Page 4 of Savage Protector

Chapter Two

Isabella

“Almost ready, Ms. Mazzeo?” Angelo, one of my personal security guards had barged his way into my dressing room, to find out if I was ready to walk down the aisle and ruin the rest of my life.

I wanted to rail and scream at him to get out and never come back, but I couldn’t. There was literally no point in saying anything to one of my father’s many bodyguards. Not only would they not help me in any way, they would immediately report to my father I had become a problem.

I knew what Frank Mazzeo did with his problems.

Instead I turned my head and said, “Yes. Can you ask my father for a few minutes more and then I’ll be right out?”

From the grim expression on Angelo’s face it was obvious he wanted to protest. No one close to Frank wanted to risk displeasing him. Too bad. I wasn’t ready and I doubted if I ever would be.

After my father had declared this union necessary and for the good of the family, I had resigned myself to go through with it. That didn’t mean I was happy about it, but I had hoped to make the best of it.

Now I wasn’t so sure. Well, that was kind of a lie. Ever since the night of our engagement party, my stomach revolted every time I thought about my fiancé getting near me let alone touching me. The things I’d witnessed…

Bile rose in my throat and threatened me. How could I walk down the aisle and face him or my father? They were both sick and depraved.

You should run.

The voice in my head sounded like my mother’s, although that was impossible. She’d been gone for years now and this was not the first time I’d heard her voice.

I thought of her often and sometimes a forgotten conversation we’d had popped into my head and ran through my mind as if it was happening all over again.

Still. The nagging idea that my mother wanted me to run had taken hold and I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

I rubbed at my tight chest with sweaty palms, struggling to breathe. If I ran, my father would send his people after me and I’d be dragged back and punished.

I shuddered, hands clutching the edge of the vanity. After what I’d seen him and Marco do to that girl in his office, I wasn’t sure I could count on any mercy. Especially from my father. He never gave mercy. Said it went against his very fiber and made him look weak.

I should have seen it coming. The writing had always been on the wall, even before my mother left me alone with him. Her death had created a vacuum, a void where my father’s heart had once resided.

But even before, things had not all been well. There had always been fear no matter how hard we tried to hide it. Right up until the end.

My beautiful, perfect mother who tried to survive living with a monster. Only I didn’t realize he was a monster back then. Or perhaps I’d chosen not to see it.

Instead I saw my mother’s fight against a disease I didn’t understand slowly consume her. I believed in the kindness my father displayed while dismissing the strange look that sometimes came into her eyes. I only recognized it now because I saw the same haunted look in my mirror when I dared to really see.

Fear.

Lost in the memories of a woman I missed with everything inside me, I didn’t hear anyone approach. Not until the door slammed open, causing me to scream.

“What in the hell is going on in here?” my father seethed as he stormed into the room. “My guests have been waiting for almost an hour. This is unacceptable.”

His guests, not mine. We both knew this was a show he was putting on for someone else. None of which I understood. It was all for the business he’d explained. As if that justified every deplorable thing he’d ever done.

“I can’t go through with this, Daddy. I don’t want to marry that man. This feels wrong. He feels wrong.” I pleaded, almost cowering as I uttered the truth. Maybe just this once I could get through to the man he used to be. “Or maybe I just need more time to prepare. I could still go to college and then settle down with a man we both found suitable.” If he could see my side, maybe a compromise wasn’t out of the question.

He stalked forward, grabbed my arm and jerked me around to face him. “I don’t give a fuck what you want to do.” His grip dug painfully into my arm and immediate tears welled in my eyes.

“You’re hurting me.”

“Oh for Christ’s sake. Grow the hell up, Isabella. You aren’t a child anymore and you’ve been coddled long enough. You have responsibilities to this family to live up to and that’s all that matters.”

The cold and menacing shell of my father standing in front of me sent a hard shiver up and down my spine. After all this time I still couldn’t wrap my mind around the change. I also couldn’t seem to stop hoping that I could get through to him.

“I’m an adult. I should be able to make my own decisions. Plus, I’m scared of him.”

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