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I struggled to get comfy, but I figured it out well enough. At least I had an entire seat to myself.
“Question one. What about the Lords? You promised me information on them.”
His head was slowly bobbing, and who knows what that meant until he spoke.
“Ah, yes yes. Well surprise. I’ve single-handedly, well with some help, created a network far greater than the Rossi empire. Is that exciting?”
That made no sense.
“You were in jail. And why would that be exciting?”
He checked his watch.
“Is that two questions? Well, I shall count it as two. One, you network in jail. Your father did me quite the favor. Second, it’s exciting because our children will inherit far more than your father ever gave you.”
That was a lot to take in. My father had created my nightmare. And then I caught on to what he’d said next.
“Our children? Excuse me?”
That smug look on his face had me itching to reach out and smack him. My mind was willing, my body not so much.
“Yes, dear. I had this wonderful idea. Since it doesn’t appear you are any closer to signing over your company than you were yesterday, and as you hadn’t gone down this road with that dear boy Roman, I thought I’d follow his lead.”
The gears were churning. What in the ever-loving shitsicle was happening?
“His lead?”
You would have thought I’d just asked the world’s dumbest question with the way he put everything down and he moved closer.
“Roman was marrying you for your company. Same as every other man out there. I’m sure it isn’t sitting right with Dorian right now. Perhaps that problem will resolve itself. He is a bit nauseating. Anyway, I digress. Why shouldn’t I just follow the lead? You company and your sweet little pussy. Win, win.”
At least I could garner enough saliva that when I spit at him, he was thoroughly grossed out.
“I see it will take a little more convincing than I’d hoped. Usually gold diggers are happy to just have money, but I suppose when you already have money, you want something else. How about this then? You marry me or you will see everyone you care about suffer. Parks and his little wife. Roman, although I suppose he’s already struggling with his father and his brother.”
I wasn’t sure if my ability to panic was broken or if I just had some weird faith in the men in my life, but I wasn’t panicking yet. Maybe it was that I was getting info, and I liked info.
“Let’s circle back to Roman. What do you mean by his father and brother? His father is in a coma. That’s not exactly stressful when it’s been that way for a while.”
Now I’d heard creepy villain laughs before, but the way he laughed at someone else’s misfortune was unnerving.
“Roman will figure out soon enough just how much of a puppet his brother could have been. Missed opportunities, I suppose.”
Trees were thickening along the road as we drove, and I really wasn’t crazy. The sky really was closer. Maybe it would have been beautiful had I not just been proposed to by a psycho.
“Okay, let me get this all straight. If I marry you, you leave my remaining family alone?”
He gave a curt nod.
“But what exactly is my guarantee? Or even better, how do I even know they are in danger? It sounds to me like, if I agree to this, you’ll be getting access to my company and that seems more dangerous for Parks. Didn’t you like him or something?”
I seem to remember the fondness my uncle had shown when we’d first met. Also, this just seemed stupid and loosely impossible for him to really force.
“Fond or not, he isn’t useful to me now, is he?”
“Yes, but Vinny, at the moment, you aren’t useful to me either. So you’ve stolen some of my product? Roman seemed pretty certain we’d be able to reclaim losses and maybe I have other things up my sleeve?”
He sat quietly for a moment as I watched pine tree after pine tree.
