Page 103 of Heartless Game

“Tovah,” he said.

“No. No, Isaac. Stay away from me,” I gasped, backing away. “Leave me alone.”

“That’s the last goddamn thing I’m going to do. Tovah, you don’t get it. Eliana just?—”

So he did know her. She wasn’t some crazy woman who had made this up out of nowhere.

I nodded. “Yeah, I met Eliana. I heard what she had to say. And that’s fine. I hope you’re happy together, you goddamned liar,” I spat, and then turned and ran.

I heard him behind me, chasing me, calling my name. I ignored him. But I put everything into my breathing and my pace, speeding up and—probably because he was tired after his likely win, or maybe because he just didn’t care enough—Isaac didn’t catch up to me as I raced through campus in the dark, alone.

All alone.

Like I was meant to be.

42

Isaac

What a fucking clusterfuck.

Even though I desperately wanted to chase Tovah down, I still had to deal with the woman behind me. I jogged back to where she waited, a disappointed look in her eyes.

Eliana Rabin was the daughter of one of my father’s…business colleagues. The Rabins were another crime family in New York, and while they didn’t have the power of the Silvers or the prestige of the Golds, they had plenty of wealth and control over various industries, which made them an important player in my dad’s world. And, soon to be, mine.

“You just let her go?” she asked.

I crossed my arms. “That’s not really your business, Eliana.”

She smiled a sad smile. “It is if we’re getting married.”

I shook my head at this bullshit. “We aren’t getting married.”

“Isaac.”

She stepped up again to put what she thought was a comforting hand on my shoulder, but I stepped out of the way. I never should’ve let her touch me in the first place.

Sighing, she dropped her hand. “I don’t like it either. But our fathers decided it was a good idea to grow both our families’ holds over the city. We don’t have a choice, so we should make the best of it, shouldn’t we?”

“Why the hell am I only hearing about this now?” I asked. “Why did you think it was a good idea to come to my hockey game instead of, I don’t know, calling me?”

“Your sister called you multiple times,” she said. “According to Liza, anyway. And you spoke to your father, didn’t you? He said he told you you’d have to marry soon.”

Fuck.

Fuck fuck fuck.

I’d spoken to my father, and hehadmentioned it. But I’d been so enraged at him, and the idea of getting married had been so absurd, I’d blocked it from my mind. It didn’t fucking matter though; I wasn’t engaged to Eliana.

There was only one person I wanted to marry.

And she’d run from me.

“I’m not marrying you,” I told her.

She shook her head. “Your father sent me. He says this is happening. No one says no to your father. You know what he does to people who ignore his commands.” She shivered. “He’s not…entirely sane, is he?”

He wasn’t. He was a maniacal asshole, who of course had sent her here without warning. And I had missed some of Liza’s calls. Abe loved to fuck with his children. This was more than just messing with my mind and my life though. This was a reminder of his power over me and my fate, and how I had no say in my future.

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