Bought Mafia Bride by Mae Doyle
Natalia
Each night when my dad goes to bed I lay awake and try to plan out how I’m going to get the fuck out of this house. Frank snoozes on the end of my bed, completely eschewing the custom orthopedic dog bed that’s on the floor by my closet. He’s a loud roommate, his snores sometimes keeping me up, but I don’t care.
It’s not like I’ve been getting any sleep, anyway.
But as much as I try to plan how I’m going to get out of here, I can’t come up with anything. My dad watches me like a hawk and makes sure that I don’t have access to any money of my own. I don’t even have a dowry. All of the money changing hands in this marriage is flowing towards my father, not away from him.
He’s broke as can be and hasn’t ever let me have money of my own.
“You’re deep in thought.” My dad’s voice interrupts me and I look up at him. Ever since I can remember, the two of us have eaten every meal like this, seated across from each other, both of us doing our best to pretend that we’re eating on our own. “Getting excited about the wedding?”
“Hardly.” There’s no reason to lie to him. He knows that I don’t want to get married and that I’m not going to go out of my way to make this easy on him or Dane. “The groom is lacking and, quite frankly, I don’t understand why the hell we’re eating this late at night.”
My dad’s face darkens and he takes a bite of steak, rolling it around on his tongue to really taste it before he chews and swallows. “Dinner is served when I’m done working for the day, and you should be happy that I’m still including you. The groom is the best one that I could come up with. It’s not like I had a ton of money to be able to sell you off and still get a good deal for myself. You’ll find that he’s a good fit for you, Natalia.”
“Yeah? And why would you say that? Does he have a dead mom? A father who hates him? Oh, maybe no life because he’s been locked up in his house for as long as he can remember so that nobody ever accidentally corrupts him?” Planting my hands on the table, I lean forward and stare at my father, daring him to do something to me.
I’m daring him to come over here and hit me again, I know that I am.
He wipes his mouth with his napkin and puts it carefully back in his lap. It’s a control thing, I know it. He wants to make me wait until he’s absolutely ready to speak to me and then he’ll finally respond.
Some people think that my dad must need extra time to come up with what he’s going to say to someone, but I know that that’s not true. He’s doing his best to make me uncomfortable, but I caught on to him a while ago and it doesn’t work on my any longer.
“I have done everything in my power to protect you and give you the life that your mother would have wanted,” he begins, but before he can say anything else, I cut him off.
“You think that mom wanted me married off to someone ten years older than me? That’s rich, Dad. Go on and tell yourself that if that’s what you need to be able to sleep at night.”
I’m mouthing off more than I ever have before and I know that I should probably shut up, but I can’t seem to stop myself. He’s staring at me like I’ve grown a second head, but it feels good.
“Two weeks,” I say, not giving him a chance to interrupt me. “Two weeks and I’ll be married to Dane. A monster. He’s a monster, Dad.” Tears sting the corners of my eyes but I’m not going to give him the satisfaction of seeing me cry. “You want me to marry a monster so you can have security in town? Fuck that.”
Standing up, I shove my chair back from the table. My heart slams hard when I realize what I just said to him and how much trouble I’m going to be in later. There’s no way that he’s going to let this pass without bringing it back up later, without some sort of punishment.
It’s not like I have very many things that I love that he can take from me, but I have no doubt in my mind that he’ll try something. There’s a dark look on his face that tells me that I fucked up, but even if I could take back what I just said, I wouldn’t.
As long as he doesn’t take Frank.
I know that I don’t have a choice in the matter, but it’s not like I’m going to make it easy on him. I don’t have the money I’d need to run away from here and escape from the hell he’s putting me through, but there has to be another way for me to get out of this. I’ve haven’t met Dane, but I know about him.
I’ve heard about him. I know that he’s dangerous, that he’s cruel. I know that he’d just as soon kill you as look as you. I don’t know what kind of reputation he has with women, but I have no reason at all to think that he’s going to be kind to me. Men like him, men like my father...they’re not kind.
They’re the type of men who know exactly what they want and are willing to do anything to get it. That’s why my dad is willing to sell me off to their family so that we’ll be closer. That’s why someone like Dane is willing to buy me. He’s probably an ugly bastard who can’t otherwise get a date.
I hang onto that thought, doing my best to convince myself that it’s true. He’s older than me, and he’s probably scarred and ugly, making it impossible for him to ever find love with a woman.
Even as I do my best to convince myself of that, I know that it’s not true. I’ve been promised to him since I was a little girl and he was not ugly back then. I remember seeing his face and, even though I wasn’t really interested in boys like that, feeling my heart skip a beat for a moment.
He was gorgeous then, and unless he’s had a terrible string of luck in the past few years, he probably still is.
My heart slams in my throat as I stare at my father. He’s gathering his thoughts, probably deciding just how much trouble I’m really going to be in. He clears his throat, breaking the silence, and I shiver, fully expecting the pain and trouble that’s about to rain down on my head.
I fucked up and now it’s time for me to simply accept my punishment so that we can get it over with.
“Natalia, you are going to--” The doorbell cuts him off. He glares at me, his eyes tiny little slits like he actually things that I could have had something to do with someone ringing the bell. What he doesn’t remember right now is that I don’t have friends who would come poking around to check on me.
He’s done a great job making sure that I don’t have anyone in my life. I’m alone, and I’m sure that he fully expects me to cling to my new husband for support, but fuck that.
I don’t need him. And as soon as I can get out of here, I’m leaving. It doesn’t matter what I have to do, or steal, or who I have to lie to, I’m on the first bus out of town as soon as I can escape with the money I need for a ticket. I’ll figure it out from there. At this point in my life, I honestly don’t care what I’m going to have to do.
Footsteps in the hall make me turn and look at the door to the dining room. Jackie, our butler, appears in the door. His face is drawn and tight and he glances at me for only a moment before looking at my dad. The room is so still and quiet that I think that I can hear my breathing even though I know that it’s ridiculous.
Reaching out, I grab the back of my chair to steady myself. All of a sudden it’s like my blood pressure has dropped and I’m having trouble staying on my feet. I want someone to support me, but there’s no way in hell that any of the men in this room are going to come to me to help me out right now.
“May I introduce Dane Accardi,” Jackie says, bowing a little and then stepping out of the way of the door.
This just got interesting. I still feel a little bit like I’m going to fall over or pass out, but I force myself to look up at the door instead of giving into the urge to sink into my chair. My knees are weak but I set my face with a stare that I’ve practiced many times in the mirror and look at the man who’s supposed to be my husband in just two weeks.
