to her hairline as I spoke. “Zenny, what’s going on?”
“I can’t go through with this shit, Em. I saw my future, and it doesn’t look bright at all.”
She cracked a smile. “You psychic now?”
“I met my fiancé last night.”
“Met? How are you just meeting your fiancé, Zenia? I thought you knew him.”
“I knew of him. It’s an arranged marriage,” I confessed, looking down at my feet.
“And you have to go through with it? I’ve always heard the Morgan family was part of The Force, but you never said.”
My head snapped up so I could meet her eyes. “You’ve heard of The Force?”
“Girl, yes! My family is mafia too. I just don’t have anything to do with them since I married Jessiah. My dad was going to force me to marry some dude to help the business. Is that what’s happening to you?”
“That’s what he thinks is going to happen to me. I have to get out of here. My husband-to-be is a violent asshole. I cannot do this shit.”
She kept her eyes on me as she stood from her desk and walked around to sit on the edge of it. “You sure you want to run, baby? You know there are consequences.”
“I’m positive. I just have to get away from here long enough to find the man I was supposed to marry in the first place.”
Emerson’s eyes stretched. “Damn, so this isn’t your first arrangement? I feel like I don’t even know you.”
“I was matched with someone when I was twelve. We were supposed to get married when I turned twenty-one. He ran off with another woman, and I’ve been a leper in the community ever since.”
“Damn, Zenia. How am I just hearing about this? I really thought we were friends.”
I shrugged. “We are. I used to be in an arranged marriage doesn’t really come up in conversation.”