Parisian afternoon. I order a car service to pick us up and deliver us to the address mon Monstre shows me on his phone. I’m not nervous but I feel as though my entire body is vibrating with electricity, like there’s a live current running under my skin.
Only mon Monstre’s touch seems to calm it.
It only amplifies as we arrive at our destination, the driver opening my door for me but he waits by the car as Illi death glares him. I move into his arms with a little smile and we walk the short distance up the steps to the townhouse.
“Have you decided yet?” He murmurs, capping my face in his hand as we stop in front of the door. I can’t believe my father has moved my mother back to Paris now that they no longer have me to care for.
I was always an inconvenience to them.
I shake my head a little, my eyes drifting shut. I want this moment but… I also want it to be over already. I want to be done with that part of my life so we can start living our lives the way we both deserve.
He pulls out his phone, sending a text message, and then less than a minute later the door opens. I don’t recognize the man but Illi speaks softly to him in perfect French, the months of our practicing serving him well.
Then he ushers us into the townhouse and directs us up to my father’s office.
A room I’ve never even seen before.
We wait there for my parents, my skin crawling as I sit in my father’s chair but my back is straight, my shoulders squared, and my face is blank. The type of blank I’d learned in my childhood of domestic abuse.
Mon Monstre stands beside me, handsome as ever but not at all dressed up for my parents. No, he does not care what their opinion of him is and I love him deeply for it.
The door opens and my mother's eyes hit mine, widening as she gasps and smiles. She looks thrilled to see me.
I feel sick.
"Odette! I didn't know you were coming! Did your husband bring you to see us?"
I smile at the frown my father gives me, his eyes flicking to Illi and away instantly.
"My husband did bring me here, Mother, but my husband is not the man Father sold me to."
My mother frowns, just a little. She glances at my father but his eyes stay glued on me. "You left your first husband? Odette, that's awful."
I smirk, something I've watched Illi do so many times I'm now an expert in carving that sarcastic image into my own face. "Mother, I never married into the Mecedo Cartel. Didn't Father tell you? They decided I was spoiled goods, not worthy to be a wife to an old man because I wasn't a virgin."
My father's eyes narrow. "Yes, I was informed of your sullied state. You're the reason I went to prison, Odette! You owe me a great deal."
I see Illi's fists clench in the corner of my eye and my father's gaze drops down to it.
"Why have you brought this man here, Odette? You have no need for a bodyguard in your own father's home."
I look up at mon Monstre and I let every inch of my love for him show in my eyes and he smiles back down at me, speaking for me, "I'm her husband, Achembault, but I'm also her guard. I know all about how you treat your daughter and you won't be beating her today."
Mother gasps, her hand flying up to her throat and she looks Illi over again, assessing him now she knows he's not simply one of my husband’s men. The horror on her face once would have brought me shame, or at least some guilt, but all I feel is vindication.
My father takes a step forward, anger igniting in his eyes, and hisses at me, "So you sleep around and ruin the marriage I chose for you and now you've found yourself some thug to fuck? You're disgusting and no daughter of mine."
I tip my head back and I laugh.
I definitely sound crazy but I don't care, I laugh until my stomach aches. "Oh, Father. You know it was Louis that I had sex with in France? Just him. He led me on, told me how much he loved me and then the moment you sold me off he turned his back on me. No, worse, he helped you