Chapter 4 Promised To The Mafia Heir
Jonathan and Dave spent a lot of time training together, and Nathan took every opportunity to poison Jonathan against Elizabeth. But when Jonathan was younger, he had never paid much attention to Nathan’s comments; he’d never seen or heard from anyone else that she wasn’t a decent person.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth leaned against Ralph, dizzy and unable to recognize the man before her.
“Sorry… I don’t think I know you…” she murmured.
She had little control in that moment; Ralph was practically carrying her.
“Elizabeth, are you drunk again?”
“Dave?” she asked, confused, when she heard her brother’s voice.
“Come on! I’ll take you home… and you, you bastard, will pay for touching her!” Jonathan yelled, and he pulled Elizabeth toward him.
He escorted her, supported by his body, out to the parking lot and shoved her up against a car, furious.
“Your father always tried to warn me what you were, but I didn’t want to listen. Now I see he was right—you’re an immoral woman!”
At those words Elizabeth tried to slap Jonathan, but he held her wrist.
“How dare you do that after what I saw?” he demanded.
“Let me go! I don’t know you—I’ll scream until my brother comes!” she shouted.
“You idiot! I’m Jonathan Larson—your fiancé’s fool.”
“What?” she asked, bewildered. She’d heard the name before but couldn’t place who he was.
“Your arrangement is with me… and I find you with someone else? You deserve to be punished for that.”
Elizabeth felt even more dizzy and ended up clinging to Jonathan so she wouldn’t fall.
“How much have you had to drink tonight?” he asked.
“I didn’t even finish half a glass… I’d never drunk before…” she whispered.
Jonathan laughed. He thought her lie was clumsy. Looking at her so close, he decided that if she were a decent woman she would be the perfect wife—she was that beautiful. He pressed her back against the car, traced the outline of her lips with his finger, smiled, and kissed her fiercely. One day she would be his wife; one kiss before the wedding couldn’t hurt.
“Well, at least something good about you—you're extremely pretty! That mouth of yours would do wonders,” he said, his words crude.
Elizabeth pushed him away. He took a step back—not because she had strength, but because her reaction intrigued him.
“Don’t talk indecently! I’m not old enough for this!” she protested.
Jonathan was about to reply when Elizabeth went limp; she would have fallen if he hadn’t caught her. Jonathan laid her on the passenger seat and climbed into the car, staring at her as she slept for a minute before driving off.
He arrived at Nathan’s house carrying Elizabeth unconscious in his arms.
“Jonathan, what happened to my daughter?” Nathan asked as Jonathan brought her inside.
“Where is her room?” Jonathan demanded.
Nathan swallowed hard. Elizabeth’s room was falling apart—he’d never bothered to give her any comfort—and he couldn’t show that to Jonathan; it would prove he had, in some way, failed to fulfill his part of the arrangement.
“Put her on the sofa. I’ll take care of her,” Nathan said.
Jonathan laid her on the sofa and she continued to sleep.
“Explain to me in what condition you found my daughter this time,” Nathan demanded. Both Nathan and Dave used words that sounded suggestive, as if this scene were common; it made anyone think Elizabeth was used to arriving home like that.
“She says she didn’t drink, but she can’t stand on her own. Although… nothing!” Jonathan glanced at Elizabeth sleeping for a moment. He noticed she didn’t smell of alcohol and her lips didn’t taste of it either, as a woman who had drunk until she collapsed should. He knew the tricks of the night—men at a club could easily drug a girl to leave with her and abuse her. He wouldn’t be the first to do that in a nightclub.
“Keep her at home if you must. If she’s going to marry me I don’t want my name dragged through the mud by some immoral woman!” Jonathan left furious. At home, he tried to remember whether he’d ever seen Elizabeth at another party. He thought of the kiss and smiled to himself—he had seen her once and she had awakened desire in him. His future wife was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, but he would resist her charms; he would not marry just anyone.