Page 1 of Knot To Be
Prologue
ROSALIA
Fluffy,pink streaked clouds float above my head, and it almost feels as if the sky is trying to tell me something. Knowing the world I live in, I would think the sky is heralding a death.
That’s not morose at all, Rosa.
Vero plays with my long brown strands as I lay with my head in her lap, oblivious to my thoughts as they trend toward the bloody and obscene. One day, things will have to change, and I’ll no longer be able to enjoy my time like this with her. I’m going to soak in every moment because I’m not ready for that to happen.
“Don’t borrow trouble, Rosa,” she murmurs. “My mother is already on a rampage.”
“She’s always angry,” I grumble.
I’m not sure why my father married such a shrew, but I’ll accept it because it brought me Vero. She’s my sunshine and beauty in a life full of responsibilities. I hate that we have to hide behind our steadfast friendship as sisters. I thought my life would be easier at sixteen, but it’s proving to be very complicated.
“That’s why I’m glad to be here with you and your father. He doesn’t bother us much outside of the parties you need to go to for the family,” she says softly.
Those “parties” aren’t as innocent as she thinks. My father is trying to find a husband for me that’ll align our family with more power, despite the fact that I’m only sixteen. He’s been grooming me for an arranged marriage for years, reminding me to enjoy my life without losing the most important commodity I have: my virginity.
A part of me thinks he knows how close Vero and I are, he simply turns a blind eye to it because she can’t get me pregnant. My virginity will also technically be protected since she doesn’t have a penis. However, that’s not all my father has me do. I’m a terrible stepsister and I’m keeping too many secrets to count from her.
Closing my eyes, I listen to the birds playing in the trees of our large back yard, feel the sunlight on my skin, and enjoy Vero’s company.
…Right up until a gunshot breaks the tranquility of the day.
“What now?” I sigh, sitting up. I was starting to get sleepy, but that’s gone now. My heart is beating a little faster, my head feels extremely clear as I blink away my sleepiness, and my fingers twitch with the need to do something.
“Shouldn’t we stay here?” Vero asks, watching as I stand up. Her mother and she married into the mafia world. Neither of them really understand what that all means, even now.
There are guards on the property who are armed, yet there are many families in Savannah who have security. My father’s men are simply paid to kill, and most guards don’t have that in their job description. It’s a very distinct difference, and the lunches my stepmother attends are with old money, which means she doesn’t completely understand how dangerous my family is either.
I wonder if Vero would be horrified at some of the things I’ve been forced to do, or if she’d love me anyway. Even with the gunshot, my stepsister still thinks my father will be our protector.
She has no idea he’s really the wolf.
“No, my father will want me to see this. He would have made sure the gunshot was inside otherwise. Stay here, please. You know he won’t hurt me.”
My words seem nonsensical with the alpha she knows my father to be, but I can’t help that for now.
I have a sneaking suspicion that he shot Vero’s mother for saying something less than motherly about me. They’ve been married for two years, and my father has been bottling up how angry he gets when Beatrix, my stepmother, complains about me.
The list of my failures in her mind grows every day, and it appears it’s finally reached the end.
“Rosa,” Vero almost growls. Neither of us know our designation yet, but I’m fairly certain she’s going to be an alpha.
“Vero,” I tease, bending down to brush my lips against hers. “Please. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
I commit the memory of her long sunset red waves and blue eyes into my mind, remembering every willowy curve before I go handle whatever unpleasantness is awaiting me. Vero’s dress is floral and beautiful, and distinctly different from everything about me.
Light and dark, two sides of the same coin. Hmm.
A second blast of gunfire leads to a man crying out, and I begin to walk down the flagstone path in an attempt to cross the yard at a faster pace without falling in my red flats on the uneven ground.
My red sundress flutters around my calves, something else my stepmother will be sure to bitch about if she’s still alive.Red is the color of a harlot, and good girls shouldn’t wear it according to her. This doesn’t cross over to hair color she insists, something that shows her hypocrisy. However, my signature colors are red, black, and white, so she’ll have to gag on her unhappiness at my choices.
My heart stops as my footsteps stumble in front of my dying stepmother’s body, where she is indeed gagging on her own blood. There is a hole from the bullet wound in her stomach, and someone has cut her throat to make her death last longer as she drowns in the red liquid quickly escaping her body.
I’m not sure who else was shot, but I need to remain focused on what’s in front of me for now.
