Page 46 of Bound to Him

“I want Matt.”

“Well… that’s just not possible…” I felt her sadness more than I could admit. She didn’t realize we were in the same boat here. “I meant like… a coupé or something.”

We laughed together.

“Or a Birkin bag…” she chimed in, hearts forming in her eyes.

“Yes! You’ll be an underboss’ wife. You’ll have money and pull.”

“And you?”

“What about me?”

“I saw Christian’s i8 in the driveway. You’ll definitely have a couple Birkin bags, I’m sure!”

I tried to laugh, but Christian’s money was hardly a consolation prize. Not when I knew he was going to rape me on our wedding night. There was no doubt about that. I’d entered a kind of trance over the last few days as I realized there was nothing I could do. My father didn’t want to talk to me because he knew exactly what I would want to say, and we’d had the discussion too many times before. Iwasgoing to marry Christian. He had money, he had power, and he would help the Romano’s business flourish. Besides, my father had already signed me away.

I was merely property going through a change of ownership.

When I received a text from Huxley, my heart nearly leapt out of my throat. I excused myself from Viola’s room and hastily opened the message.

Huxley: Hey, we need to talk. Can you get to Little Island, 5 p.m., alone?

Huh, I wondered what that was about. I could see he wouldn’t give any details over the phone, so I just replied that I’d be there. Everything in me was hoping he was going to say he couldn’t go through with the wedding, that he wanted me to pack my bags and leave with him. At least, that's what my wish was. It was the only way out that I could see, but I’d tried it before. It didn’t go down so well.

I managed to lie and say I was meeting a friend for dinner in the city. Once my father’s driver dropped me off, I walked through the restaurant to the back door and called an uber. When I reached the Little Island pier, I found Huxley standing on the observation deck, looking out over the water.

Fuck, even from behind, you could just tell he was a sexy man. In his suit and coat, he stood with his legs wide apart and his hands deep in his pants pockets. The width of his shoulders was evident and his slim waist too. When he turned around, his hair was rustled from the wind, and he had a toothpick in between his lips. God, I loved it when he did that.

I swallowed, looking up at him nervously. “Hey.”

“Hey, beautiful.”

Fuck.My heart beat nearly out of my chest. I shook my head and lifted my hands, “Huxley, we can't—”

“I know, I’m sorry.” He looked down, shoving his hands deeper into his pockets. “I couldn’t help myself.”

“Okay…”

“How are you?” he asked, lifting his eyes to mine.

“Um… I’m fine,” I lied, and he saw that. The toothpick jerked as he clenched his jaw. “How about you?”

He shook his head and looked over the water again. The sun was close to setting, and it shone golden light onto his face. “I, uh… I’m managing.” It was so difficult for me not to reach out and hold him, kiss him, and tell him we’d be okay. “I need to talk to you about Christian.”

“Oh?” I asked, equally worried and hopeful of which way this would go. “What about him?”

“I was with him last night. He wants to do business with the Morettis.”

“Okay. No surprise there.”

He turned and looked me dead in the eyes. “He wants to expand his drug and sex trafficking business with us.”

“What?” At first, I felt confused, surprised, but very quickly it all made sense. An image of that girl at the racetrack, the young, drugged up one, came to mind. “Oh my God…”

I looked at the ground, feeling my heart break for that girl.I was right there! I should have helped her!

“Look, I don’t know what business your father has with him… but I won’t allow that kind of man to call shots in my city.”

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