Page 58 of Guarded By the Phantom

“All my life I’ve tried so fucking hard! I did everything I could to please her, everything! But that doesn’t matter. I made one mistake,one, and she’s throwing me out like trash!”

I shook my head, not really grasping what she meant. “Throwing you out?” I asked. “Hold on. Why do you think…”

“Don’t interrupt me!” she hissed, throwing the earrings onto the seat between us. “She hates Ernest Landizza, she’s always hated him! He is an impostor, immigrant trash, a rich man with a poor man’s manners! That’s what she always said about him. And I don’t care, I don’t! But she does, and now she’s giving me to them! To the people she hates!”

She groaned in helpless rage, kicking off her shoes.

“All this time, I’ve been trying so hard to be good! I did everything! And for what? So she can give me away to people she doesn’t even respect? Without asking me first? Withouttellingme so I could get ready? Fuck this shit! I’m done. Whatever I do, I’ll never be good enough, so why should I even try, huh?”

“Let me get this straight,” I said, thinking fast. “Your family and the Landizzas aren’t friends, right? This isn’t what was supposed to happen?”

She shook her head violently, her newly cut hair swinging around her nape. “I was supposed to marry someone from a family like mine, with a good lineage and yada-yada, all the stupid stuff she cares about. I don’t even know why she’s doingthis anymore. And you know what? I’m done! I’m done waiting for her to love me!”

Her voice wobbled, and she wiped angry tears from her cheeks with jerky movements. I swallowed thickly, hating to see her cry. I thought I finally understood what the core of the problem was—she thought her mother didn’t care about her.

“I’d rather she kicked me out of the house,” she said bitterly, training her red-rimmed, angry eyes on me. “That would be honest, at least. But this is perverse! I’m supposed to pretend to be happy about marrying a man I know she looks down on? Hell, no! I’m done pretending. And I’m done being obedient.”

She stared at me for a few seconds, her chest rising and falling with harsh breaths.

“Fuck me.” Her eyes burned with anger, her voice belligerent. “Do it like you said, publicly, so there are pictures. In the driveway, so the paparazzi can see it from the gate. Let them be useful for once.”

I gasped a hoarse laugh, but then realized she wasn’t kidding. Her face was tight with determination, eyes hard. When I shook my head, she raised a mocking eyebrow.

“Not good enough for you, huh?” she said with a snort. “Thought so.”

“No, hold on. Calm down,” I said, but it only made her laugh bitterly as she folded her arms, turning away from me. “No, doll, listen. You’re not thinking straight.”

“Oh, yes, I know. Because I’m asking for things I’m not supposed to ask for. Because I don’t know what’s good for me,” she sneered, her leg bouncing with frenetic energy. “I get it. You know better. Fine.”

I groaned in frustration. “First of all, yes, you’re not thinking straight. If you are caught fucking your bodyguard in the open and there are pictures, they will serve as proof that you’re unstable. And I know I promised to get you out if they send youto an institution, but maybe let’s try not to get sent there in the first place, okay?”

She froze and then deflated, nodding grudgingly, her back still to me. In the dark car window, I saw the reflection of her sullen profile.

“And secondly, I’m not sure if I want to be your little rebellion,” I added. “You want to shock everyone by fucking someone like me, I get it, but have you considered that maybe I don’t want to play that game?”

She shook her head and turned to me with an angry huff. “What are you talking about? You or a random guy on the street, that’s all the same to them. And I’d rather it be you. But I get it. If you don’t want me, just say so.”

I sighed in frustration at her words, but the car had just arrived at the estate and I had no time to set her straight on what I did and didn’t want. The gate opened automatically, and the few paparazzi still camped out in front of it took pictures. Barbara’s hands were balled into fists in her lap, her mouth pressed into a line as she looked straight ahead, her entire body rigid.

As soon as the car stopped, she bolted out of it, forgetting her shoes and earrings. I grabbed her stuff and followed as she ran barefooted into the house.

“Doll, wait,” I called, chasing her up the stairs, but she only ran faster, like she was trying to escape.

Well, that wasn’t going to happen. I had things to say, so I ran after her, making it just in time to get her bedroom door slammed in my face. I pushed it open without losing a beat and barged in, pulling her to my chest.

“Let go,” she snarled, fighting my embrace.

“Later. Once you understand.”

“God!” she screamed, pushing my torso as if her weak human arms could make me budge. “Just leave me alone! I have things to do, stuff to plan. Go catch that guy, and then you’ll be free!”

I laughed under my breath when she raked her pink nails down the armor on my stomach. She seemed to realize fighting me was futile, so she hit me once in pure frustration and stopped struggling. Her hair got messed up during our scuffle, so I pushed it off her temple, earning myself a furious hiss.

“You really are a kitten,” I said with a laugh. “And you fight like one.”

She growled, not unlike a cat, and I laughed again. “Fine, fine. I’ll let you go. In a minute, once you understand something.”

She didn’t reply, her chin jutting out rebelliously as she looked away, folding her arms on her heaving breasts. I still held her firmly enough not to let her bolt. She felt so good in my arms.

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