Page 13 of Flowers and Moonlight
The joke is on him because I couldn’t give a flying fuck about the Moreau name. It’s his name and it sure as hell hasn’t done me any favors. His reputation is the only thing he cares about other than earning money. I don’t help him with either of those things, which he’s made abundantly clear over the years.
I shake my head slowly and keep my voice soft, “What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about you opening your legs like a common fucking whore. And to two men?” He takes a menacing step toward me, and I shrink back. “You were told not to go to the ball and yet, you went.” His cold gaze slides down my body and thenback up as if assessing me. “Now the deal won’t be as good and it’s all your fault.”
I can’t help but ask, “What deal?”
“The deal to make me rich,” he snarls. “The deal that gets you out of my face. Permanently.”
My spine straightens and the muscles of my back start aching with how much I’m tensing. There’s a shrill note of panic in my tone, “What are you talking about?”
“You’re going to be Juan Martinez’s wife,” he spits the words. I wish they weren’t an arrow to the deepest part of me.
I take a deep breath and let it out slowly because I must have misheard him. Juan Martinez is not a good guy. There are rumors about him being connected to human trafficking and some bad drugs which have been coming into the city. I don’t want anything to do with the man.
“No,” I try and keep my voice firm, but the look he shoots me has the sound wavering, “I’m not marrying that man.”
“That man,” his face starts turning redder with every word, “is the only thing that has been keeping my business afloat for years. You will marry him and strengthen the connection between my family and his.”
My jaw drops open. I consider the idea of calling someone, anyone, but who? No one is going to save me from this. The hard set of my father’s jaw tells me as much.
I will do anything in my power to not marry that sleaze ball. If only I had more power at my disposal. And resources. And money.
An image of Zeno and Tony fills my mind, and my heart yearns for them. There was something there. I shouldn’t have left, but I knew if I didn’t then it would have been worse when I came home. Not like it made much of a difference, apparently.
“Posy,” Dad’s voice rings out through the room, and it pulls me back from thoughts of the men whose hands I can still feel all over my body. “Are you listening to me?” I blink at him with a blank look on my face. When he takes another step closer, I can feel his hatred for me and how much he’s thinking about hitting me. I’m not sure what holds him back, honestly. “You need to get dressed. You have a date to get ready for.”
“A date?” I keep my words calm and measured, “Who am I going on a date with?”
“Your fiancé,” he sneers.
Before I can protest, Samantha comes waltzing into my room with a condescending smile on her face. “I’m here to do something with,” she waves her hand in such a way to indicate all of me, “that. I need to make you presentable for your future husband.”
My heart sinks. The glee on Samantha’s face makes her look like evil distilled into its purest form. I want to slink away from her, but with the way my father is watching me I know it’ll only make me look weak.
I’m so fucking tired of feeling weak. Of acting weak. Of being weak.
I don’t know how I’m going to get out of this, but I’m going to figure out a way. All on my own.
Juan Martinez is not a good man. He would be an awful husband and I feel sorry for any woman he’s come in contact with. I won’t be marrying him. There is no fucking way.
It’s been harder to believe in after Mom’s death, but I’ve always set my sights on a fairy tale love that is pure, true, and everlasting. I won’t be settling for anything less. My heart skips a beat because I know I found something special between Zeno and Tony.
Having two men devoted to me wasn’t something I imagined before, but I know there is no way I could choose one over the other or only have one of them in my life. I want them both. I need them both.
I just need to get out of this marriage first so I can go to them free and clear. They deserve that, not to be pulled into my problems.
“Remember what is at stake, Posy.” My dad starts to leave my room while Samantha glares at me. His tone turns icy, “If Martinez isn’t impressed with you, you never know where you’ll end up.”
I freeze as I stare at the door, no longer darkened by my father’s presence. Did he just threaten that if I don’t fall in line then I might disappear? I know what disappearing would mean if we’re talking about Martinez. He would sell me to the highest fucking bidder.
Samantha marches herself into my closet, muttering insults as she rips through my clothes until she comes out holding a dress I wouldn’t normally be caught dead in. It’s far too short, but I’m not surprised she picked it out for me to wear considering it’s just her style. The thought of having so muchskin on display for a man like Juan Martinez makes me sick to my stomach.
“You missed quite the party the other night,” Samantha’s voice is deceptively sweet, but I know the truth. I can hear the derision underneath the sugar. Does she not know Dad found out I was there? Is this all a game? “What a shame you couldn’t have been there.”
“I’m sure it was lovely,” I keep my tone bored and disinterested as she starts in on my hair and make-up.
If she doesn’t know and Dad didn’t tell her, I don’t want her to even have an inkling that I was there or saw the way she threw herself at rich, powerful men without a hint of shame. If she knew I spent the best night of my life between two men with more connections than she could hope to have, she would have a fucking aneurysm.
