The Wrath of Cain (The Syndicate, #1)(2)

“Where the hell have the two of you been?” he screams loud enough that our neighbors on both sides of our house come running outside.

“John!” my mother hollers from right behind him.

“Don’t f*cking John me, Cecily. I want to know where this motherf*cking punk took my daughter.”

Cain stands face to face with my dad, never wavering or backing down, and glares right back at him.

“Calla, what have you done?” Mom asks in her sweet voice, a look of disappointment set in her expression.

Swallowing hard, I grab my husband’s hand as he helps me off of his bike.

“Dad, stop it,” I say sternly.

“I’m the parent here, Calla, not you.”

Dad’s gaze stays locked on Cain when he speaks.

“Don’t talk to my wife like that.”

Cain’s harsh and protective attitude has me moving quickly to stand in between the two men. I stare up at my dad, his eyes shooting not daggers, but bullets into Cain’s head as they dance rapidly across his face.

“Calla,” Dad says as he looks down at me.

“Tell me what he just said isn’t true. That you didn’t marry this piece of shit!”

I feel Cain stiffen behind me.

“Dad, that’s enough. And yes, I did marry him. I love him.”

My dad scoffs and his next words slice right down the center of my body, severing my heart.

“If that’s true and you are now a Bexley, then you are no longer a part of this family.”

Then he just turns and walks away, no explanation, no nothing, slamming the front door so hard that I jump. But when the one person who has been by my side this entire time looks at me with displeasure, I start to shake and my world crumbles as tears begin to fall freely from my eyes.

“What have the two of you done?”

My mother is crying now. Cain has his arms wrapped around my waist.

“Look, Mrs. Greer, we love each other. This feud between our fathers has nothing to do with us,” Cain says.

“No, it doesn’t, but the two of you just running off and getting married like this is going to make this situation so much worse than it already is.”

“What situation?” I ask. “Dad and Jed haven’t even spoken to each other in years.”

“No, they haven’t, but you both know better than to do something like this. What about college? What are the two of you going to do about that? You’ve already been accepted into the University of Michigan. You leave in a month.”

My heart starts to pound and then I become furious with my mother, which I have never done before.

“Mom, it’s only an hour away. We have it all worked out.”

“Look, I believe in young love; that’s why I supported you two. But this is unacceptable, Calla. You can’t just run off and get married without telling anyone. Why would you keep something as big as this from me?”

“I’m sorry,” I say sincerely.

“Sorry isn’t good enough. This is a mistake, one the two of you should have thought through before you ran off and did something as rash as this.”

“You knew, didn’t you? That’s why the two of you came barreling out of the house like you did. You knew we went and got married and you told Dad, didn’t you?” I seethe.

“I did. I found all of this material on marriage housing in your room and I put two and two together when you didn’t come home last night from Lexi’s house.” She grabs my arms.

“I don’t think you realize the severity of what the two of you have done. And you!”

She points her finger at Cain.

“How could you do this? You of all people know how important her education is. You’ll be a distraction to her and she will never become a lawyer like she has always wanted to be,” she accuses, scowling at the both of us.

“Mrs. Greer, that’s not true. I already have a job, and we’ve been accepted into marriage housing. I have always supported her and I will continue to do so. We came here hoping for your blessing. You know I would never do anything to stand in the way of what she wants. Unlike our fathers.”

He hesitates for a moment, which gives my mom the perfect opportunity to start right back in.

“I won’t give the two of you my blessing, not now, anyway. I’m more than disappointed in the both of you.”

Mom pinches the end of her nose and closes her eyes. When she opens them again, they are still wet from her tears and concern is etched across her face.

“You are my daughter, Calla, and I love you more than anything, so I will support you. As far as your dad goes, he’ll come around eventually. I know he didn’t mean what he said. Now, what do you two have planned for the next month before you leave for school?”

She looks at the two of us.

“Please tell me you have something planned.”

“We’re staying at the compound,” Cain finally says.

“Really? And your father is okay with this?” she questions, her hands going to her hips.

“He doesn’t know, either. We thought we would tell you first,” I say.

She shakes her head.

“Good Lord, you two. Cain, how about if you go tell your dad, and I help Calla pack some of her stuff? I can bring her over there later tonight, and for right now she can go inside with me and we can try to reason with her father.”