Page 34 of No Longer Safe

Ace didn’t let me finish my wayward thoughts. He slapped a folder at my chest and I wondered where he’d been hiding it this entire time, or maybe I hadn’t been thinking straight and just didn’t notice it. That sounded like the more logical thought, even if it did make me cringe internally. Since when had a woman turned me into such a simpleton? I could have slapped myself.

“This is for you,” He patted the folder as I wrapped my hands around it to keep the contents from spilling on the floor. “Go through it, make some notes, report back.”

My lip wanted to curl in disgust. Maybe if it were Father delivering this, I would have. But Ace? He didn’t deserve my ire, at least not yet. Even if I did know that he was working for the devil himself. He was even starting to speak like him.

The cursed folder weighed heavily in my hands as I took it downstairs to look over at breakfast. It was too early for anyone else to be up. The party lasted into the early hours of the morning and thankfully, I was used to that lifestyle so getting a few hours of sleep was nothing in order for me to function.

Mother was cutting into her fruit and Father was not at the table. thankfully. “What’s that, Sweetheart?” She was rather chipper this morning.

I shrugged as I sat down to a plate already made up for me. All the others were empty, besides Ace’s which had already been cleaned and taken away. He was also used to the wild nights and early mornings. At one point, he’d been my wingman and me his.

I was scooping up a healthy serving of eggs when I opened the folder. My fork clattered to the table and the eggs splattered everywhere. I was pretty sure some of them even made it to the other side of the table where my mother was sitting.

On the front page of the navy blue folder was a picture of a young woman. She looked familiar but I couldn’t place where I knew her until I turned her photo over.

Irina Smith- 22- enjoys traveling, working for her father’s Fortune five hundred company, and competing in pageants.

With nausea swirling in my stomach, I flipped the page back over. The picture was obviously a glamor shot she used for her pageants. Her blonde hair was curled in small ringlets around her heart-shaped face and her blue eyes sparkled. Not withmischief but probably just that sparkle all rich kids had. Her teeth were bright white and straight. They looked like they were fake.

The next image was of an Indian girl. A red dot marked the center of her forehead in what looked to be a picture snapped at a wedding. At least it wasn’t a pageant headshot. She was pretty. I flipped over the page.

Vi Sharma- 19- enjoys dancing, singing, and writing essays.

Writing essays? Did this girl even have a personality? Did any of them?

“What’s that?” My mother asked again. I’d completely forgotten she was there, she was so silent. I glanced up from the folder ofeligiblewomen and cringed. My mother hadn’t wiped the splattering of scrambled eggs from under her right eye and was watching me with a strange look. “Is everything okay?”

With a loud smack that made her jump, I slapped the folder closed on the table. “It is the folder of my inevitable doom, in case you’re wondering.”

“Oh no, not the marriage market folder.” She laughed as she rolled her eyes and I wanted so badly to laugh with her, but I knew this wasn’t a joking matter. Not by a long shot. This was a political alliance. Every single name in this folder would bring the family more money, opportunities, or connections. None of the things I wanted when I decided it was time to shackle myself to someone else, but alas, that didn’t matter any longer. My time was almost up.

“Yes,” I muttered as I scooped the rest of my eggs in my mouth, no longer tasting anything, and eating only for necessity.

“It isn’t that bad,” Mother, very carefully, dotted her face with the corner of a black, cloth napkin. “Don’t look so glum. You could find the best thing in your life in that folder. At least he is giving you a choice.”

Oh, how naive. How interesting that she would think that. It was the only bright side she could come up with, I was sure.

“Were you given a choice?” I couldn’t decide if my voice was angry or sad. Maybe it was a healthy mix of both.

It didn’t seem possible but she sat up straighter in her chair. “No. I was given absolutely zero choice. My father only saw power. I had a pretty face, strong birthing hips as he said, and the rest was history. Your father and I were wed not even four days later.”

Her father sold her soul just as my father was doing.

“Are any of their father’s head of crime syndicates?”

I blew out a breath and looked away from the damning folder. “How am I supposed to know?”

“I’m sure you’ll meet the girls soon enough.”

Which was code for: they’ll be at the next wedding function. Now more than ever I needed to find my own date.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Audrey

Traveling the world was wonderful,a dream really, but also exhausting. After all the partying we did and the lack of sleep, I didn’t know how my body could ever recover. I felt like I was hit by a train. I thought of this over and over as I got off of the plane and once again, ambled around aimlessly through the airport of New York City. There was no time to go home, another party was planned for this upcoming weekend. Which meant, I would be seeing Brian and introducing him to the people I’d been partying it up with. I wasn’t overly concerned until I thought about Alexei and then every thought flew right out of the window and fear took its place. How could these two worlds even collide?

When I finally collapsed on Ace’s immaculate couch, I found myself extremely fearful. Fearful of my future, fearful of Brian seeing the life I’d been living, and fearful that I would never find the happily ever after I always wanted for myself. It was just a lot earlier in the game than I originally thought or planned for myself. I’d always assumed I would have more than enough time to travel and enjoy the wild years of my life before settling down. Why had I begged for this?

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