BY THE BOUND : I FALL

CHAPTER 2

He leveled his eyes on me and narrowed them. “There are more.”

I made an innocent face.

Nop pointed at the drawing at the top of the pile. “This isn’t as good and detailed as the drawing I saw today. That means you’ve made progress since then and because you’re such a little overachiever, you’ll keep your best drawings separately to admire them.”

I flushed and for the briefest moment, my gaze flitted to my nightstand. Nop staggered toward it and tried to open the drawer but it was locked. I didn’t want venice to get blackmailing material on me. Nop felt under the bed and then smirked. My mouth fell open when he pulled out the little key that I’d taped to the underside of my bed frame and opened the drawer.

“That’s private!” I hissed, but he’d already picked up a stack of fifteen drawings of him. The one at the top showed Nop holding hands with my adult self. I’d used a computer app to age me and then drawn myself beside Nop.

I really hoped he wouldn’t recognize me. The stare he gave me crushed my hope. “What’s this?”

I swallowed and shrugged.

“I know this is supposed to be you, macau. I recognize you, not to mention the ridiculous checkered Chanel costume no one else under the age of seventy would wear.”

“Chanel is fashion, no matter the age,” I said indignantly.

“You won’t draw me ever again, understood? This is my last warning.”

He stalked out, not waiting for my reply.

Embarrassment still warmed my cheeks and I was on the verge of an angry cry when I realized something: Nop had paid enough attention to my drawings to notice the differences in my progress over the last few months.

A grin spread on my face.

“macau?” pete called and pushed the door that Nop had left ajar farther open, poking his head in.

“Can I have a word with you?”

I picked up on the tension around pete’s mouth. he shared the same full lips with me, but now his looked like a hard line. Had nop snitched on me? I couldn’t imagine it. “Is anything wrong?”

“Oh no, macau,” pete said as he came in and sank down on the padded bench in the window frame.

I sank down beside him, wondering what this was about.

“With your eighteenth birthday coming up very soon, your brother and I thought now might be a good time to discuss your future with you.”

This didn’t come completely unexpected. As the Capo’s brother, everyone was waiting with bated breath to whom I’d be promised. “Okay?”

“Your brother and I have spent the last few months thinking about a possible bond. We didn’t want to rush things, especially because the boy we have in mind for you might come as unexpected.”

I’d heard rumors of me being married to someone from the Corsican Union to strengthen the Outfit, but I knew vegas. He’d never allow me to become part of another mafia family. He’d be too concerned about my safety. Vegas wouldn’t even let me leave Thailand, even if that would limit my possible future husbands drastically. An Underboss’s son would never want to leave his city for me.

“You know Clifford Clark, don’t you?”

My mouth formed an O. He wasn’t someone I’d had in mind when marriage was concerned. “We play tennis together.” Together was a loose term in this case. He and I had never really played double or against each other, but we played in the same club, and on occasion, our tennis coach had created groups of his students to work on certain skills. A few times Clifford and I had been in the same group, but apart from a quick “hi” we’d never exchanged an actual conversation. He always had a pack of friends around him like an entourage.