Chapter 5 - Marriage deal part 2

Theo POV

“What the fuck is going on? Who died?” I ask, and Kill’s eyes meet mine. He has anger plastered all over his face as he swallows hard.

“We need to make an alliance with the Americans”, he says, and I nod my head. But that doesn’t fucking answer my question. As I am about to ask again, the door behind me opens, making me jump out of the way, and Kill’s dad walks in. He looks miserable, and he looks crazy. I look behind him, but his mum is nowhere to be seen. No… No,… not possible.

I look at Elliot, trying to figure out what the fuck is happening, but he keeps his eyes on the floor. He looks fucking miserable. Kill’s dad walks into the room, and we all look at him.

“What are we going to do about those fucking bastards? I want their heads on a fucking platter,” he says, and Killian stands up, hugging his dead. I have never seen those two being so emotional.

“They killed my wife, they killed your mother, I want them all fucking dead”, he says and shit. That’s what. It is happening, they bombed us, and now they are doing this. I shake my head as I sit next to Elliot.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I ask him, and he shrugs. Killian, as if he heard our conversation, clears his throat, and we all look at him.

“As I said before, we need an alliance with the Americans; they have been losing as much as we have. We have the Italians”, he says, offering his hand to Ashley, and she takes it, walking to stand next to him. “Ans now Elliot has agreed to marry Christian’s sister”, he says, and I frown looking at Elliot.

“What the fuck?”, I let out loud, all eyes fly to me, and I clear my throat. “Isn’t there another way? Why is marriage the solution? What if… No”, I say, and Elliot looks at me throwing daggers, and Ashley smiles at me.

“I agree with Theo, I had one of those marriages and look where it got me”, she says, and I flinch hearing her tone, Killian looks at her with love in his eyes, but something dark passes them, and he shakes his head.

“That’s not negotiable. It was the only thing we could think to unite the families, and we need their military training, and they need our money, so that;’s how it is”, Killian says.

I look at Elliot, and he is still looking down. I can’t believe he is doing this. Ell is the pretty boy kind of guy, he deserves the girl next door kind of love. That’s what he believes. He believes someday he will find someone that will love him as he is, that will love his dark side as much as his good side, and who will treat him with respect. I can’t allow this to happen.

“No, I can’t no”, I say and Kill looks at me raising one of his eyebrows before he storms at me I take a deep breath.

“I will do it, ill take his place, leave Elliot out of this”, I say and Elliot’s eyes meet mine and I see everyone looking at me. Kill smiles softly as Ashley shakes her head.

“Mate, you don’t have to, I already agreed”, Elliot says standing up as he looks at me. I shake my head as I pat him on the shoulder.

“No, you believe in that love crap, you believe there’s someone out there for you, I don’t, so I have nothing to lose, so I will do it”, I let out and Kill nods his head as he walks to me and pulls me for a hug. For fuck sake. What am I doing with my life? I shouldn’t be doing this, but at the end of the day, this is the first thing I could think of.

“Who’s the lass?”, I ask, and Killian smiles walking back to his desk. Everyone takes their places as he starts talking.

“Her name is Everly, and she is younger than you”, he says, and I roll my eyes. Fucking great. It wasn’t enough that I decided to volunteer for this, and now I am marrying a child.

“How old is the lass?” I ask.

“Twenty-three”, he says, and I nod my head. One thing I can’t get my head around is that we never knew about a daughter. I know he has a son, he is taking over soon, Christian but a daughter?

“Theo?”, Kill says and I snap back into the conversation. I look at him, and he frowns.

“Everything okay mate?”, he asks, and I take a deep breath standing up and walking to his private bar in the office. I pour myself a glass of scotch and down it straight away.

“Peachy”, I reply with sarcasm dripping from my mouth. I close my eyes after filling up the glass again and emptying the content.

“A bit early isn’t it lad?”, Kill’s dad asks, and I shake my head. How can this man be functioning right now? How can Kill be functioning? He just lost his mum, and the bloke lost his wife. Not that I know what love feels like, but fuck me sideways. This is serious.

“Question”, I say, taking my seat again and crossing my legs. Kill looks at me and nods. “How did we not know about this girl’s existence?”, I ask, and Elliot looks at me nodding.

“That’s a fucking good question, I have been digging since you asked me yesterday and I can’t find shit about her, not even a birth certificate, it’s like she's a fucking ghost”, Elliot says, and I laugh out loud, hard.

“Why are you laughing?”, Ashley asks and I take a deep breath.

“Just typical, the girl is a ghost, and I am the one ending up married to her, I think it’s kind of poetic. The killer and the ghost”, I blurt it out but no one laughs except for me. Again.

“Tough crowd”, I let out as I bring my glass to my lips again.

“We will meet again in two hours”, Kill says and I stand up walking out of the room. As I reach the middle of the corridor Ashley comes running calling for me.

“Theo, wait up”, she says and I stop looking back. She reaches me and wraps her arm around my waist while we walk toward the kitchen.

“How are you feeling tough guy?”, she asks and I smile down at her. She is an amazing woman and Kill is lucky to have her in his life. In the past I wanted this, I even had something like it but I ended up fucking everything. I shake my head, pushing away those thoughts and focusing on Ashley.

“I am okay, just a little…. I don’t know lass, I think I am taking more than I can, but Elliot doesn’t deserve a life like this, me on the other hand…”, I say as we reach the kitchen. Ash stops me and places both her hands on my face cradling it.

“You deserve love. And you are loved, I love you, Theo, and I bet that she will learn to love you someday, and if it doesn’t work, we will figure out a way for you to get out of it, you know I don't agree with this, but I just want you to be happy”, she says, and I pull her into my arms giving her a tight hug.

“I am happy midget”, I say, and she smiles against my chest. Am I happy, though? Or am I just pretending? I like my life, I like my occasional no-commitment sex, I like my freedom and I changed it all for a business deal. Fucking idiot.