Page 32 of Sweet Rule
Connie tuts and nods at the dais. “But she is, Law. Look.”
I don’t want to look at her, but I do. Across the room, through the dim lighting only brightened by the pulsing lights of the club, I see Honey stand from her seat. Zeus is in front of her, his back to her as he walks to the edge of the dais and holds out his hand to someone. A mic is passed to him.
The music dies a second later and Zeus’ voice fills the room. “Good evening, gentlemen and ladies. We are so pleased to have you here.” The noise quiets down to nothing and everyone stops what they’re doing to watch Zeus. He smiles as he addresses the crowd and I want nothing more than to put a bullet in his teeth. Honey fidgets behind him, hands clasped in her lap, head bowed as she stares down at them.
“I bet you’re all wondering about the birthday invitation that was sent, yes?” He asks and pauses for effect as murmurs go through the crowd.
Connie rolls her eyes. “He’s always so fucking dramatic, you know?”
“Not now, Connie.” She huffs but falls silent. A second later, Zeus is speaking again. “Tonight is a very special night. It is the night I introduce you all to my one and only child. My daughter.” He gestures behind him and I hear gasps. People start to talk but Zeus raises his hand, silencing them. “You’re shocked, I know. I’ve never been one to settle down and don’t worry, I’m not starting now.” He winks at the crowd.
“Your boss is a fucking cunt.”
Connie sighs but doesn’t say anything, just watches as Zeus starts to talk again. “It’s just the two of us, no mother to be found, which makes running a family business difficult. She will inherit all that is mine.” He sighs and starts to walk the length of the dais. I see Honey lift her head. She’s watching him now, but her hands are still balled into fists and she looks like she’s going to throw up.
“Which, my friends, brings me to another reason why I’ve brought you here tonight. It isn’t just to celebrate my lovely and talented daughter, but to find her a husband.”
This time the voices are too loud for Zeus to silence immediately. There’s a buzz to the air, excitement through and through and it fills the room with an electrified feel that has the crowd surging forward.
“She will, of course, inherit all that is mine. But a father would be more at peace with a strong partner at her side. Not to mention the line must continue and as I said, Honey is my only child.” He has to raise his voice to be heard and when the crowd's questions get too loud, he stands like an impatient school teacher, one hand raised and a glare on his face until the room falls silent again.
“Any suitors who think they are up to the challenge of protecting the Vlahos empire should step forward now. My daughter is waiting.”
“He’s insane,” I tell Connie. “He’s pretending he’s on a fucking reality show with my woman as the prize.” I turn to her. “I’m going to kill him and when I do, I’d advise you not to interfere.”
Connie falls back a step at my words. She holds up her hands with a strained smile on her face. “Law, he’s eccentric. I was…I was worried before, but when I realized she was his daughter, I saw the change. When he had it in his mind to throw Rosario out if that was what Honey wanted, it all changed. He’s doing this because he thinks it’s going to help her survive here.”
“And you don’t see the fucked up situation he’s put her in?”
“How is it any different to being with you?”
I wince when she says that. She’s right, but I don’t fucking like hearing it come from her. Being with me meant eyes were on Honey. It meant that even though I tried to respect her wishes for normalcy, that I knew the day was coming when that was going to change. When the wrong media got hold of what she was to me. When someone got it in their head that putting pressure on her would make me do things differently.
It had already started with her work. The attack at the theater had been enough to have me providing more than she needed. Her world would continue to shrink the longer she was with me. Whatever it is that Zeus is doing now is more extreme, but I can’t say that it is anything less than I might do if forced to keep her safe.
I will do anything for her. That doesn’t mean I won’t take the world as she knows it from her.
But I love her. Zeus doesn’t love Honey. A man like him doesn’t love. There is no room for it in him.
“It isn’t,” I answer Connie. “But I’m going to fix that.”
“How?” she asks.
My eyes cut to the dais. Honey is there, hands still twisted in her lap with the same sick look on her face. She’s looking out at the crowd and her eyes move in my direction. I know she can’t see me, but she will. I will her to know that I’m here. That I will fix this.
Daddy’s coming, baby.
“By being the one that fucker picks to marry her.”
CHAPTERTWELVE
HONEY
I try to process what Zeus just dropped on me. That he expects me to get engaged.Engaged.It feels like a collar being snapped into place around my neck because of what inevitably follows an engagement.
Marriage. He thinks I’m going to marry someone for his empire. And not just that, but he expects grandchildren. He wants me to have kids. Why the fuck did I say yes to his price? I feel sick when he starts talking. There’s not time to roll with it, to digest this new turn in my life, because he’s given me exactly five seconds to sit with it before he announces it to the entire room of partygoers.
I’d only just worked up the nerve to walk across the room with their full attention on me. I’d held my head high and not folded into myself like I’d fucking wanted under the weight of so many strangers’ attention. I’d even had enough in me to face down my mother and let out the dark desire of revenge that had festered where I’d buried it.
