“And if he refuses?”
“He won’t.” The tone of Papa’s voice made me think Sebastian Weber was as bad as his father. “He’s set to inherit everything. He will essentially control over half of Germany and parts of Poland and the Netherlands. No man would turn this down. Plus, Jonas Weber will inherit his own trust as a retired family head.”
My stomach dropped. I didn’t want the money. I didn’t need the money. I made enough to support myself.
None of that mattered. For my family, I was going to have to marry someone I’d never met, knew nothing about, and could only guess had a dark side. Who was I kidding? Most men raised in our world weren’t the nice, adoring kind. They were ruthless, took what they wanted, and had no qualms about using force, deadly or not.
Papa had always been the exception in my eyes. Then again, I only focused on the man who raised me. Not the mobster I knew he was, with a territory that he expanded and kept in control using whatever force needed for twenty years. Papa doted on me. He would’ve loved more children, especially a son. But his love for Mama kept him from divorcing her or having a mistress who could give him children.
“I won’t do it,” I snapped. “I’m not a child to take orders. I have a life, Papa. I’m not ready to marry anyone.”
Papa’s gaze narrowed, giving me a glimpse of the boss everyone feared. “You will. I won’t let a simple marriage destroy everything I’ve built over the years. Until my dying day, I plan to hold our family together. We all have to make sacrifices. You’ll make this one.”
“But Papa—”
“Isa, enough.” I jumped at the warning. “I’ve indulged you for far too long. You will do this for our family. You will marry him. And you will use whatever means necessary to gain leverage on that man. I will make him beholden to me, not the other way around.”
I just stared at Papa, not believing the change in him. He’d never spoken to me this way.
Yes, I’d grown up in a life of luxury and had been pampered, but I’d gone to school. Hell, I’d gone to graduate school. And to Oxford, no less. I’d made a career for myself as an art expert with a specialty in appraisal and authenticity. I could tell a fake from the real thing without batting an eyelash, no matter how good a copy. It wasn’t the most glamorous job, but it allowed me to work when I wanted and gave me the freedom to focus on my real business, one my father had no idea about, but I’d done it. I’d succeeded in a field dominated by men.
It pissed me off to no end that my value was in my looks, my pedigree, my family. I’d wanted to be the son Papa never had, and it took me a long time to accept that I’d never had a chance in hell of taking over the family empire. The patriarchal way of things was generations old and wasn’t going to change anytime soon. But I never expected this.
“Let me get this straight. You want me to sell my body to a man I have never met and use my sexual wiles to captivate him and find out anything that you can use as leverage to keep him in line. In other words, I’m a whore who’s been sold by my mother and grandfather to the highest bidder.”
I couldn’t hide the anger I felt toward Mama, and I ignored the wince she gave at my words.
Papa clenched his jaw. Good, I’d struck a nerve, and he hadn’t liked what I’d said. He could try that cold, unfeeling manner with everyone else but I knew my Papa was still under the mask he’d donned in front of my eyes.
“Isa, I didn’t have a choice in whether I married your papa either,” my mother said in a low whisper. “But we grew to love each other.”
“I don’t want to hear it.” I stood. I had to get out of here before I lost my ever-loving mind. “You knew how I felt. You knew I wasn’t the girl who did what everyone expected. I can’t be around you right now. Either of you.”
I shot Papa an angry glare, and saw a flash of regret before he schooled it away.
I wanted to run away and hide, but where would I go? Besides, I’d never been one to run away from issues.
I turned and stalked to the door.
The second my fingers closed around the doorknob, Papa said, “Your engagement is set. You’ll be Eloisa Weber by next spring.”
I froze. That was eight months from now.
Taking a deep breath, I glanced over my shoulder. “Then I guess I better start enjoying the last bit of my life as I know it. And I don’t want to meet the man until my wedding day. The last thing I want during the next eight months is a constant reminder of who’ll own my freedom.”
Chapter Four
Three Months Later
Sebastian
“Good to see you back in town.” A large man in a tailored suit approached me as I entered Verberne Schutzer, one of the newest underground clubs in Berlin. Unless a person knew someone or they were invited would they ever hear of the club or gain admission inside. This wasn’t the type of place with lines of people waiting outside, and anyone who learned of the location and tried to gain entrance was met with bouncers who were more than happy to explain they weren’t welcome.
I clasped his offered hand. “Good to see you again, Justine.”
“I see you’ve gotten some sun. It must be a nice change from the weather here. Let me guess—you were laid out on some tropical beach with cocktails and honeys around you.”
If he only knew. My ribs still hurt from my last assignment
