Prologue
Gabriela
Present Day
It’s almost one in the morning when we drive up to the house in the posh Todt Hill neighborhood of Staten Island. The tall iron gates stand open, which surprises me. Security isn’t something my father takes lightly.
As we slow to a stop, the guard greets the driver then shines his flashlight in through the open car window.
I turn away from the bright light when he flashes it in my face.
“You’re to take her directly to her room. She’s to stay there,” he tells the driver.
Translation: lock her in.
“What’s going on?” the driver asks.
I catch the guard’s eye. “He’s got company.”
The driver nods then pushes the button to close the window and we drive toward the house. It’s a beautiful mansion, one many people stop to look twice at, but I’ve always thought of it as more of a prison.
And tonight, I’m being brought back like an escaped convict.
Two SUVs I don’t recognize are parked alongside the circular drive. I can see from here there’s a driver sitting inside each one. Cigarette smoke wafts out of the open window of the first vehicle.
“Who’s here?” I ask.
Neither my driver nor John, the man my father sent to retrieve me, answer. Instead, we pull to a stop and John climbs out, opens my door.
I step out, grab my duffel bag.
He takes it from me in one hand and closes the other around my upper arm.
“Don’t touch me,” I tell him.
He neither lets me go nor bothers to reply. Why should he? He doesn’t answer to me. He answers to my father and he knows what happened to the other soldier who tried to help me. I’m sure they all know.
Tonight, an example was made to show what happens when someone crosses Gabriel Marchese.
Guilt makes me nauseous. He made me watch. Part of my punishment. Only the beginning of it, I’m sure. I’ll take what I have coming but Alex didn’t deserve what they did to him. That’s on me.
We climb the stairs to the wide portico, John’s grip harder than it needs to be as I walk along, my steps slower than his. I’m in no hurry to get inside.
The men stationed at the door open it, only sparing me a quick glance because I don’t matter, even if I am the daughter of the boss. I’m just a pawn and everyone knows it.
Once inside, I glance down the hall toward my father’s study. Two men I don’t recognize stand just outside the door. They don’t work for him. I know it just from the way they’re dressed.
When we near the stairs, the study door opens and my father’s attorney, Mark Waverly, steps into the hallway. He takes a few steps toward us, studies me for a long moment before turning to John.
“Bring her in here,” he says.
“I was told to take her upstairs.”
“Change of plans.” He gestures to the study with a quick sideways nod of his head.
My father doesn’t often call me into his study and certainly not when he’s doing business.
When I don’t move, John tugs at my arm.
“Gabriela,” Waverly says. “You’ll want to walk in.”
“Then tell my father’s goon to get his hands off me.”
Waverly gestures to John to let me go.
I brush my hair back, steel my spine. I try to ignore the splatters of red on my white T-shirt. My father ordered the beating, after all. I’m sure his business associates will neither be surprised nor offended by the evidence of such violence.
But as I near the study, I feel my heartbeat pick up. I force a bored expression on my face. I’ve worked on it for years and still, I don’t know if they see right through it.
When I’m a few feet from the door, I take a deep breath in, hoping it will calm me. It doesn’t.
I take two steps into the dimly lit study and stop. John and Waverly enter behind me and close the door.
There’s an older man I don’t recognize sitting in one of the armchairs. He’s dressed in a three-piece suit and I wonder how he’s not burning up even with the air-conditioning. But maybe it’s anxiety that has me sweating.
My father is seated behind his huge desk leaning back in his chair. If he’s trying to look relaxed, it’s not working. I see how the corner of his left eye is twitching. It’s his tell. I wonder who else has picked that up.
I watch as he scans my face, takes in my shorter hair. I cut about six inches off since he last saw me. I hated to do it, but I didn’t want to risk being found.
And still, I was found.
But disappearing when you’re Gabriel Marchese’s daughter is not an easy thing.
On the upside, I do like my new bangs, although they’re a little too long and I keep having to tuck them behind my ear.
I shift my weight to one leg and look back at him.
He eyes my dirty T-shirt, shorts and army boots. It’s not my usual attire, and I know he hates it. There are expectations for how his daughter should be seen, after all.
“Gabriela,” he says, his voice elegant and rich. “How’s Alex?”
“You know how he is.”
His reply is a mean grin.
“I’m tired. If you don’t mind, I’ll go to bed. You can punish me tomorrow if that’s why I’m here.”
For as close as I was to my mother, so am I distant from my father.
Someone clears their throat and my head snaps to the far-right corner.
There’s a man standing there, leaning against the wall. I hadn’t realized there was anyone else in the room. I can’t tell who it is. His arms are folded across his chest and his face is hidden in shadow.
He’s tall, and built. I can see the thickness of his arms, his wide shoulders. He’s dressed in a dark suit and from here, I can see his shoes are expensive.
He moves, unfolding his arms, checking his watch. When he drops his hand to his side and I see the ring on his finger, I gasp.
I know this man.
“The McKinney deal is off,” my father says, forcing me to turn my attention to him.
“What?” I ask, my gaze shifting back to the stranger.
To his hand.
To that ring on his finger.
What’s he doing here? In my father’s study in the middle of the night?
“McKinney. The contract with the boy. It’s off,” my father says.
I face my father, confused. By contract, he means my forced marriage because to my father, everything is business, even his daughter’s life.
Not that I’m surprised.
And that contract he’s referring to is why I’d run.
I’ve had to do a lot of things in my life that I didn’t want to do, but I won’t marry someone just because my father deems it good for business.
“Waverly has drawn up a new contract.”
“What are you talking about?” I ask. I can’t seem to process what he’s saying.
There’s a sound behind me and I turn to find the man stepping out of the shadows. He’s adjusting the cuff of his shirt and a gold cufflink glints in the lamplight.
I can’t seem to drag my eyes away from his hands. From that ring.
And I don’t want to look up. I don’t want to see his face.
“The marriage will take place in one month’s time,” my father’s words are slow to sink into my brain because I have to do it, have to look up at this man’s face. “In the meantime, you’ll be taken to the Sabbioni estate in Sicily for safe-keeping.”