She even paid taxes on her income! Oh, her father be furious with her for that! She almost laughed as she stood in front of her father’s massive, ornate desk, impatiently shifting from one foot to the next as the silence continued.
After several minutes, he threw down his pen and leaned back in his large, leather chair. She suspected that he’d purchased that particular chair with the high back and the sides that came out slightly as a symbolic “I’m a king” message to the people who stood nervously in front of this desk. It certainly had the lines of a throne and she’d noticed several television trying to convey the same image.
She refused to squirm under his steady gaze, waiting patiently for him to convey the reason for his unexpected, cryptic summons so she could get back to her room and finish her work. She had several clients that were waiting on her to finish up their projects and she didn’t like to postpone a deadline. She prided herself on meeting every deadline she set with her clients.
“I want you to marry Zeke Vaughn,” he said without preamble.
Marissa continued to stand there, not exactly sure how to react to his command, not even sure she’d really heard him correctly. His command seemed so outrageous, surely she’d misunderstood. Had he really just ordered her to marry a stranger?
She blinked and cleared her throat, trying to hide the trembling. She wasn’t sure if her nervousness was caused by the mention of the stranger’s name or being in her father’s office. Both probably. “Excuse me?” she asked, sure she’d misunderstood.
Her father’s bushy eyebrows drew together and he almost snorted with disgust. “Marry him!” he snapped out impatiently. “You’re a good looking woman. Just seduce him and marry him. Get him into our happy family so I can use his contacts and his business genius to grow my own businesses. I want him, Marissa! Make it happen!”
Marissa blinked one more time, trying to focus. His words and the implication behind his command were making her more than a little dizzy. “I’m sorry, but you want me to just walk into his office and tell him that we’re getting married?”
He shrugged his shoulders without concern. “I don’t care how you do it. But that man’s net worth is about one hundred times my own. He also has powerful, international connections that I want to exploit. Which means, I need him as a son-in-law in order to get him to help me expand my reach. In order to do that, either you or Sierra need to marry the man. So are you going to step in and do it, or am I going to get Sierra to accomplish the deed?”
Marissa felt a hot bolt of jealousy at the idea of her baby sister having anything to do with Zeke Vaughn. She loved her sister, but there was no way she would allow her to have Zeke. It wasn’t that she wanted him for herself, she reminded herself sternly. She just didn’t think that Zeke would treat Sierra well. Yes, that was exactly it. She wanted someone more kind and gentle for her sister’s husband. She knew all too well that Zeke…okay, so he’d been very gentle with her yesterday in the living room. Maybe too gentle. His touch hadn’t been what she’d wanted…but she was digressing and she shook her head to focus on the current conversation once again.
“Dad, I can’t just casually waltz into a strange man’s office and ask him to marry me. He barely knows me. Yesterday was the second time I’d ever met him and yet you want me to just propose to him?”
He shrugged his heavy shoulders once again, his brown eyes hard and unconcerned. “You didn’t act like he was a stranger yesterday,” he replied with a sneer. “So walk into his office, strip off your clothes and then propose to him. I don’t care how you do it. Just get it done.”
Marissa couldn’t be more shocked if he’d told her that he was going to…nope, not going to think about violence towards the man, she thought. She hated the idea of anything hurting Zeke. Not because she cared for him or anything. It was simply because he was a human being and she didn’t want anyone hurt for any reason.
“Dad, I can’t marry him,” she said softly, but with a firm determination.
Her father leaned forward and picked up his pen once again. “You should have been married several years ago. I didn’t get any sons with your mother so I want some grandsons. I need someone to learn the business and follow in my footsteps. That takes grooming and grooming takes time. I can’t believe you haven’t married already, Marissa, but it’s actually good because now I want Zeke Vaughn in the family and either you or your sister are going to make that happen.”
“I can’t…” she started to say, but he interrupted her once again.
“Either you marry the man, or you marry Jimmy!” he bellowed, so furious she could actually picture steam coming out of his ears. “But one way or another, I’m going to get myself some grandsons! And I want Zeke in the family! Make it happen or I’ll make it happen through your sister.”
Marissa turned her head slightly, seeing Jimmy walk into the office and hand her father a piece of paper. He looked up and winked at her, his bulky form ambling off through the exit in the back of the house. He knew! The disgusting man with the protruding stomach, the man who was actually shorter than she was, knew what her father was demanding of her. The pathetic jerk didn’t even care that he was offered up as second place!
With a cry of outrage, she spun around on her heel and walked out of her father’s office, shame, anger and righteous indignation carrying her out into the bright sunshine.
“I want to hear news in a week, Marissa!” he bellowed out to her retreating form. “Your wedding is already being planned. The groom is the only thing not nailed down.”
She almost tripped when she rounded the corner as she ran down the hallway, unconcerned that she might stumble and fall in her sling back heels. She ran all the way to her bedroom, slamming the door and leaning her head back against it. She wasn’t aware of her heavy breathing or the panic filling her chest. All she could see in her mind was the very possible image of Jimmy Traveri, her father’s second in command, looming over her as he pressed her into the mattress on their wedding night.
With a shudder at the image of his maliciously smiling face, she shuddered with horror and revulsion. She couldn’t do it, she told herself, squeezing her eyes shut as if she could block out the image.
Grabbing her purse and her car keys, she yanked open her bedroom door once again, rushing down the hallway to the garage. She drove away from the house as fast as she could, wishing she could just keep on driving and never look back. She could do it too! She could just find a small town somewhere, hideaway and never enter this evil house again.