Page 11 of When She Falls (The Fallen)
Papà drops his hand away and straightens his back. “In our business, he’s demanding but fair. I imagine he’ll be the same in your marriage. We’ve had a chance to talk about his philosophy on family life, and it closely aligns with my own. You are to be at his service. Always. Your purpose in life will be to make his life as easy and as pleasing as possible. Learn what that means, and he will treat you with all the respect you’re due.”
I’m marrying a younger version of my father.
It takes everything I have to not let my expression crumble. “Okay.”
He pats me on both shoulders. “You will have a chance to speak to him more this week. I have no doubt you will grow to appreciate him and love him in due time.”
That’s ambitious. I’ll be happy if all I manage to do is survive.
I slip out of the room and head directly to a bathroom to tidy myself up.
The thing is, I was raised for this. All of the girls in our family were. Arranged marriages have been the norm in our family for many generations, and they’ve generally worked out. Divorces are practically unheard of. The only two I can think of off the top of my head were actually love marriages. Two distant aunts on Mamma’s side left the family to marry men they’d fallen in love with, only to return a few years later begging to be taken back in. Their stories have always been told as cautionary tales. It wasn’t until Vale that I entertained the possibility of a love marriage working out.
I suppose it’s too early to tell in her case.
Vale and Damiano are obviously infatuated with each other, but will their love last? Will it survive the challenges that come with marrying a don without a family supporting her? Even Mamma’s had to rely on Nona and our aunts and uncles to get through some rough patches with Papà.
Vale doesn’t have that anymore.
She’s here all alone.
A shiver of discomfort runs through me. I get why Vale ran, but for the life of me, I can’t understand how she did it.
She was always the perfect sister. Growing up, Mamma made Vale the ideal that I had to measure up against. I was never as good. Never as beautiful. I was in competition with her, but it was one-sided, and maybe that’s why it never managed to create a rift between us.
It just made me hungry for every crumb of approval I could get.
My reflection stares back at me. This concealer deserves an award. It’s barely smudged. No point in worrying what I’ll discover when I wash it off tonight.
“Gemma?”
My head turns toward the door. It’s Vale. I should have known she wouldn’t let Papà’s comments about my future husband slide without a follow-up interrogation.
She’s sitting on the edge of the bed when I come out, and I can tell she’s fired up. I know what’s coming, so I decide to take the lead.
“Look, I know it’s weird.”
“Weird? Gem, it sounds awful. They’ll display the sheets? I mean, God. It’s humiliating.”
“I’ll be fine.” That lunch we just had was far more humiliating, if you asked me. I could do without Papà announcing all the intimate details of my upcoming marriage in front of everyone.
Especially Ras.
I purse my lips. That smug asshole was probably delighted to see me squirm. He seems to enjoy making me uncomfortable.
“No—”
“Vale, why is the tradition humiliating to me?” I demand as I plop down beside her. “If anything, it’s more humiliating to the people insisting on seeing the damn thing, don’t you think?”
My words make her pause for a second. “Of course it is. But I’m sure it won’t be a pleasant thing for you to go through.”
“It’s pretty low on my list of concerns.”
“What are your concerns? Have you voiced any of them to our father? Has he listened? Things have changed, Gem. You know that, right? After what happened with me, you should have a say in who you marry.”
“You really have forgotten how things work in our family.”
Her eyes flare. “Don’t you understand I have leverage now? Damiano can—”
