Page 45 of Saving You Losing Me

I shrug. “But you’re going along with it. Why?”

“You’ve met my father.” Bitterness laces his words.

“He isn’t a man you say no to.”

“But you can’t want this, Michael.” My voice raises an octave. “Surely who you marry is up to you.”

“It is.” He smiles softly. “I chose you, Clara. From every woman I’ve met so far in my life, you intrigue me the most. You are beautiful, poised, and you have an edge of steel my future wife will need as standard.”

“But I don’t want you, Michael. I am in love with Atom.” I face him with a cold expression and he nods.

“I know.”

“Then I’ll ask you again. Why?”

“Because you will come to realize that I’m the best man for you, Clara. I am willing to wait. To prove you made the right decision and to accept it won’t happen overnight.”

He leans against the balustrade that offers views of the floodlit garden, stretching endlessly into the darkness.

“We will be engaged to be married after tonight, after which you’ll head to college to study for your degree. I have agreed to your education because it’s important.”

“You’ve agreed!” I scoff, rolling my eyes. “How generous of you.”

He ignores my anger. “At weekends, a car will collect you and bring you home where we will attend social gatherings as an engaged couple. I’ll treat you well and you’ll play your part and then the same car will return you to college.”

His eyes flash as he says roughly, “At college, you will study. There will be no parties, no friendship groups, and no clubs.”

“Fuck you, Michael.”

He shrugs. “That will happen on our wedding night. Your duty will be to provide me with an heir.”

“I will not.” I hiss and he shrugs.

“Listen, Clara. We must make the best of a bad situation. I will be a generous husband and a good one all the time you carry out your part of the deal. I can be attentive, loving even and make this work. If you resist, well, things won’t be so easy for you, or the people you love. It’s your choice.”

“You speak of choices, Michael.” I glance at the dark landscape and shiver inside. “What if I choose no? What if I turn away and never look back? Move away to another state perhaps, or take a bus to the edge of the world and start again. What happens then, Michael?”

He says nothing and turns to face the garden, his knuckles clenched on the stone balustrade, his breathing heavy.

It feels like an eternity before he turns and the dark gleam in his eye strikes fear in my soul.

“You willneverescape me, Clara. You may think you have, celebrate it even, but one day when you least expect it, I will find you and then all bets are off. Don’t make an enemy of me. Make it work and your life will be a meaningful one. I am a good friend but a dangerous enemy and when I find you, I will make you watch every second while I systematically destroy everything you value and hold dear. Your family, your friends and your associates. Most of all, your boyfriend. You will watch me ruin him before I cut him apart inch by inch and hand you his eyes in a glass jar so he can stare at you for the rest of your life, knowing that you killed him.”

“You’re a monster.” I gasp, sickened by the entire conversation. Sickened by him and he laughs, a cruel eerie sound that carries on the night air.

“Perhaps I am, but you don’t ever need to see that side of me, my darling, all the time you do as I ask.”

He pushes off from the railing and heads my way, gripping my wrist and pulling me close to his despicable body.

I make to break away but his fist is an iron one, and he grips my face hard and hisses, “Now be a good girl, we have guests waiting. Welcome to my world, my little spitfire. I will enjoy showing you exactly what it involves.”

His mouth lands on mine in a brutal onslaught, his teeth biting my lip and his fingers pulling my hair in a painful grip.The pain is intense as he applies pressure on my scalp and blood trickles into my mouth as he bites the soft flesh inside. However, that pain is nothing to the one in my heart. I have lost everything, and this is the moment I accept my situation, knowing that I will bide my time and one day, no matter how many others pass by in front of it, I will kill Michael Santobello or die trying.

CHAPTER 24

ATOM

TEN YEARS LATER

---