Page 15 of The Price of a Promise

“You’re batshit crazy if you think she’ll marry you.”

I stuffed my hands back into my pockets, reminding myself to bite my tongue.There was one batshit crazy person in this room, but I didn’t want to tell Allan it was him.“She and I have already discussed the future.I know she’ll accept when I ask.I wanted to extend the courtesy of—”

“The courtesy.”Snide laughter rolled out of him, and he pushed to standing, palms propped against the desk.“Now that’s fucking hilarious.”

“I’m not joking, Allan.”I swallowed, thinking better of using his name so casually.“Sir.”

“Don’t you fuckingsirme.You haven’t had an ounce of respect for me or my family since the day you met Cora.It’s not just laughable that you’re in my office, disrespecting me yet again by giving falsified information to my staff, it’s reprehensible.And then you have the gall to tell me you’re marrying my daughter?”His body shook with bitter laughter.“Absolutely fucking ridiculous.”

I squeezed my hands into fists.It wasn’t going exactly what I would callwell.“If I’d given my real name, you never would have let me through the door.”

“And with good reason!”He slammed his palm against his desktop, causing some papers to flutter to the ground.“You lie to get through the door, what else will you lie about?Your income?Your stability?Can’t trust a fucking word you say, boy.My daughter deserves more than that.She deserves someone at her level, in every sense—which will never be you.”

My throat tightened, and I straightened my back.“I’m just over six months away from securing my MBA.I have an LLC started“—A slight white lie, but now was not the time to retreat; I needed to go balls to the wall—”and my brothers and I are on track to generate a quarter of a million profit in our first year of financial management.”

His teeth flashed brilliantly white as he laughed and laughed.“Isn’t that just a quaint little family business.Are you getting your Ma and Pa in on it too?Maybe they can help print paperwork or make meals while you and your brothers are so busy making all that money.I’m sure you’ll enjoy the small closet you can work out of with all those hard-earned profits.Wow.Quarter of a million, huh?”

Jesus, this man was relentless.I bit my tongue, fighting back the choice words that swirled to the surface.I had to bepleasantAxel,let-me-marry-your-daughterAxel.Notfuck-your-condescension-with-my-fistAxel.

“I understand Cora’s comfort and her safety are of the utmost importance to you, as her father,” I went on, each word scraping past my lips.Other words wanted to replace them so badly, but I would not let them out.Not right now.Not until I could scream every last obscenity into my leather jacket in a corner of a subway station like a regular New Yorker.“I am prepared to prove to you how committed I am to giving her the life she deserves.Sir—Allan—I love your daughter more than anything else in this world.I would do anything for her.And I mean that.”

His lips curled away from his teeth in a sardonic grin.“Anything, huh?”

“Anything.”

“Then fuck off.”

I gritted my teeth, the hot swirl of anger dancing dangerously close to the tip of my tongue.Do not call him a pretentious asshole.Do not call him a disgusting fucktard.Do not call him a pompous narcissist who makes Donald Trump look humble.

“I said I’d do anything to prove that I am committed to giving her the life she deserves,” I reminded him as neutrally as my internal rage would allow.“If I fuck off, sir, Allan,Mr.Margulis,then I can’t give her the life she deserves.”

“Ah, so you want to play word games.Fine.Let’s play.You want my blessing for a marriage that is doomed to fail?Then let’s start from scratch.If you want to even consider the laughable notion of becoming a part ofmyfamily, then you need to drop the smartass attitude.Ditch your plans.Even though I know that meager 250K sounds like a gold mine, I assure you, it’s not.You commit 100% to Margulis Realty andthenwe can see about having a conversation about this under your real name.”

I couldn’t tell if this was a joke or an action plan.I ground my teeth in thought.“Okay.”

“Start at the bottom, and then maybe in a couple years we can reconvene.”

Heat prickled across my shoulders.What he was saying did not—could not—fit into my vision for the future.But maybe I needed to buck up and accept it.

“I’m willing,” was all I could say even though there was so much unsaid writhing inside me.

“Great.You can find an application at the front desk on your way out.”Allan sank back into his seat.

I blinked a few times.“You mean I have to apply for a job here?”

His laughter rang out sharp and unapologetic.He absolutely fucking loved this, and I hated him for it.But if I wanted Cora, I had to take the beating.

“I think there’s an opening right now, so you have a good shot of being hired.”He sniffed, immersing himself in his paperwork once more.“If nothing else, we’re always looking for janitors.Ten dollars an hour, and it will get you in the door.”He glanced up at me.“After all, you’ll do anything, won’t you?”

This time, it was my turn to laugh.“You’d rather I walk away from 250 thousand dollars in profit to take your below poverty-level job?”

“I need you to show your commitment to the Margulis family.”He was unfazed.What an absolute, unrepentant bastard.

“By scrubbing your toilets.”

Allan blinked dramatically, as if he profoundly did not understand my issue.“Is it the type of work that’s stopping you?I figured you’d feel more at home at that level.Isn’t that how your father made his thousands?”

His thousands.I could have drowned in the sea of condescension he’d filled the room with.My adoptive father wasn’t a janitor.But my biological father had been.How Allan knew that was anybody’s guess.I doubted Cora had given him the rundown of my sorry family history.Which meant Allan had been doing his homework, even while actively loathing me.

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