Chapter 5

She pulled Anna into her arms and backed into the far corner of the room, not daring to look at Brian again.

Brian looked down at his empty hands, then saw the undisguised disgust and fear in Elena's eyes. A bitter feeling rose in his chest.

He never imagined his identity would be exposed like this, right to his face.

Roger, sitting at the head of the table, felt his concerns melt away the moment he learned Brian was just a freshly released rapist.

In New York City, a rapist with no connections or backing would end up dead sooner or later.

He stopped paying Brian any attention and turned to fix Elena with a cold, hard stare. "Elena, look at the kind of trash you've dragged in here! I'm telling you, this engagement is happening today, whether you like it or not!"

"I gave up fighting a long time ago."

Elena held Anna tight as tears streamed down her face, but her voice was defiant. "These past eight years have been pure hell for me. Anna is the only reason I kept going. If you're going to push us both to the edge, then I'll take her and jump off a bridge right now. This Corleone family isn't worth staying for anyway!"

Watching Elena stand there, broken yet unbroken, Brian felt a guilt so heavy it nearly crushed him.

Eight years. What had this woman gone through to protect their child?

He made himself a silent promise: Maybe I don't love Elena the way a man loves a woman. But I owe her eight years. Even if it costs me everything, I will protect her and make it up to her for the rest of my life. Every bit of dignity she's lost, I'll get it back for her a hundred times over.

"You don't get a say in this!" Roger's face was ice cold.

But Keith, who had been watching from the sidelines, stood up.

He brushed off his clothes and shot a look of contempt at Anna in Elena's arms, then smirked. "I think we should just call off this marriage. The Ward family may be willing to overlook Elena's past, but my father will never allow a rapist's bastard to walk through our front door. We have a reputation to protect."

Keith had always wanted Elena for her looks, but he was a completely selfish man. Raising a child left behind by a rapist? That was an insult to his name.

With the alliance now falling apart, Roger's face darkened.

He pointed a trembling finger at Elena, laughing out of pure rage, and spat out the cruelest words he could find. "Fine! Fine, Elena! If you'd rather throw away a future with Keith and cling to that bastard child, then go find yourself a rapist to marry! Let's see what decent man would ever want you!"

A wave of harsh laughter swept through the room.

"Old man."

Brian, standing in the middle of the wreckage, turned his head and said quietly:

"Are you arranging our engagement right now?"

The laughter died instantly. The whole room froze.

And in the corner, Elena's face twisted with a disgust so deep it was almost painful to see.

The silence was broken by a cold laugh from the main table.

Terry's eyes gleamed with something cruel. He leaned close to Roger's ear and said, loud enough for everyone to hear, "Dad, since Keith doesn't want her anymore, why not give this guy what he wants? Let her spend her life with a rapist. A man just out of prison doesn't even count as a nobody in New York City. He won't last long anyway."

Roger listened, and the hard lines on his face slowly relaxed into a twisted, vicious smile.

He looked down at Brian like he was tossing scraps to a stray dog.

"Since you've taken a liking to this used-up woman, I'll give her to you."

The moment those words landed, Elena's face went white as a sheet.

She bit down hard on her colorless lower lip, her eyes filled with grief and despair.

She knew her grandfather too well. With one sentence, Roger had stripped away the last shred of her dignity.

Against the weight of this family, she knew she had no power to refuse.

"Dad! How could you do this to Elena!"

Brenda finally snapped. She rushed to the main table, hair flying, and screamed, "Elena has worked herself to the bone for the Corleone family all these years! She's given everything! How can you hand her over to a rapist? She's your own granddaughter!"

"That's enough. Stop making a scene." Her father Jeremy walked over slowly and grabbed Brenda's arm, his voice heavy with a suffocating kind of sorrow. "Let it go. Maybe this is just Elena's fate."

Slap.

A sharp crack rang through the hall.

Brenda slapped Jeremy across the face and pointed straight at him, screaming, "Fate? You useless man! Is that all you know how to do, just accept things? Your own daughter is being handed off to a rapist like a piece of property, and you won't say a word! You don't deserve to be a father. You can't even protect your own child!"

Jeremy's cheek swelled red instantly. He didn't hit back. He didn't say a word.

He just hung his head, arms limp at his sides, his silence an admission of his own weakness.

Brian watched the helpless couple fighting for their daughter and let out a long, heavy sigh inside.

"Elena, I'm sorry," he said to himself.

He knew exactly what he was doing. He was carrying the label of rapist. If he used his military connections to tear the Corleone family apart right now, it would only bring a storm of gossip and judgment crashing down on Elena and Anna.

The only way to truly protect them was to marry her through this absurd, almost farcical arrangement. As her husband, he could legally bring them both under his protection.

Brian's eyes steadied. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a small, exquisite box covered in dark gold velvet.

Then he walked across the floor of broken porcelain, step by step, until he stood in front of Elena.

When Elena saw him coming, her whole body flinched. She pulled Anna tighter against her chest like a startled animal curling into itself.

Those eyes, once bright and lively, now held nothing but sharp wariness and open disgust.

Brian didn't react to her hostility. He slowly crouched down, making his tall frame as unthreatening as he could.

"Anna," he said gently, looking at the little girl with the swollen bump on her forehead. "Would you like me to be your dad?"

Anna stared at him with wide eyes.

He felt warm to her somehow, but the image of him taking down more than a dozen guards and leaving Lawrence's face covered in blood was still fresh in her mind, and it scared her.

She shrank back a little and shook her head with a small, quiet voice. "Mommy won't say yes."

Brian felt a small ache in his chest, but he smiled softly and said, "If I become your dad, no one in this world will ever be able to hurt you again. And no one will ever be able to take you away from your mom."