Page 67 of Violent Attraction

That I will be his bitch forever and nobody will take me away from him.

Every single time I hear him say those words I want to puke. I want to puke and then let the tears flow.

But I just take his verbal abuse and walk away, keeping the words he tells me locked up inside of me.

The thought of telling Leo always comes to mind, but I never do it.

Why?

Because my brother will kill Emilio and if the Castro heir is dead then that means that the deal is off. Which means that my father doesn’t get what he wants, and he will probably retaliate and hurt me or Leo in the way that he only knows how. By hurting the people we love the most.

Serena, because no matter if my brother hasn’t voiced it, he loves her and would be devastated without her.

Santiago, because I would be devastated without him.

And I won’t let that happen.

“Thank you,” my response is small, but he was still able to hear me by the look he’s giving me.

“Now that you are both here, I think it’s time to get to business.” Frederico claps his hands as if this were a joyous occasion.

Business.

That’s what this is, just business.

“And what business is that?” I’m playing stupid and it’s only to show my father that I’m playing along.

“El compromiso.” The engagement.

Tears start to well up in my eyes, but I keep them at bay.

I give my future father-in-law a tight smile, vaguely aware of my hand still being held by his son. “Are we going to do the proposal in private?”

I throw it out just to throw it out there. It’s not like Emilio and I even spent any time together. You would think that if you wanted your daughter to marry someone, you’d at least have them date first, but no.

“No, you will do it here. No need for a proposal or privacy. My son is going to take care of you.” Frederico promises, but with the way his son has been speaking to me, I highly doubt it.

I nod, no need for me to respond.

The faster I get this over with, the faster I can go to my wing here in the estate and cry.

“Ahora, Emilio give her the ring so that we can be done with this and talk about bringing on the Castro men into the Muertos.”

Emilio does as my father says and pulls a ring box out of his pocket, and hands it to me. He doesn’t even bother opening it, he just hands it to me as if it’s an inconvenience for him.

I don’t look at him as I take the box and open it. The ring is beautiful and if it were under any other circumstances, I would be jumping up and down for joy.

But there is nothing joyful about this.

A lump forms in my throat as I take the ring out from between the cushions. Tears start to slide down my cheeks as I slide the ring onto my ring finger.

This is it.

I’m engaged to Emilio Castro.

I’m going to marry him.

Everything that I know and love about my life will be gone.

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