Chapter 10
Jasmina
LOVE WASN’T MEASURED BY large homes or extravagant things. I enjoyed little comforts—my family, my cousins, their laughter, my cat and modest apartment—when we weren’t out trying to keep the family name alive in the way my uncles had wanted.
“Welcome to your new home,” Callahan said, his voice echoing in the vast, cathedral-like foyer.
“Home?” I questioned, sounding small against the soaring marble columns and the massive iron-and-glass staircase that looked like it belonged in a modern art museum.
We had just passed through the large, iron-clad gates of the community only to drive for about a mile along a private, winding road carved through a dense, ancient forest. When the house finally appeared, it didn’t just sit on the land—it dominated it.
This didn’t feel like just a home. It felt like an estate of opulence with the winding stairs, and the floor-to-ceiling windows past the foyer into the living area weren’t just extravagant—they were giving a view of an expansive, manicured lawn with a forest in the distance.
I was at Hogwarts, but it was all updated to fit Callahan’s modern tastes in some way.
“Yes. Well, sometimes. I’m not here much really. I travel for the business, obviously.” He gestured vaguely toward the acreage outside. “We can have the wedding in the backyard. Once you start planning, make sure to invite all the people here. We want to be good neighbors.”
“You don’t have neighbors,” I pointed out, because he was surrounded by land and trees.
“Of course I do. My brother lives down the road. My mom lives just a few blocks into Paradise Grove, and everyone in this gated community is a neighbor.”
“And what about your father?” I asked him with a raised eyebrow.
“You know the story, Viper. He’s buried six feet under after betraying me and my brother.”
“And everyone here is just fine with that?”
“You asking if they’re all Diamonds?” He turned to me, a slow, dangerous smirk playing on his lips.
“I’d like to know who I’m dealing with, yes.” I’d seen the insignia on the gate that opened when we drove in. Paradise Grove held many Diamonds, I was sure. I was in enemy territory and knew the show I would have to put on for the next twenty-four months if I wanted to survive.
“Give or take a few.” He winked at me. “Let’s just say Paradise Grove is a closed ecosystem. Everyone understands the dynamic and responsibility of living here. You’ll be well watched, if that’s what you’re asking, Viper. Don’t do anything stupid.”
I scoffed and set my cat carrier down to unzip it.
“What are you doing? Your room is upstairs, the last door on the left. And your ex can stay with you in it.” He shook his head like I was ridiculous for thinking otherwise, and then started walking up the stairs like I should follow.
I did because the sooner I found my room, the sooner I could get away from him.
“Oh, so now we’re not sleeping together?” I lifted a brow.
“I wouldn’t dare sleep with such a precious, innocent woman until I’ve wed her,” he said condescendingly.
“How chivalrous of you. You going to keep your dick in your pants long enough for me to plan a whole wedding?”
He chuckled, “Probably not.” We continued down the hall, and Romeo meowed like he hated the place.
I hated all the doors I passed, all the unknowns, and I hated the perfect specimen of a man I was following.
Then he stopped at the door on the left and opened it to a neat room with what looked like a walk-in closet and bathroom.
He leaned on the doorframe and looked at me like he was confused I was asking.
“Do you really want me to keep my dick in my pants?”
I walked past him quickly to set Romeo’s carrier on the bed because I was confused too. I didn’t care what he did in his sex life, right? The more he slept with other women, the less he’d sleep with me, right? I mean, I only had to marry him and stave off pregnancy for two years.
“Sleep with every woman in the world for all I care,” I said fast, trying to cover the turn happening in my stomach.
“What a great wife you’ll be,” he mumbled. “Although”—he waited a beat to consider it—“two weeks isn’t that long for me to hold off until the wedding night.”
“Two weeks?” I screeched. There was no way my stitches would completely heal in that time. I could feel my heartbeat starting to skyrocket in the wounds just thinking about it.
Plus, my aunt and uncle would want extravagance, a showing of our alliance and partnership. That meant we couldn’t have anything but a perfect wedding.
“I can’t plan a whole wedding that’s extravagant enough for our families in two freaking weeks, Callahan.
” That would be my play. It was for my aunt, cousins, his family, all the Diamond Syndicate, and it would be partially true anyway.
“Can you really say you want to put on a wedding that’s less than perfect for all of the syndicate to see? ”
“I don’t care.” He shrugged, but his jaw was ticking.
“Okay, what about your mother, your brother? This neighborhood?”
“It doesn’t have to be memorable.” He waved away the idea. “It just has to be a wedding.”
“Easy for you to say. Do you know my family? My aunt and cousins would die if I just cobbled together some mess of an event.”
His eyes held no emotion. He gave me that dead stare like he didn’t give a shit one way or the other. “I don’t care what your aunt and cousins think, Jas. If you’re that concerned, make it a good one.”
“I don’t have the means to do that,” I blurted out and then snapped my mouth shut. It was the truth, of course, and that’s what he needed to understand, but our family didn’t like to appear broke.
“My money is your money now when it comes to our wedding.” Callahan’s eyes burned holes into mine as if he wanted to assess whether I was putting on a show.
