I shot both my fiancé and my father a dark look, daring them to argue with me. It made my stomach churn. Papa had taught us early on that arguing with him was a bad idea. We even knew better than to argue with Mama in front of company. Neither would let the action go unpunished. Papa thought it made him look weak to have his children anything other than under his complete control, and Mama would be embarrassed by misbehavior.

Neither man said anything. Papa motioned for us to sit back down. I noticed Mama had run off after Alex. No surprise there. My sister was a spoiled, bratty woman, and I didn’t like her much. My two youngest sisters, though, I’d give my life to protect.

Instant gratitude had pummeled me when Ada had told us Rat wouldn’t be choosing her. Papa would’ve let him, if that’s what it took, so I was thankful it hadn’t come to that.

I sat down across from the two men, while Papa took his seat at the head of the table. It was only the four of us in here now. I’d never negotiated an arranged marriage before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect.

Were they going to exchange chickens for me? How many barnyard animals was I worth?

The thought made my lips thin out into a flat line. I had a maelstrom of emotion causing chaos inside me. I didn’t want to get married. Or rather, I didn’t want to be forced into it. I’d always had this childhood fantasy that I’d marry for love. For most women these days that would be the expectation. For my sisters and I, we’d been told from a young age that we’d be paired off to men of my father’s choosing. The lack of choice in the matter grated at me and I wanted to deny the match just out of spite.

I peeked through my lashes at the man who would become my husband. He wasn’t exactly jumping for joy either. Everything he’d told me upstairs and what I’d heard at their meeting indicated he was only doing this for the good of their club. That had a strange feeling of disappointment mixing in with the other emotions churning in my chest.

When he’d said my name, excitement and more than a little smugness had sparked within me. Being smug, I understood. Alex had been positive that she’d be chosen. In fact, we all thought she would. She was the oldest daughter and beautiful. Men had been falling all over themselves chasing after her for years. Not that Papa would allow us to have boyfriends.

Papa would lose his mind if he knew his precious Alexandria wouldn’t have been a blushing virginal bride. I’d caught her with one of Papa’s Capos. Leave it to Alex to choose a man twice her age to lose her virginity to. At least when I’d lost mine it was with a boy from school. Our first time had been fumbling, but sweet. We’d had a summer fling and I’d thought myself in love at the time. The feelings faded— as they tended to do with young love— but I’d forever be grateful to him. He’d given me the opportunity to take control of my life— not something that Papa often allowed.

If we’d been caught-

I shoved the thought away as ice filled my veins. I’d played a dangerous game with that boy’s life and possibly my own. I doubted my father would’ve actually done anything to me, but we were only willing to push him so far.

“Celia and I would like the wedding to take place in October.”

My father speaking pulled me back into the conversation happening in front of me. I couldn’t help gasping. October was only a couple weeks away. I stared at Papa in shock, then peeked over at Viktor.

His face was cold, hard, and I had to suppress a shudder. He’d seemed really nice and sweet when we spoke at the park, but right now he was showing a new side. He looked as dangerous as I supposed guys who belonged to a motorcycle club probably were. It just reminded me that I had a lot to learn about this man.

“That doesn’t work for me,” Rat replied coldly.

Both men remained silent for a few beats while they studied each other.

“November,” Rat said.

His voice had a ring of finality to it and I felt a vise clamp around my lungs. It was getting harder to breathe.

Papa’s face broke out into a grin. “Agreed.”

“You can pick the date.”

I looked over and found Rat’s intense blue eyes watching me. Gee, lucky me. I didn’t get to choose to become engaged or decide the month or year in which I’d be married, but I had full control over which day it would be. Folding my arms over my chest, I inwardly sighed because that wasn’t true either. My mother would hound me unmercifully until I picked whatever day she wanted.

Mama was going to be livid that she had to plan a wedding in six weeks. I held on to the small amount of joy that thought gave me. It wasn’t that I didn’t love my parents—on some level I did, but I also resented them. It was probably pathetic that I was desperate for their love and approval. I just couldn’t seem to help it. After years of basically being ignored—unless they were telling me what not to do—I still needed that validation from them. It was fucked up and I didn’t understand why, but there wasn’t much I could do about it. I’d tried to write them off and it hadn’t worked. It didn’t matter that I was terrified of Papa most of the time and that Mama was the cloth Alex was cut from—and that they both pissed me off.

Abel was the heir, Alex was the princess and Ada was the baby. Both Antonia and I had pretty much been left to our own devices unless Mama or Papa needed something from us. Abel had been more of a father to me than my own had over the years. My love for him was pure and I knew he returned it—in his own way.

It had mostly been for the best. It meant I got to pursue my own passions without Mama constantly harping at me that ‘a lady shouldn’t behave that way.’ I saw what Alex went through, and though she seemed to love it, I would’ve hated growing up like that. Instead, I got to take things apart just to learn how they went together and learned everything I could about computers. I was able to duck the responsibilities—and negative attention—both my parents gave Abel and Alex.

