THE CONTROL: An Arranged Marriage Romance by Elena Monroe (ebook reader android .txt) 📕

Price of purchase.

Education.

Purity.

Maintenance of form.

Skill development.

This document wasn’t the stamp solidifying our marriage being arranged, but that I was put through hell as some sort of initiation into the Clave.

Why were the words ‘buyer’ and ‘prices’ stamped all over this page like I was for sale? I wasn’t for sale; I was promised to Bowey and Bowey only. My price tag being so expensive wasn’t acting like a salve for my wounds either, like it does for other people.

If someone else matched his price, would I have gone through a different hell?

If I was just a price tag, then who else was bidding on me?

Scanning the documents, my past was being shaken out in front of me and the demons chewing on my angel wings were taunting me to deal with it once and for all.

I flipped over each sheet, studying the contents of the folder, soaking up every ounce of truth until things were clear for once.  I felt dizzy trying to understand the fact that I was never promised to Bowey.

I saw him out of the corner of my eye nonchalantly standing there against the bookshelf like I did him a favor by finally finding the rest of the truths for myself.

A kind of simmering rage I had long let go of resurfaced when I spun around to meet his gaze. “Everything I went through was because of you? You did this to me?” Grasping for anything I could, I started throwing hardcover after hardcover in his direction from the shelf closest to me.

I was the kind of angry that I could feel all of me tensing, and the only thing left uncontrolled by the anger were my eyes that were welling up enough to make my aim suck.

“I didn’t know what they were doing in Denmark. Do you honestly think I would let anyone condemn your soul to hell except me?” His words fell out onto the floor heavily, thawed by the love stories being hurled his way, and I was losing strength.

I felt my anger flush my skin, spike my blood pressure, and cover me in a light perspiration that made me feel sticky. “Condemn my soul to hell? Denmark wasn’t a crash course in losing my virtue, Bowen! It was a crash course in losing us. Myself! You don’t know what it was like and what I had to do to survive that place only to be dropped in LA because you fucking bought me. Did you really hate me so much for leaving that you would let Elias do that to me?” The tears broke free, running down my heated cheeks and my fists clenched so hard I felt my nails dig into my skin.

Bowen’s face looked painfully twisted when his voice barely broke a whisper, “I never knew what happened to you, Eve. Do you think I didn’t try to save you the moment I turned eighteen? The moment I could? That we all didn’t try to save you the moment you weren’t legally theirs? They kept changing the rules and no amount of waiting or money was enough for them to let you come home to me. I’ve been trying to get you back for years.”

Walking over to the bookshelf, reaching above his head, he ripped down files that were comfortably in their place. He didn’t even try to catch the pieces of paper that didn’t hold his attention when they fell to our feet, holding a contract up for me to see.

“Your mom and stepdad got greedy. They kept threatening to break the agreement they had with my parents, so I handed them my entire trust fund to keep you safe until you came back home.” His words sizzled against the cold air.

Inflated price tag was right; the Astor’s were worth so much money it was hard to comprehend.

Reaching for more, he pulled his eyes away from me. “Agreement? There was no agreement. That was never real. It was just a false fucking promise my mom made so I wouldn’t have to suffer through dating losers like she did. Think of everything she said as a lie and it’s easier to follow.” My voice shook, and my lip trembled when another wave of hot tears slipped down my neck.

He looked confused when he paused from his paper trail hunt. “A false promise? No, she was compensated for her promise to give her daughter a better life than she had. Neither of us knew what that meant back then when we were kids. We thought they were indulging us, but you were promised to the Clave, to a Horseman… and that wasn’t going to be me back then. It was going to be Braeden.”

I was promised to Braeden… the twin who couldn’t stand me? When every fucking adult in our lives knew I was a package deal with Bowen?

“We didn’t have money, Bowen. She wasn’t compensated for selling her daughter’s future. I would know if she came into money.” I was trying to reject his confession and make it so sinful no amount of Hail Marys would suffice.

She was evil… but that evil?

My mom and stepdad got greedy for more when he had already paid to keep me safe?

Dropping more papers to the floor, nearly covering the hardwood, he rifled through more files on the top shelf, ignoring me. Turning towards me again, he dropped a stack of letters into my hands.

“What is all this?” I was still holding onto the letters like they were the only sacredness left in the room full of sins.

“The truth.” Dropping plane tickets at my feet and more papers I couldn’t read; his eyes were searing into my soul with all the truth he had refused to tell me. “Don’t for one second think I didn’t fight for you.”