“Intended? Can you make it sound any more archaic?”

“We’re Greek. We’re nothing if not traditionalist, especially families like yours.”

She meant the syndicate ones who ran many of the trade and shipping routes on the east and west coasts of the United States.

They ran by deals, rules, and customs set and followed from the time everyone lived in Greece.

I’d had my chance to escape that world, and instead I’d run headfirst into it by falling for the head of one of the most powerful families.

Idiot.

“I won’t let him cage me.”

“Then you should have stuck to the bargain you made when you first met.”

“I really wish I never told you about it.”

As the first daughter born into the Mykos family in four generations, I had an obligation to fulfill a marriage contract negotiated by the heads of the Mykos and Drakos families nearly a hundred years ago. The agreement stated that my Great Aunt Julia would marry the eldest Drakos son, and in exchange, the families would divide a large Swiss trust. The marriage never occurred since Julia ran away with her bodyguard and essentially started a long-running feud between the Mykos and Drakos families.

The last thing I’d wanted was to marry anyone, so I’d arranged for a meeting with Simon to negotiate terms to gain my freedom from the shackles of a life I’d fought tooth and nail to escape.

However, Simon had learned of my underground clubs and used them as leverage against me. One year in his bed for my freedom and his silence.

As fucked-up as our situation started, I couldn’t imagine being with anyone but the asshole. And now here I was, going through with a damn farce of a wedding that my family still wasn’t quite sure I’d even show up to.

Simon and I hadn’t seen each other in nearly three weeks, and the last time we spoke was five days ago when the incident with my choice of words had occurred.

It was only a matter of hours until I would have to deal with the aftermath of that conversation.

Yeah, I needed to push him back into the box of things to think about later. At the moment, I had a room full of millionaires, billionaires, movie stars, and the like expecting a good time.

“You did tell me about that bargain,” Penny said. “And I can use it against you. Now should I continue my list?”

“Go right ahead,” I muttered, as if I was going to be able to stop her.

“Second on our list is that your family, meaning my extended in-laws, think we are on our way to New York for a Christmas gala in the Hamptons.”

I held in a sigh.