Page 13 of Broken Saint

"Oh God." I knew exactly what she meant. I'd tried to ruin his plans at that age. He was making sure his investment still had her virginity intact when she turned eighteen.

Fucking sick bastard.

"Honestly, I'm surprised he even bothers to wait until eighteen. He doesn't give a shit about our childhoods." Her angry words fueled the bitterness rushing through me.

Again, she was right. The fact he'd given me five years to recover from that night didn't make sense. At the time, I'd been too naive and too scared to question it, but over the years, I'd wondered and no answer had ever come to me. Although I suspected it would, when the time was right for him.

"Maybe Mother had a hand in the waiting until we were technical adults. Marrying us off sooner might have damaged her reputation."

Carina scoffed. "Whatever. It's so freaking obvious that she cares more about what happens to her sons than her daughters. You don't see them being forced to marry when they turn eighteen. They aren't even held accountable for the deplorable crap they pull on a regular basis. The double standards are total bullshit."

"Well, that's why we’re going to do something about it ourselves. But let me handle this part, okay? Your job as my eyes and ears there is as important as the rest of it."

"I don't mean to add any more pressure to you over this, but the clock is ticking, big sis. If this doesn't work, then I've got to start working on my plan B."

"What's that?"

"I don't know for sure yet. Run maybe?"

That thought sent a vicious shudder up my spine and made the base of my skull tingle. She would be hunted to the ends of the earth, and when they found her...

"Oh shit. Someone's coming. I gotta go."

Before I could get in a word of warning, the line went dead. The idea of Carina in that house with no one on her side scared the hell out of me. If I couldn't use those diamonds to make some sort of deal with my father, then I would have to come up with another plan to help us both.

These forced marriages were completely illegal. No better than the sex slave trade. Not that I was supposed to know anything about that.

However, I always had been too curious for my own good.

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