“I will toast to that.” They clinked their glasses together. “I thought Liam wasn’t so … controlling?”
“He’s … not, but he is. He likes to think he gives me the freedom to make my own choices, but to be honest, he has always pushed me to where he wants me to go. Taking over this place was what I truly wanted to do. To give those kids a family, but he told me I was too young to know what I was doing. I guess that was the first time that I realized he was controlling. Then, of course, was the dinner date where he told me that he had a proposition for me. Within three hours, I was engaged, and my life changed forever.” She sighed.
“I was under the impression you wanted the marriage.”
“We were both lied to and manipulated.” She took a long sip of her drink and held it up for more.
“Wow, Mrs. Greco, at this rate, you will be properly hydrated.”
She chuckled, and he filled her glass with water. “I will do the proper lady way and only take a sip.”
Alex gave him an example, and he bowed his head to her.
They both chuckled, and it was moments like this that Alex had to doubt her insecurities. This wasn’t forced or fake. To Alex, this felt natural. There was no one around. His two friends were in the games room, which Roman, Antonio, Marlo, and Cash had all set up.
The peace and quiet was nice.
The only problem with it was when she was reminded of why she was here. “You know, my life has always been in danger. Being my father’s daughter and all, but I never realized just how much it was.”
“I’ll protect you.”
“Don’t you think it’s a little … strange? That you have to protect me?”
Roman shook his head. “I’ve been fighting my whole life.”
“You mentioned how controlling your dad was. I assumed it was just because of the wedding, and you guys have arranged marriages all the time, don’t you?”
“We do.”
“But that’s not what you meant when you said your dad was controlling?”
“No, it wasn’t.”
“How is he controlling?” she asked and then held her hands up. “You don’t have to tell me.”
“It’s fine. I’m the heir to his empire. To all of this, and he needed to make sure that I was ready. He couldn’t have a weak son take the helm, and so, from as young as I can remember, it has been one test after another.”
“Test?”
“Yeah, stupid stuff, like telling me not to take the cupcake, and if I took the cupcake, I’d face the consequences, but to not take the cupcake would also have consequences as well.”
Alex frowned. “What?”
“If I took the cupcake, I was disobeying his instruction, and that was bad. If I didn’t take the cupcake, I wasn’t being a leader and taking what I wanted.”
“You were in a no-win situation.”
“I was,” Roman said.
“You were.”
“Yeah, what I did was ask for the cupcake. That was what I needed to do. I was then showing my dad respect and still going after what I wanted. That’s what he wanted.”
“How long did it take you to figure that out?” Alex asked.
“I did it on my first try.” Roman sipped his water. “But that is what started it all. Dad said I have an inbuilt alpha role. He’s always talking about that shit. How there are some men who are alphas, leaders, and others who are betas and designed to take orders, like my brother.”
“Your brother, Phillip, right?”