Chapter 10
The seating plan told me everything.
Not flowers.
Not relatives.
Capos.
Nine Caldwell men.
Six independent crews.
Four Pembroke captains invited without my father’s approval.
Their tables were arranged by loyalty.
Not family.
At the center:
Preston.
Beside him:
An empty chair.
Marked only P.
I looked at Marcus.
“Pembroke?”
No answer.
Victoria spoke.
“The future alliance.”
I turned.
“You expected me in that chair.”
“Once you understood your responsibilities.”
I laughed.
“You thought after this?”
I looked at my scraped hands.
“After basement locks, withheld food, public humiliation and Preston’s fists—I would sit beside him?”
Victoria shrugged.
“You would if Sebastian told you.”
My father’s face hardened.
I stared at her.
“You really don’t understand us.”
“No.”
She smiled.
“I understand daughters.”
That sentence interested me.
“How?”
“They return to fathers when frightened.”
“And?”
“Fathers trade for safety.”
Silence.
There.
That was their plan.
Not persuade me.
Make me afraid enough that Sebastian accepted the alliance to protect me.
Marcus nodded slightly.
Finally honest.
“If your father refused?”
I asked.
“Pressure continues.”
“On me.”
“Yes.”
“Until?”
He said nothing.
Preston did.
“Until you stopped making everything difficult.”
I looked at him.
He sounded exactly like his mother.
Exactly like Victoria over the cleaning bucket.
If Catherine obeyed, Catherine wasn’t hurt.
If Catherine resisted, Catherine caused the hurt.
I walked toward him.
He straightened.
“What?”
“You still think we’re getting married.”
His face changed.
“Of course not.”
“No?”
“I mean—”
“You keep speaking like my behavior still matters to your future.”
He said nothing.
I removed the engagement ring.
His eyes followed it.
I placed it on the muddy marble.
Victoria gasped.
Not because love ended.
Because the diamond touched dirt.
I stepped on it.
Once.
The metal bent.
Preston lunged.
My guards didn’t move.
Neither did my father.
They waited.
For me.
Preston stopped himself.
Barely.
I looked down at the crushed ring.
“That is the last thing you ever gave me.”
Then one of Sebastian’s capos entered.
“Boss.”
He looked at me this time.
Not my father.
“The four Pembroke captains from tomorrow’s list are already outside.”
Marcus smiled.
May you like
He had expected them.
What he didn’t expect was that they had asked to speak to me alone.
