Page 50 of Violent Attraction

“This is my son, Emilio.” Frederico waves over to the younger man. He’s bulky, not like my brother and Santiago, but enough to hold his own. I can’t see his facial features since they are covered by the shadow of the cowboy hat he is wearing, but I can feel his eyes on me. Like his father’s, his gaze makes my stomach churn. “Hopefully he learns to treat you in the way you deserve.”

My attention diverts from Emilio back to his father.

What did he just say?

“I’m sorry? Treat me the way I deserve?” I look from Frederico to my father, trying to get an answer.

What the fuck does Frederico mean by that?

When I turn back to the man in question, his smile grows even more, this time into a more sadistic one.

“Yes, since he will be your husband.”

Everything around me goes black. As if I’m in a tunnel and my eyesight went straight to the little light of hope at the edge of the darkness and then it disappeared.

Husband.

He’s going to be my husband?!

I turn to my father for some answers, anything that tells me that I’m not hearing this correctly, but all he does is give me a nod and tightens the hold on the hand that he has in his.

“Emilio and Isabella will be getting married. Think of it as a merger of sorts. The Castro Cartel and the Muertos coming together. A marriage will solidify our agreement.” Ronaldo announces to the whole room, as if this was grade school and he was explaining an assignment to the whole class.

I can’t breathe.

No noise from the room is registering, all that I can hear is my erratic heartbeat and how it feels like it’s about to jump out of my chest.

I need to get out of here. I need fresh air. I try to pry myself out of my father’s grip in a discreet manner, but he just keeps tightening it, holding me in place.

He’s not going to let me go.

Turning, I catch sight of my brother and Santiago standing at the edge of the room, looking like they are ready to go to war.

They didn’t know.

Both of them look beyond furious, with scowls on their face and fist ready to be swung.

Santiago more so looks like he wants to tear this room apart and drag me out of here as far away as possible.

As I turn back to my father, for the first time I actually fear him.

If I don’t go through with this, what would he do?

I try and try to open my mouth to yell at my father that I won’t be going through whatever arrangement he had set up with the Castros’, but I can’t seem to speak.

“You two will get engaged in the coming weeks.” My father gives me a pointed look, as if he were telling me that I have no say. “In the meantime, Emilio will be working here at the estate, give you some time to get to know each other.”

Tears spring in my eyes, but I don’t let them escape.

This whole thing is not what I expected to happen when Santiago came to get me. The only marriage that I thought my father would be speaking of was one between me and Santiago.

But no, he called me in here to tell me that he was giving me away to another man. To another family.

All because he wants more power.

More money.

My father has arranged a marriage for me, and I have no say.