Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 84075 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84075 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
“For your information, Sara Lynn, I am going to marry Ford.”
That silences her.
I swear I can hear her breathing. Like she’s trying to suck enough air into her lungs but can’t seem to do it. I stand there and puff up my chest and tilt up my chin and try to face this like a big girl—
“You’re insane,” she says finally. “Oh my god. You’re joking, right? This is a joke?”
“It’s not a joke. Ford heard about Grandfather looking for a husband for me, and he offered me a deal. I decided to take it.”
“Oh my god.” She laughs like she can barely believe this. “Holy wow. You sold yourself to Ford Arc? What does that make you? Are you whoring yourself to the Arc family? Kit-Kat, this is horrible, are you on drugs like your mother? No, please, don’t tell me, I really don’t want to know. You’re blowing up your life, you’re blowing up the entire family. What are you thinking! Grandfather’s going to kill you, Kit-Kat. He’s going to murder you right in the middle of the house and I’m going to have to watch the maids scrub your blood from the carpet for a whole week, it’s going to be ghastly. What were you thinking, you stupid girl? God, you must be—”
I hang up.
My head’s pounding. I know cutting her off like that will only make her even angrier, and now she’s probably going to tell everyone and make my life hell, but I couldn’t listen to her go on and on like that anymore. Besides, I already know I’m in deep crap with Grandfather. That’s the whole point of this. He’s going to kick me out of the family and stop paying for my mother’s treatment, and he might even use his connections to get Mom thrown into prison after all.
My only hope is that Ford can protect her.
That’s the whole deal. Instead of selling myself to my grandfather and the Stockton family, I’m selling myself to Ford.
This is my choice. It’s not ideal, but at least it’s the path I’m choosing instead of doing whatever my grandfather tells me to do. I can’t pretend like Ford’s a great guy and I’m madly in love with him—even if there is an incredible spark between us, that’s more like lust than anything else—but he can’t be any worse than what I’ve put up with already.
I wish I could be like Mom. Minus the drugs. I wish I could do whatever I wanted without caring about anyone else in the world. Unfortunately, my mother is an addict, and if I’m not able to take care of her then I have to find someone else who will.
I refuse to let my mother spiral deeper into her addiction and I refuse to give up on her.
But as I get into the car, I’m intensely aware that something very, very bad is waiting for me back home.
Chapter 11
Kat
Isit on a chair in front of the fire in Grandfather’s office, and he stands with his back to me staring into the flames.
It’s very dramatic. Grandfather always was into showmanship.
Sweat trickles down my back. It’s hot in here and smells like ash, cigar smoke, and whiskey. I glance at the books on the shelves and imagine pulling them down, one by one, and throwing them into the fire just to watch Grandfather squirm. Some sick part of me would love to do it—they’re expensive books, old books, the sort of books my family is extremely into, but they’re basically decoration. Except I couldn’t live with myself if I did something so heinous.
I just want to hurt Grandfather. I want to hurt all of them.
“Is it true, Katherine?” Grandfather doesn’t turn to look at me. He’s been standing there for nearly five minutes and I’ve been sitting here in silence the whole time. Nobody would look at me when I got back to the house after visiting with my mom, and I guess Sara Lynn ran around spreading the good news the first chance she got. I hate her, and I’m not surprised, and I’m happy she’s not around to rub this in my face herself.
“Yes,” I say simply.
Grandfather’s head droops. I shuffle myself on the seat and sit up straighter. I try to stop myself from shaking but I can’t quite do it. My whole life I’ve done everything my grandfather has asked of me even when I didn’t want to. I’ve followed the rules, kept myself out of the limelight, and sucked it up when things didn’t go my way. He’s given me small privileges in return: money, clothes, the job at the farm. But mostly I’m expected to keep quiet, stay meek, and obey.
Which is what I’ve always done and maybe could’ve kept on doing my whole life if it weren’t for Ford Arc.