“…can take her home tonight.”

What? Had my father just offered for this man—who I don’t know—to take me home like I was a stray puppy? I stared at him in shock. Viktor seemed as lost for words as I was. His friend’s head was bouncing around like he was watching a ping pong match as he looked between the three of us.

“I will not be going home with him,” I said stiffly.

Papa’s eyes met mine and something dangerous sparked there. I was furious, though, so I didn’t care. I was convinced I got my temper from him— although maybe mine wasn’t as precarious. Once I was angry, I was willing to bring his wrath down on me and screw who it burned.

“You’ll do as I-”

“I won’t,” I insisted as I cut him off. “I will move in with him once we are married.”

Papa’s fist slammed down on the table, rattling the leftover dishes that the staff had left here—presumably they’d all made themselves scarce during the fight. He and I had our gazes locked, a silent battle of wills.

“You will, or so help me…”

He didn’t finish the sentence, but I felt fear trickle down my spine. I knew exactly what my father was capable of. He’d never hurt one of us before, but that’s because we all fell into line whenever he commanded it. He had it in him, though. It wasn’t hard to read the violence in his eyes.

Viktor cleared his throat and our eyes snapped over to him. “She will stay here until the engagement is announced. Then, she’ll come to live with me.”

There was that commanding voice again. I bit the inside of my cheeks to keep from telling him he could screw all the way off. I sat stewing in my chair as my mother hurried into the room.

“I’m so sorry. What did I miss?” She was breathless and excitement flickered in her eyes. This was a dream come true—for her. Sure, she was probably disappointed that it wasn’t Alex getting married, but she’d gotten over it quickly enough. I ground my teeth as she sat daintily next to Papa.

“The engagement party will be next Saturday,” Papa told the room.

Mama gasped. “Salvatore, you expect me to get a party together in that amount of-”

Papa’s hard look had her snapping her jaw shut and sucking in a deep breath. She smoothed out her features before she smiled at me then at Viktor. “I’ll see that it happens and it will be beautiful.”

My stomach lurched so hard I felt like I was going to throw up. Once we announced it, it was going to be very difficult to break the engagement off. I needed to do something before Saturday to press pause—or stop it completely.

My mind was racing too fast to pay much attention to the rest of the conversation. Before I knew it, everyone was standing.

“Walk your fiancé out,” Papa ordered.

I followed Viktor and his friend out onto the front porch. The second guy went to wait by their motorcycles. I thought his name was Bass—it would make sense with that deep, dark voice he had—but the whole night had been a blur, so I wasn’t sure.

“Viktor-”

“Rat,” he reminded me, gently. He sighed as he stared down at me.

As a girl I’d sprouted up quickly and topped out at five-nine, but Rat had a good four inches on me. I had to tip my chin a bit to look into his troubled eyes.

“Look. I’m sorry for putting you in this position, Ari.”

He paused, then gave me a nod. “If there was any other way I would’ve chosen it.”

Frowning, I searched his face while I tried to deal with the conflicting emotions welling up inside of me. I hated the mafia life. I wanted to be free of it, and not through marriage. The idea of marrying a stranger, just because Papa told me I had to, made me feel like destroying something in a bout of rage. But hearing what Rat was saying made me feel insecure and unhappy. I couldn’t possibly be upset that this guy wasn’t thrilled about marrying me either—could I?

“Maybe we could talk some sense into my father?” I asked hopefully.

Rat shook his head. “It’s done. As sorry as I am about it, I won’t go back on my word and I’ve promised to marry you.”

I’ve had a lot of practice hiding my emotions. You learned to do so very quickly when your father has no qualms about killing people who pissed him off. That didn’t mean I was a doormat, though. Rat’s words had a wash of red hazing my vision.

“Well, I’m sorry, too,” I hissed at him. I wasn’t sure who I was more pissed at—him for basically admitting he didn’t want me or myself for caring.

Rat’s eyes widened, then his brows drew together in a frown. “Wait…what-”

I didn’t hear the rest of what he was saying because I’d already spun around and slammed my front door in his face. Hurrying across the foyer, I glared at my parents who came out from the dining room.

“Arianna,” Papa growled, but I ignored him and raced to my room. I locked the door just in case.

My parents didn’t bother to come check on me, and that was fine—typical. I sat down at my computer and started looking into the man I was going to be marrying and his club.

I wasn’t sure how much time I’d lost while I’d been digging around on the dark web. All I knew was I was in deep fucking shit. My heart was racing, hands clammy, and it felt like I was going to throw up what little dinner I’d eaten.

When Papa had first brought home these bikers, I hadn’t paid much attention to who they were. Once we found out he was arranging a marriage with one of them, everyone assumed Alex would be the one chosen, so I still hadn’t bothered to look into them.

