THE CONTROL: An Arranged Marriage Romance by Elena Monroe (best big ereader txt) 📗

at me and smiled. “Prince.” That was the sure-fire way to hear her voice, ask her about the animals she saves.

“Are you the Princess?”

She crossed her ankles, smoothing down her dress, preparing to blow me away instead of answering. A non-answer is my favorite when it came to boys, royal acronyms, and her growing up in ways I wanted to ignore.

“Ready?” I laid my fingers on the keys, smiling at my daughter who was a perfect angel, untouched by any trauma. I was stunned wondering if she saw me play those few notes before or if she simply taught herself before today to impress me.

“How did you learn that, kiddo?” Leaning into her, I planted a kiss on her cheeks that were still chunky.

Smiling and giggling, she took back her hand, dropping it to her lap, shrugging. She was a mystery that I couldn’t solve. Maybe a wonderment or something I wasn’t supposed to solve but just keep loving endlessly.

She kept playing, her small fingers floating above the keys like an expert playing Frederic Chopin NO. 15. Juni had a way of surprising you because she was so under the radar all the time and I couldn’t get used to it.

Eve breezed into the room smelling like waffles and maple syrup, making my mouth water and my stomach growl when Juni instantly stopped playing. Dropping her hand down along with her head, she tried to not be connected to the talent that raged in her bones.

She had an aversion to the spotlight.

Guess she got that from us, two parents who were handed bad circumstances and turned it into a heavy sense of self-loathing.

Snapping up from the piano bench, she manhandled her toad and headed to the kitchen without a word. Wrapping my arm around Evey’s neck, bringing her close to me and pinning her to my side, I watched Juni skip her way to breakfast.

“When should we be worried?” Eve’s voice whispered between us even though I knew she wasn’t truly worried. Only worried people who take advantage of her and break her the way we were.

“When she starts liking boys. Seems like a great time to worry,” I said it smoothly like there wasn’t anything to worry about except boys.

Pulling out her chair, I watched Juni climb into the one at the head of the table like it was where she belonged. She wasn’t a princess; she was just waiting to be crowned queen and every part of me ached for her to not step into power in the world I grew up in.

Being my only child, it was inevitable.

It eats good people up for breakfast and leaves trauma in its wake.

The doorbell rang over my concerns like one of those meditation bowls Eve keeps trying to get me to like. Short of her being naked with that damn bowl in her lap, I wasn’t Vic and was not turning hippie anytime soon.

I was a different breed.

Leaving the comforting smell of breakfast, I headed for the door, yanking it open to see Justice behind the wheel of her eco-friendly Tesla in hot pink like an eye sore as Blaz waved back at her. Twisting towards me, he smiled a shit-eating grin like we were playing battleship and he sunk my destroyer.

For someone who didn’t vibe with Vic, he certainly got some of his DNA he was overlooking.

Pushing past me without the invitation, I watched him make himself at home in my house, kicking off his boots and heading for Juni like he just sensed where she was.

“Oh shit, you guys made food?” He picked up a pancake, dipping it in the syrup dispenser like a little savage before recklessly pushing it past his lips.

Juni’s eyes seemed to get even bigger at the sight of Blaz covered in syrup, running down his chin as he ate the pancake in one bite. Her lip tucked under her teeth as she studied him in his natural habitat the way she did her creatures.

“What? I got something on my face, huh?” Slumping down in the chair, he pushed his face close until I realized he dipped his fingers in the syrup and proceeded to paint her cheek with it.

Wordlessly her features seemed to perk up, come alive, and her voice almost screamed from her throat in a way we hadn’t heard before when she laughed. Covering her mouth, Blaz dropped two pancakes on her plate. “Now you do too, punk.”

EVE

I would disappear randomly waiting for Bowey to find me. I liked re-living the feeling of being lost in another world only to be saved by him finding me hidden in the attic like a Princess in a tower.

Juniper was whisked away by Grace for their Friday game night, so we were all alone.

She needed to be around kids her own age. I could tell being an only child must have been lonely when she started talking to animals.

Juniper was a lot like me, managing what life handed her.

Hiding upstairs with my oil paints and canvases, I kept painting the same thing: Bowey. I never stopped painting him.

I wanted to suffocate every second of my life in the love of my life. In all shades of blue because that was the only color that could be sad and happy all at once.

Finishing the shading on my latest piece, I stepped back, looking at my work and admiring his sharp features that were a lot less cruel now.

I had paint covering my hands and I could feel it drying on my cheeks, tightening on the surface.

I got used to being covered in paints wearing nothing but a smock as I waited to be saved for the millionth time by the only person that I would let me save me.

“Evey? You up here?” I heard him from