Page 16 of Poison and Wine
In spite of the brass band beating in my skull, I jerked myself into a sitting position before scrambling down the length of the couch. I pressed myself against the wall of what I realized was a small jet. My frantic gaze bounced around the cabin. Fear choked off my breath at the sight of three other men. I recognized one of them from earlier, but I didn’t know where the other two came from.
At the thought that I’d been unconscious with four strange men, my stomach lurched. Although I clamped my hand over my mouth, it didn’t stop my stomach from evacuating on the floor of the plane. When I finally stopped retching, a wet cloth was thrust in front of me. “Thank you,” I whispered. As I wiped my mouth, the man from Sacred Heart cleaned up my mess. Something about it surprised me. Like cleaning, especially vomit, was beneath his station in life.
Easing back in my seat, my brain once again flashed to the thought of being unconscious and alone with the men. Had I been raped? I deciphered that there wasn’t an ache between my legs. If they had forced themselves on me, there would be trauma. I would have pain…and blood. Dipping my head, I eyed the slit in my robe and searched my thighs.
“No need to worry about that, lass. Your virtue is still intact,” the man said.
I snatched the slit closed. Easing back in my seat, I eyed the man warily. “Who are you?” I croaked.
“My apologies for not making the proper introductions when we met earlier.” He held out his hand to me. “I’m Callum Kavanaugh.”
As the last name flickered through my mind, I gasped. Last year I’d heard my brothers mention a Boston Clan leader who had been murdered by his own son. Was this the man who had killed his father—his own blood—for his position?
After eying his hand with disgust, Callum tsked at me. “Is that anyway to treat yer future husband?”
Ice cold dread splashed from the top of my scalp down to my toes, and I shivered despite the blankets on me. “H-Husband?”
“Yes. It is my belief that a partnership between your family and mine would be very beneficial.”
“My father arranged this?” In the last three years, a fear had remained tightly embedded in my mind that my father would somehow find a way to force me into marriage. That one day a more lucrative alliance would make him forget his fear of being punished by God, and he would take me forcefully from the order.
Callum shook his head. “I haven’t had the pleasure of discussing the matter with him.”
The continuing agony beating through my head made it hard to comprehend what he was saying. “You don’t have a marriage contract with my father?”
He quirked his brows at me. “I was unaware I needed one. After all, you are of legal age to enter into an agreement of your own volition.”
Gripping the blankets tighter around me, I pronounced, “I will never marry you.”
“I’m afraid neither you nor I have much of a choice. It’s a necessary evil to further my family’s position back in America.”
As panic criss crossed through me, I fought to keep an icy façade. “You’ll have to find another bride, Mr. Kavanaugh. I’m forbidden to marry anyone as I’m a sister of the Sacred Heart.”
With a smirk, Callum countered, “Yes, I’m well aware of that fact since I just rescued you from there.”
“Abducted me,” I corrected.
“You didn’t belong there, Caterina. You have too much fire and spirit to ever be a nun.”
Callum echoed the same words my brothers had voiced about me joining the order. How could he possibly say those things when he didn’t know me? I despised when people tried to box me in to what they felt a sister should be. Just because of my appearance or the way I acted, they felt my heart didn’t truly belong to the order. The only people who didn’t doubt my true intentions were my fellow sisters.
“You don’t know anything about me!” I spat.
Callum shook his head. “You are so much more than just a nun.”
“Some of the bravest women I know are nuns. They work in horrible conditions and endure situations a pretty boy like you could never imagine.”
Two of the men behind Callum laughed while he gave me a shark-like grin. “You think I’m pretty?” he teasingly asked.
I rolled my eyes. “I meant you’ve never endured a hard day’s work in your life.”
The amusement drained from his face. “You don’t know shit about me or how hard I’ve worked.”
“Perhaps I should’ve said an honest day’s work.”
“It’s quite hypocritical for Alessio Neretti’s daughter to be praising the virtues of honest work considering how your family built its fortune.”
“Leave my father out of this. I’m talking about what I did as a sister of the Sacred Heart compared to you.”