“What I mean to tell you is that you are making a huge mistake. Greyson is not the kind of man you should even be bothering with. He’s… well, he might marry you but he won’t stay with you. He’s, regrettably, like our father in that department. Ever the Playboy.” He waved his hand away.
“And that’s why you came here, to warn me? I wish I could say I was surprised about him, I wish I could say I didn’t know that. But I do. And the wedding must go on.”
“Yes, our father told me. No choice. You must marry into the family. Your honor, or some such nonsense?” he asked. It was a flimsy premise, that was my argument, but both families were Catholic. It might seem archaic, but it made total sense when you looked at it through that lens. Even James Fitzgerald could not deny it.
I nodded.
“So now you have to marry the playboy jock and suffer the consequences. Is that really what you want?”
I paused. I didn’t know this man. We were just two people who met once, but I felt like, I don’t know. I felt like he knew me. It was those eyes. Those soul-searching eyes.
So I found myself spilling my secrets even when I didn’t want to.
“I’ll have to quit graduate school,” I admitted.
“Do you want that?”
I hesitated. I didn’t know. Not really. I mean, I’d gone in hoping it would be something entirely different, but now that I had to abandon it I second guessed the reasons why. They weren’t my reasons; they were my uncle’s reasons. The mob’s reasons.
“I really don’t know.”
“Well, you shouldn’t have to.”
“But if I don’t marry him-” I started.
“You mean ‘if I don’t marry.’ Your reputation has been tarnished, at least in the eyes of our family by your unwed status. It’s stupid, and primitive, I know, but they are using it, for whatever reason, to join the families.” David was fully aware of the situation.
I nodded. I knew the reason. Or, at least my uncle’s reason. He wanted a spy. Information. Someone to help take the family down.
“I really should’ve gotten your number,” David said, that smile returning. “Now I’m going to propose something that you’ll probably want to deny outright, but just listen.”
I swallowed. “What?” I asked. I’d already gone this far down the rabbit-hole. Why not plunge even further?
“I want you to marry me.”
“What?!”
“Just, just listen. You’re about to get into a marriage that you don’t want anyway. But me, I won’t make you leave graduate school. You might have to take a leave of absence for the rest of the year, but at least this way you won’t have to walk away. Just retake this semester’s classes. We’ll get you medical leave or whatever else you want. I don’t expect it to be an easy marriage, but it’ll save your reputation, and you’ll have the freedom to live your life. I’m not looking to use you, Joanna. I want to give you options. I want to build you up. And I want you to help me build my empire.”
“I don’t even know you.”
“Do you know Greyson?” he asked.
I stopped. Considered. This was all so fucking crazy. I was going to get married no matter what, but what he was suggesting, it was impossible.
“Your uncle has connections, my father could never give me the legitimacy I want. Not while Greyson is his heir. Together your family and mine could create something better. Something new. I know it isn’t ideal, I know you don’t know me. But you have options. You don’t just have to be a homemaker that has to cater to Greyson’s ever whim. You don’t have to deal with all of his transgressions and his fuck-ups. I could protect you from all of that.”
“Why would you even want to? I mean, how do I know you wouldn’t treat me any differently?”
“Well, for starters, like I said, you could stay in school. And because I’m educated. I’ve been to graduate school. I know what the demands are. But ultimately, you’d have to take a chance on me. You’d have to trust me.”
Trust him? He was coming up into his brother’s penthouse and proposing marriage to his fiancée. A woman he didn’t even know! But he was offering me a chance at my own life.
Fuck, why did this have to be so hard?
“One moment, I’m getting a rather ironic call.” He stood and walked towards the large windowed wall, answering his phone. “Ah, brother, I was just talking about you.”
I couldn’t hear who was on the other end of the line, but I was pretty sure it was Greyson. I squirmed in the chair and bit my lip