“Your businesses need to know where your allegiance lies sooner rather than later. I don’t need them getting other ideas.
You know the Irish are circling too. Invites need to go out tomorrow. ”
“I don’t think—”
“Good. Because I didn’t ask for any of your thoughts on this. It’s the deal your family agreed to. It was your signature on the contract, was it not?”
“So, what? I just don’t get a say through this whole marriage?”
“I’m letting you plan the wedding.”
“In two weeks!”
“This isn’t the one of your dreams, Viper.
It’s just a performance so that we can get it done.
” He gestured around his estate. “Make yourself at home, keep the cat locked up, and utilize Paradise Grove for any planning help you may need. And my future sister-in-law, Mia, is sure to come by. She’ll help.
Just get it done.” He looked at his watch.
“Have somewhere to be?”
“Yeah. Anywhere but here. I have work … a life. Or maybe I have plans of getting my dick wet. So, we done?”
“What a great husband you’ll be.”
“Better than an Irishman.”
“I would have never let that happen.”
“They would have forced you into it.”
His words hit closer to home than I wanted them to. I blinked twice and tried not to rub a hand over the wounds on my stomach. “I won’t let anyone do that to my family.”
“You’re only one person, Viper. You can’t protect your whole family from them.” His tone was soft.
“Isn’t that exactly what I’m doing by marrying you?”
“I guess. But in exchange, you’ve sacrificed yourself, have you not?”
“I’ll live.”
He chuckled, but it sounded almost menacing as he responded, “Confident, Viper. With an attitude like that, we’ll see.”
I sighed and looked toward the ceiling. “How can you possibly want this for two whole years?”
“I want what I’m owed, and since you don’t have it, I’ll collect your hand in marriage instead.”
“All for the family, then?” I hated that I basically lived by that motto.
“Why not?”
“You want an actual baby out of this?”
“I’m not getting any younger, and quite frankly, having a kid without a woman like the one my brother attached himself to at first is probably best.”
“Without … You think I’d leave the child with you?” I was shocked.
“You can stay here to raise the kid, or you can leave, but my kid will be here, Jasmina. Make no mistake. You signed on the dotted line for that.”
“I won’t leave them with you,” I whispered, suddenly sick to my stomach just thinking about it.
He chuckled and rubbed his jaw. “Like I’m the monster here.”
“Paolo would still be alive if—”
“And you’d be with an Irishman.”
“What?”
“Or Tomás.” His insinuation that my uncle would have pawned me off hit much too close to home. He knew how selfish Paolo was. Everyone did.
He rubbed his chin again. “Or maybe one of the Russians. Your uncle was desperate toward the end—”
“You know nothing.”
“I know everything, babe. You forget my brother took Paolo’s life? He told me every one of his attempts to weasel his way out of death.” His words twisted in my gut.
“Then you know it’s a lie,” I whispered.
“Or you know it’s the truth,” he threw back, holding my gaze. Something in his tone softened, though, like he knew he’d pushed me enough for the day. “What else do you need here?”
“Just for you to go.” I sighed and sat on the bed, exhausted. “I just want peace.”
“This partnership will be a lot more cordial, and you’ll feel at peace with it, if you’re honest with me, Jasmina.”
“Oh, God. Are you going to talk to me about that ridiculous trust again?” I closed my eyes and laid back.
“You’ll see once we’re married: There’s no trust to be had, Callahan.
I’ve got no secrets.” Except one little SD card.
I threw an arm over my eyes. “Can I sleep now? Or can you give me my phone back so I can call my family to have them help with this stupid wedding?”
He was silent for so long, I lifted my arm and cracked an eye to look at him.
“I believe you if you say you don’t know of one.
” He said it almost like he was handing me an olive branch, and then, “I’ll get you a new phone, but you won’t be using yours.
And you won’t be calling anyone without authorization. ”
I thought maybe we’d turned over a new leaf until he said that. Instantly, I glared at him.
He shook his head. “Don’t start.”
“What? Like I’m still the enemy?” I crossed my arms as I laid there. “I’m going to be your freaking wife. So, how about you give me a little trust.”
He didn’t like a taste of his own medicine it seemed, because he just grumbled, “Viper, get the damn planning done.” His ominous tone was all he left me with. No tour. No welcome. No niceties.
Get it done.
I would. All for the family’s sake, not his.
But first, I was going to make Callahan suffer, and that meant not listening to him for as long as I could.
When my new cell was delivered, I broke the screen and set it outside of my room.
When food was delivered, I took the tiniest bit of it to hold me over.
Not only because I wanted to make him pay.
I was still concerned with my healing. The vet had said the wounds didn’t puncture my digestive tract, but I was still careful.
I walked carefully, held my body carefully, and I endured without showing the slightest bit of pain.
I knew I would have to be careful to cover my bruises for a few more days and my stomach for a few more weeks.
And while I healed, I decided to act out. I made a mess of the food that was brought to me, tipping it over onto his hallway carpet and shutting the door. I also made sure to bend his stupid credit card up enough that it split into pieces before I set that outside my door too.
I didn’t want a thing from him until he agreed to give me more time with the wedding.
I needed time.
Time to plan.
Time to strategize.
Time to heal.