Parental Guidance (Ice Knights #1)(73)

Chapter One


No. No, no, no, no, no.

It was something Sophia Andreou said in her head a lot more than she said aloud. Chalk it up to having a control-freak father who was an expert in getting his way, with an arsenal of techniques up his sleeve to make sure he had the last word. Voicing her opposition was unheard of.

Until now.

Because this…this was taking it too far.

“Dad, you can’t be serious.” Sophia tried to laugh, but the sound had a razor edge to it. “Marriage? To a guy I’ve never met?”

She looked over to where her mother sat on the windowsill of their Brooklyn brownstone, studiously avoiding Sophia’s gaze and picking at an invisible piece of lint on her skirt. As usual, she said nothing.

“To a man who will save this family,” her father corrected. “Dion Kourakis is willing to buy our company and put the necessary funds into reviving it. Without that money, we’ll be—”

“Nothing.” The quiet word slipped from her mother’s lips, but then her eyes immediately darted over to her husband. Sophia knew her mother would never question the head of the family, because for as long as she could remember, he’d always known—and done—what was best for them all.

But she was really struggling to see how marrying her off to a stranger as part of a business deal was the best solution.

Besides, why did everybody want to be somebody? She suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. Sophia would have been perfectly happy to leave New York and live a quiet life somewhere green and peaceful with a small army of furry friends. Somewhere far, far away from her father’s influence.

Did she love her father? That was a complicated question about a complicated man. But Sophia valued being part of her family, valued the lifestyle her father had worked hard to provide, and valued the fact his decisions were born of the best intentions, though she could have done without his steamrolling. So she’d been a good daughter. Everything he’d ever asked for, she’d done. Like a good little princess. Well-mannered and well-behaved, that was her in a nutshell. But now it appeared they’d reached the point where she would have to put her foot down.

Delicately, of course.

Before she could say another word, her father tapped his finger on his desk. “Dorothy, leave us for a minute. I want to talk to Sophia alone.”

The command was enough to have Sophia’s mother on her feet and exiting the room without so much as a backward glance. So much for reinforcements.

Her father turned to her. “This isn’t the time for you to be doubting your loyalty to this family.”

Sophia’s lips tightened. She was nothing if not loyal. She always put her father’s requests ahead of her social life. She always dropped her own needs to care for her mother when she had one of her bad spells. Doubting her loyalty? Seriously?

Clearly, she was the worst person in the world because she didn’t want to be sold off like livestock.

She reined in her emotions as best she could, but her blood had started to boil. “My loyalty is not the issue. Aren’t you concerned about a guy who wants a wife thrown in with a business deal? I’m not a gift with purchase!”

Whoops. That had not come out as calmly as she’d hoped it would.

Her father’s eyes narrowed.

That was a mistake. She knew better than to raise her voice when negotiating with Cyrus “the Greek” Andreou. Anything that could be classed as insubordination was like flashing a cape at a bull. Sophia sucked in a slow breath, composing herself.

“I didn’t mean to yell,” she said before he had the chance to blow up. “It’s just…marriage? What’s so wrong with this guy that he’s using a business deal to leverage a wife?”

Cyrus folded his arms across his chest. “He didn’t.”

She frowned. “What?”

“It was my part of the deal. My request.”

Sophia reeled as if she’d been slapped. Wait, what? Her father could be a bully, sure, but she never thought he’d pimp her out like she was a piece of property. “You asked him to marry me?”

“I didn’t ask.” Her father’s black, bushy mustache bobbed up and down. “I told him if he wants this company, then you are part of the deal.”

“Why?”

“Because, my dear child, when I sell the company to him, it’s gone.”

Realization seeped like ice through her veins. “The marriage will mean our family retains a claim on the company.”

The return smile was calculating. “Smart girl.”

She gripped the edge of her seat, nails biting into the soft leather until she felt it dent under the pressure. Was the company so important that he was willing to sell off his only daughter in order to keep a handle on it? Of course he would do it. In his mind, it was the best move for their family.

Everything he did was in the best interest of their family.

Sophia glanced around her father’s office. The room wasn’t big, but it was packed with as many status symbols as he could possibly fit in: a Montblanc pen in a fancy crystal holder, a shiny new laptop—which was a glorified paperweight, since he barely ever used it—a precious antique painting, and classic novels lining the bookshelf behind his desk.

The wealthy, sophisticated veneer was a lie, however. The Montblanc pen was a fake—high quality, but a fake. The laptop was of dubious origins, meaning it had come from one of her father’s shady business acquaintances. The painting was a replica, and the vintage collection of classic novels, which made her father appear educated and well-read, was a sham. He’d never even cracked one open.