Page 1 of Cardinal

Chapter 1

Juliet

"Don't worry, we got Momma Juliet here to keep us in line."

Instinctively, my eyes rolled at Hailee's comment about my serious and cautious personality. "Someone has to make sure you stay out of jail and actually graduate high school," I remarked with a snicker, squealing out a soft laugh when another friend of mine smacked my arm.

With a roll of her eyes, my friend leaned back in her seat. "Oh, please, none of that really matters. We all know that school is just a formality. My parents basically have the papers drawn up and ready for me to sign the moment I turn eighteen."

My life is over the moment school is over. Doomed to be a trophy wife for some old business mongrel.

The grim comment tightened my lips into a thin line as I held my tongue. All of us, me included, were set for life. Hell, everyone at this private school had their lives set in stone for success. Many of us were expected to keep up our family's businesses, so we were mostly set on our paths in life. School really was a formality to obey the law; a good portion of us really didn't give a shit about our education because we didn't need the grades for college or university—yes, a lot of us already had our way paid for by our parents.

"You okay?" Gale looked at me with a concerned frown. He was a sweet country boy who was here on a scholarship—aka a charity case for the school—and was someone I considered a true friend.

My emotions were in turmoil due to the recent family drama in my life. "I just… I don't know…" It was the honest truth.

"Listen, if you need a place…" Gale was one of the few friends who knew about my personal life—the full brunt.

Flattening my lips into a grim smile, I reached over and squeezed his hand. "I can't do that to you and your parents. You know the hell my parents would raise." They already made a huge deal about me having friends in general. If they were ever to find out I hung out with a boy, and a 'poor boy' at that, they'd probably have a stroke because it wasn't proper for a lady like me.

Honestly, I wouldn't have friends if they had things their way completely. I'd be cooped up at home, learning to be a good wife and a quiet and meek girl. Too bad they couldn't go against the law. Granted, they tried to pull some strings and homeschool me, but things flopped horribly because they failed to meet the checks and balances. So, in the end, they sent me to public school.

Gale's arms wrapped loosely around me as he sighed. "You shouldn't be letting them treat you like that. I mean, come on, it's the 21st century, and you guys are in America. I know you have things set, but would you be happy? Haven't you often told me and Haven about how you hate business? You have a knack for math, but it's not exciting for you and all of that. I mean, come on, you have the grades, the connections, the money, and everything to go to nearly any college or university you want and make a life for yourself. Just cut yourself away from your family, make your own life." Gale made it sound so simple, and maybe, in a sense, things were clean-cut how he presented them.

If only I had the strength to stand up for myself.

Given everything, my parents weren't horrible by any means. They might not be the most affectionate or attentive, but they kept me fed, clothed, and sheltered. I mean, it could be worse, but compared to my younger brother who was the sun and moon, I was the dying star galaxies away.

"I'll be fine…" I had to. Otherwise, I'd lose it all.

I thought about ditching the family business and living my own life. Needless to say, I nearly got kicked out just for considering it. To keep my trust fund and avoid ending up homeless as a teenager, I had to follow their rules. So, I let go of any dreams my ambitious mind had imagined.

A good, obedient daughter, one who held her head down and obeyed every order without question.

Easy enough, right?

Unfortunately, life wasn't so simple.

Being all my parents asked for and wanted wasn't nearly enough, something I found out that night.

The buzz of the spring break celebration fizzled out when I returned home to my parents standing rather darkly around a suitcase near the front door. Their eyes held such a heaviness to them as they stared at me in a dead silence that made my stomach churn into an endless pit of despair. My despair twisted sickly when I was refused further entry into my home by some guards.

The dreaded questions weighed my tongue down until my mouth opened from the pressure to let them out. "Ma? Ba? What's going on? Are you guys going on another business trip?" It wasn't uncommon for them to be here one minute and gone the next, but I doubt that was the case here with how they bore their grim eyes into me as if I were a dead person.

"No." My mother's blunt answer chilled the tense air more, sending a shiver down my spine.

"Then what's going on?" My survival instincts screamed at me to bolt back out that door and never look back, but years under my parents' thumb made me freeze and fawn.

"You're going to your new home," was the only answer my father gave before nodding in my direction.

Suddenly, hands wrapped themselves around my arms, causing my body to struggle instinctively. "Let me go!" My legs kicked and thrashed around, kicking at the legs of the two men on either side of me to no avail.

My heart could have been mistaken for a racehorse on the track with how violent and fast it beat in my chest as my frantic eyes looked to my parents for help, but the sight of them solemnly standing there with their arms by their sides and their faces unmoving threw my body into a state of limp defeat.

Why aren't they helping me? Why are they sending me away? What's going on?

I opened my mouth to say something, but my father held out a hand for me to stop before I even began. "Just accept it and be good. It's the only thing you're of use for. Be good, and they will treat you decently." Not even a goodbye from either of my parents as the men dragged my struggling body out of the house and into some SUV parked right outside the front door of a mansion where a driver waited.

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