If Rat and his club found out who I was—what I’d done—they’d kill me. If I refused to marry him, Papa might kill me. I was caught in the middle. I’d just found out quite a bit about how Rat’s club operates—despite the impressive security blocks someone had thrown up to hide their activities. Everything I’d found told me they’d have no qualms about killing someone actively working against them. Desperation was bubbling up inside of me.

I logged into my bank account—or rather Audrey Heyburn’s—and sighed in relief when I found my little nest egg untouched. It’d been necessary to hide the money I’d been saving for the past four years. If my father found it, who knew what he’d do.

Once I’d started college, I began picking up little side jobs I could do for other students—homework, helping fix their computers, stuff like that. I’d squirreled it all away with every intention of fleeing this life with Antonia and Ada. That meant I had to wait until Ada was eighteen. I couldn’t risk taking her before then.

I’d never asked my father for permission to take a real job because then he’d know I have money. Plus, there was no way he’d have allowed it. He already had his men following us around campus as it was—for our own protection, he always said. I never really knew if it was that, or to keep us in line.

My plan was to go to my Uncle Nico in New York. He would take us in. I was closer to him than I’d ever been to my own father. I had to be careful, though. Uncle Nico was a mafia boss, too. As much as I loved him, those kinds of men—men like my father—ruled over their little worlds like dictators. The kind of power they had made them feel like they could do anything they wanted with anyone’s lives and get away with it. Sadly, they did get away with it.

Uncle Nico knew what the relationship was like between my father and I. I used to dream that he would come rescue me from this life. As I got older I began to understand that if he did, it would cause a war between our families. That’d been the last thing I wanted, so I never blamed Uncle Nico for not doing anything. We weren’t his kids—his responsibility.

Things were different now. I was an adult and my sisters would be as well. If I couldn’t convince Uncle Nico to help, he would send us back home immediately. The consequences didn’t bear thinking about. It would be worth it, though. If it worked, we’d be free. Free to live how we chose, marry who we wanted, and never have an overbearing family member or husband tell us what to do again.

My door opened and I glanced over my shoulder into the worried face of my sister. She and Ada were the only two who had keys to my room. Even Abel didn’t have one. Antonia shut the door behind her—locking it again—and came over to me. I rose and we hugged.

“What are you going to do?” she asked, her voice muffled from having her head buried in my shoulder.

I stroked her dark hair. “I don’t know,” I admitted.

“You should go.” She pulled back and our eyes locked. There were tears in hers, but there was a grim set to her mouth.

“I can’t leave you and Ada.” The thought made me want to sit down and cry. As much as I loved Ada if she chose not to come with us I wouldn’t worry about her. Ada was Mama’s baby and she’d make sure nothing bad happened to my sister. Antonia and I had always been extremely close, though. “I won’t leave you,” I repeated.

She frowned and went to sit on my bed. “We could go then. Just you and I—tonight.”

I sighed and sat next to her burying my head in my hands. Tugging on my hair, I tried to come up with a plan. “The wedding changes everything.”

“How?”

“Uncle Nico might have kept us in New York if we asked even against Papa’s wishes. Papa most likely would’ve kept it quiet to prevent any kind of gossip.” I raised my head and looked at her. “I don’t think he’ll let us stay if some motorcycle club is going to come pounding on his door looking for a runaway bride.” Not to mention Papa would demand that Uncle Nico return me and it could start that war. I wasn’t willing to drag Uncle Nico into this mess.

“We can make him understand that you had no say in the matter-”

I couldn’t help but laugh. Antonia’s face screwed up as she thought about what she’d said. “There’s no way. He’d hand me right back over to the Vikings and you to Papa. I wouldn’t be around to protect you from the consequences I caused.”

“This is our choice, too,” Antonia said firmly. “You gave both me and Ada a chance to make up our own minds about going with you or staying. We decided to go.”

Abel and Alex were the only two who seemed to want to live this way. The rest of us wanted out.

“Maybe it won’t be so bad being married to a biker?” Antonia said. Her tone was hesitant, but hopeful. Neither of us knew much about motorcycle clubs. We’d been overly sheltered growing up. Papa had kept his family safe from outside threats. I was pretty sure it had more to do with reputation than because he cared for us. He’d always been so hard and strict we were terrified of him. Instinctively, we knew if we pushed too hard he’d end us. Such was the mafia way. I’d never known any different.

“It’s trading one type of imprisonment for another,” I told her. I wanted to be free to make my own choices, live my life, and what I was getting was another man who was embroiled in the criminal lifestyle. There could be good men in this way of life. Uncle Nico and Abel had proven that, but I had no idea on which side of the line my future husband fell.

I swallowed. I hadn’t shared much about the work I’d been doing for Papa with Antonia. The less she knew the safer she was, but I needed advice. “I’m in a lot of trouble, Sis.”