Bride in a Gilded Cage (2010) by Green Abby

Author:Green, Abby [Abby, Green,]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-01-14T19:15:09.156000+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

'YOU'RE wrong, you know.'

Isobel looked up from her dinner plate warily. She still felt a little sick to her stomach, but it was directed at herself for being so monumentally weak--exactly as Rafael had accused.

Rafael was not looking at her. He was cradling a halffinished glass of wine, looking into its ruby-red depths.

His mouth thinned. 'Although I can't deny I had a life of privilege, it was much the same as you had...'

Isobel winced inwardly. She did deserve that. She'd had no less a privileged upbringing than he. 'Rafael, I--'

He ignored her, continuing, 'My father, however, liked to play fast and loose on the stock market. A couple of times he lost almost everything, only to make it back within twenty-four hours. One of those times was after a tip your grandfather gave him, and my father--being the suspicious, resentful man he was--made sure he got his revenge. Hence the deal regarding the estancia. I think it sent my mother a little crazy. But from a young age my brother and I were aware of how fickle wealth was, how it could be taken away from you in seconds...'

Isobel was a little blindsided to hear this. She twisted her napkin in her hand and asked hesitantly, 'What happened to Rico's father?'

Rafael took a sip of wine and looked at her. His eyes were very dark and hard and seemed to bore right through her. No emotion.

'My brother's father was a rich Greek tycoon. He seduced our mother and disappeared back to Europe when she fell pregnant, not wanting to get tied down in marriage. In a bid to save her reputation a marriage was brokered between my parents. My father's family needed the status of being married into an elite family, and my mother needed to have her baby in wedlock.'

A muscle twitched in Rafael's jaw. 'However, once Rico was born, it was clear he was nothing like my fair father. It was too much for him to take, so he used to beat him. And then when I came along and took after our mother's darker colouring he beat me, too, irrationally believing that I could be anyone's son. When Rico was sixteen he took a belt to him. I was in the room, too, due to be next. He beat Rico so badly that Rico turned on him and beat him back. He told him that if he ever lifted a hand to me again he'd come back and kill him. Rico left that day and went to Europe to look for his father.'

Isobel gasped softly. 'But you must have been just--'

'Twelve years old. My father never touched me again after that day.'

Isobel's throat hurt. Remorse filled her. 'Rafael, I'm sorry for what I said...I had no right to assume anything.'

Rafael's face was stark. 'I'm telling you this now because we're man and wife and you should know these things, but I don't want to speak of it again.'

Isobel bit her lip and then said in a

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