Page 58 of Stolen Mafia Vows
“No? How did you raise me then, Dad?” I pull my sleeves down to cover my hands so that he can’t see them shaking. “Because it sounded like you were ordering me to go home with you.”
“Not ordering.” He dumps his bag onto the floor. He didn’t even offload his hand luggage before he told me to get my stuff. “I’m trying to make you see sense.”
I smile. I can’t stop myself. “Because I’m clearly losing my mind here. Is it so hard for you to accept that I’m in love?” Hot tears sting my eyes, and I will them not to spill.
He shakes his head, and I barely recognize the man I’ve always looked up to. The man I’ve always adored. “What do you know about love? You’ve fallen for the first guy who came along and gave you some attention. And I’ll hold my hands up, maybe that’s my fault for trying to protect you, but you’re not that gullible, baby girl. You’re?—”
“Gullible!” I splutter. “Do you think Eoghan promised me the world so that he could get into my pants?”
Sienna flinches: I see it in my peripheral vision.
Kyle mutters, “Emily…” to himself.
My dad cricks his neck from side to side, pink spots flaring in his cheeks. I guess it was okay when Kyle and Caleb got their girlfriends pregnant, but the thought of his daughter in the arms of a man is too much for him to bear.
Double standards galore.
“Here’s what’s going to happen.” He speaks slowly, choosing his words carefully. “You’re going to come back with me to the airport. When we get home, you’ll apologize to your mom for the stress you’ve caused her. You’ll finish your studies. And you’ll figure out what you want from life before you give it all up for a man who is using you.”
No matter how he dresses it up as parental concern and wanting what’s best for me, he’s still trying to control me.
“Too late, Dad. I already know what I want, and it’s right here in Ireland.” Deep breath. “And for the record, Eoghan isn’t using me.”
“For the record,” he grinds out between gritted teeth, “you know fuck all about the man you married.”
“I know more than you do.” The shrillness I was so desperate to avoid is creeping into my voice. “I know that he loves me. I know that he’ll?—”
“Emily!” Kyle intervenes. “Stop being so stubborn for a moment and consider the possibility that we know more than you think we do. We know about his brother.”
A shiver runs down my spine. “What do you know?”
“It doesn’t matter. We just don’t want you caught up in the middle of it.”
“In the middle of what? Just say what you mean, Kyle, because right now, it sounds as if you’re using Eoghan’s loss as a reason to split us up.”
“Jesus fucking Christ, Em.” Kyle rubs a hand across his jaw. “Will you stop acting like a lovesick teenager and just fucking listen?”
Sienna stands up now, and it’s like a grim party in the crowded living room, one with no music and where everyone dislikes each other. “Okay,” she says, “before you got here, Terry, I asked Emily to try looking at the situation from your perspective. Now, I’m asking both of you to do the same.”
She glances at me, handing over the spotlight.
But I’m out of words. What’s the point in arguing when they’re not prepared to listen or even try to understand?
“I love Eoghan. I’m his wife, and I’m sorry if you don’t like it, but I’m happy.” I blink hard; so far, I’ve managed to keep the tears at bay, but they’re going to sting like a bunch of wasps when I get in the car. “I’m going home now.”
I turn to leave, but my dad grabs my arm in a vise-like grip. “I can’t let you do that, Emily.”
I glare at his hand on my arm. “Dad, let me go.”
“No. You leave me no choice, Emily. I’m taking you back whether you like it or not.”
“You’rekidnappingme?” I try to wrench my arm free, panic gurgling inside my chest, but he’s too strong.
“Terry.” Kyle moves closer, pinning me between them, but he doesn’t try to intervene.
I glance at Sienna, begging with my eyes for her to do something.
“Wait,” she says.
