Page 1 of Gage

CHAPTER 1

ELENA

My father waited until the coffee arrived before telling me he had arranged my marriage.

The hotel server set the cups between us, offered a practiced smile and left the small meeting room without noticing that anything was out of the ordinary. My father watched the door close, then stirred sugar into his coffee with the patience of a man discussing a contract he’d already signed.

“Javier Mora is forty-one,” he said. “He handles the Deming side of his family's business. He’s respected, capable and in a position to give you a very comfortable life, Elena.”

I stared at him across the polished table. “What are you talking about?”

“You met him last month.”

I remembered twenty uncomfortable minutes at another table, Javier studying me while my father carried most of the conversation. I'd been told it was lunch with a business associate passing through Las Cruces. Javier had asked where I worked, whether I lived alone and why a woman my age had never married. None of it was his business, but I had to deal with him like a good little polite daughter all the same. I’d gone back to my job at the orthopedic practice afterward and filed him under men I never intended to see again.

“I only met him once. That doesn't explain what you just said.”

My father put the spoon beside his cup. “Salvation has required more resources than expected. The Moras can provide men, access to things we need, and Javier has expressed a serious interest in you. I agreed that a marriage would serve both families.”

“You have got to be kidding me. No.”

The answer came cleanly. My father didn't raise his voice or show surprise. That wasn’t the Tomas Rivas way. He’d summoned me on a work morning after years of contacting me only when a holiday or family death made silence inconvenient, and he hadn't come prepared to hear an answer that wasn’t cooperative.

“Arrangements are already being made,” he said. “You’ll be treated well.”

“I don't care how he'll treat me. I'm not marrying him.”

“Elena, you’ve spent years insisting on your independence. I allowed it because there was no reason not to.”

Allowed it. My apartment, my job and every ordinary day I’d built away from him shrank into the space between those two words. I’d mistaken his lack of interest for freedom. Tomas had simply left me alone while he didn’t need anything from me.

“My life isn't yours to trade.”

He took a measured drink of coffee. “Don’t make this uglier than it needs to be, Elena. Javier is expecting you in Deming on Saturday.”

“Then he'll be disappointed on Saturday.”

The man beside the door shifted his weight. I’d noticed him when I entered and assumed he was there for my father's protection. Now his presence made a completely different point, and I was suddenly very aware of that.

Tomas glanced toward him. “Rafael will take you home to collect what you need.”

“I drove here.”

“Then he’ll follow you.”

Anger urged me to stand, walk out and prove that he couldn't keep me in the room. The quiet certainty on his face stopped me. Open refusal had already put a man between me and the door. If I pushed again, I’d lose the chance to leave under my own power.

I picked up my coffee and made myself drink, and my hand stayed steady because I concentrated on the heat against my palm. That was instead of the fact that my father had turned my future into payment for men and logistics to infiltrate a convenient nothing town I hadn't visited in years.

“Saturday is too soon,” I said.

Tomas watched me over the rim of his cup.

“I need to tell the practice I'm taking leave. My work laptop has patient information on it, and I can't disappear without handing things over. I need clothes, medication and time to deal with my apartment.” I paused, hating every second of the performance. “If you've already agreed, give me enough time to do this properly.”

“You were very certain a moment ago.”

“I still don't like it.” I let resentment show because sudden obedience would never convince him. “But I understand you're not asking.”