Page 5 of Scorpion

“He’ll grow up. Boys his age are young and immature; they don’t know what they want or what’s good for them. Once he comes to his senses, he’ll realize that it isn’t you.” She shakes her head. “I have never trusted you because you don’t know how to say no. My worries are correct. He’s a bad influence on you. Sneaking out. Lying. Sleeping around. Tarnishing our name. This?”

She tears the letter in two. Then rips it up all over again until there’s nothing but tiny pieces of paper that she lets fall onto the floor. Each one that lands feels like another part of my future being ripped away from me.

College.

A career of my choosing.

Mathijs.

Freedom.

“I’m doing you a favor.” Mom sneers at the shredded letter. “You never would have made it far.”

It takes everything in me not to drop to my knees and put it back together. “Why do you hate me so much?”

“Beti,” Papa warns. Daughter.

I whip my attention toward him, unsure when he came into the kitchen. Sometimes his presence instills hope in me that I’ll have someone in my corner. But one look at him tells me I’m all alone in this.

“You’re under my roof, and you dare insult me like this?” Mom hisses.

Gaya appears at the threshold, wide eyes darting between her and me. She looks showered and refreshed, like Mom just told her about the guests as well. I stiffen when her girlfriend, Amy, shows up behind her, grasping her elbow like she has any hope of stopping Gaya if she gets started.

Mom doesn’t notice their arrival, continuing with her spiel. “If I hated you, I would have sent you to Mumbai where I’d never have to see your face. I sacrificed my happiness for you. I spent years finding you a suitable match, and all you’ve done is disrespect our family and his.”

I blink. “His?”

Who is—

“The man in the living room.”

No. No.

“Our families have agreed that it is a suitable match,” Papa says, making me reach for the edge of the counter to hold myself up.

No, no, no. I know nothing about him. What if he doesn’t let me study? What if his mom is just like mine? All my life she’s been training me to be the right person for someone else. I just want to be my own person. Make my own decisions. Lead a path that I’ve set for myself.

“No, you cannot make her marry anyone,” Gaya argues. I shoot her a look to get her to shut up, but she ignores it, holding her head up higher. It’s my job to stand up for her, not the other way around.

“But you might have ruined everything already.” Mom scowls.

“You’re being ridiculous.”

“Gaya,” I warn, but I know it’s useless. She usually has Papa in her court, so she can get away with almost everything… except the fact that she’s only interested in other women.

“He has to be, what? Midthirties?” she keeps going, getting closer to Mom like it might drive her message home. “He’s already graying. Are you crazy?”

I clap my hand over my mouth when a smack sounds through the room. Gaya’s body swings to the side from the force of Mom’s slap, then she whirls toward me before I can make it to my sister’s side, holding her hand up as a silent threat that she will hit me too if I interfere.

“You are going to go upstairs, shower, dress nicely, and you will never see that boy again. You are going to greet your future husband, and once he leaves, you are going to withdraw all your college applications, and you will be a good wife.”

Tears spill down my cheeks. “And if I do none of those things?”

“Then you will no longer have a family.”

Chapter 1

ZALAK

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