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CHAPTER 1 Annabella

Alive I don’t think I’ve felt this alive since Father’s death teeks ago And although I’ It’s better than the nu in Anxiety was a constant knot inas to co so hard against e that I was almost sure the driver could hear it as well

Tearing reen hills, I turned ency in Seattle, he said that his boss, Mr Stone, had sent him to retrieve me Now, I have notof disappointment when it had sunken in that he did not turn up to meet me himself

I had dressed my part to the best of my abilities, a yellow sundress hite polka dots that ca with a pair of siency had even helped curlit up in a white bow to uess ivenabout how “you don’t look like what the boss usually orders”

One thing I could assume, just from my driver, was that my husband-to-be must be a very, very rich man Coupled with the fact that this was one of the nicest cars I’d ever seen in ency say that I’d fetched a higher price due to the fact thatto hold on to it, really, I just never got a chance to have a life outside ofup in Mexico City, Father and Mother rarely let ht, which was understandable from some of the horror stories I’ve heard over the years My father did his best to keepMother homeschool me

After Mother was killed by Mexican drug cartel when I was fifteen, I took on her role in the family Father loved her dearly and was utterly destroyed by her passing Heto keep o where he had suffered adown

Alone

I am completely alone in this world That loneliness was probably the in with

I sat at Father’s bedside for three whole days before he’d finally slipped away I had absolutely no idea what I would do without him by ht of returning ho to happen I could die, or worse While Father ht not have let me out of the house unfire and the police sirens from the outside every day Father said they left us alone because he’d paid his dues, whatever that ht blue eyes give away the fact that I’m not one hundred percent Mexican

When I had shared ave ive me a whole new life in As about her country I grew up speaking English, with Spanish as e Mother always said that ould ether one day, but that dream died the same day she did

And that was how I founde was a beautiful one They loved each other deeply and I longed to have that with someone someday; toin fear each day While we ht not have had much, Father and I had love, and now, I have no one I should be thankful I had evenback

Father said that I was the most stubborn person he has ever met I drove him crazy with s done in a certain way, but he always said that I would oal toh froh Maybe if Mother was still alive, he ht harder to stay, to live

I was determined not to lose the battle this time I will be a wonderful wife—that was the plan, anyway I talked to soency before I was picked up I asked a lot of questions about what I should do and what American husbands would like fros they told me were sex related but I took as many notes as I could After all, irls If anyone kne to ency not only did mail-order brides, they also housed women who men could rent by the hour So that I would be freer there than being trapped in a loveless e I had my US citizenship because of hed at the idea of a happy-ever-after, claiet awith him