Chapter 15

My heart is hammering in my chest as I grab one of my grandmother’s chocolate chip cookies. She asked us all to gather for an announcement, and considering the huge mountain of cookies on the kitchen counter, I have a feeling I know exactly what this is about. Raven snatches my cookie out of my hand and stuffs as much as she can into her mouth before I can even take a bite, and I can’t help but smile.

There are at least fifty cookies here, so I know she did that to distract me from the inevitable. “You don’t need to worry about me so much, you know?” The last thing I want is for my best friend to worry about something we can’t control. She always cares so much, and I don’t want this to keep her up at night.

“How could I not be worried?” she asks as she hands me back half of her cookie. I force a smile before taking a bite, wishing I could find the right words to reassure her.

“How do you feel?” Faye asks carefully. I smile at my tiny sweet sister-in-law, unsure how to answer her. She’s probably one of few who truly get it — after all, out of all my sisters-in-law, she’s the only one who knew she’d be in an arranged marriage from a young age. Though our circumstances are vastly different, she understands why I never wanted to date anyone. It wouldn’t have mattered, since my fate was sealed anyway.

“Nervous, I’d bet,” Celeste says, throwing me a reassuring look. “Whoever it is, and whatever happens, just know that life has a way of working itself out. What’s meant to be, will be.”

I smile at her, taking her words to heart. She’d know — she and Zane grew up as rivals, fell in love, only to fall apart tragically before they were forced into an arranged marriage none of us thought would work out. “I really hope so. I just have a bad feeling about it.”

Raya, our newest sister-in-law, joins us and shakes her head. “How bad could it be?” she asks. “Grandma would never let you marry someone that isn’t right for you.”

“How bad could it be?” I repeat. “Lex literally showed up in your classroom as your professor and hid that he knew you were arranged to be married.”

She bites back a laugh and nods. “And even so, it worked out, didn’t it? Celeste is right. What’s meant to be, will be.”

Grandma crosses her arms, and the boys instantly stop mocking Lex about how he said he’d never be whipped, only to become just as bad as all my other brothers the moment he married Raya. It reminds me that that’s what I want. A husband who adores me, and the kind of happiness all my siblings have found. I’ve waited so long for it, and now that it’s my turn, I’m nervous beyond words.

“I’m certain you can all guess why I’ve gathered you here today,” Grandma says, her eyes roaming over all of us with a hint of pride in them.

Raven bumps her shoulder against mine, and I can’t help but blush. Maybe the girls are right, and this is the start of something amazing. For so long, I’d been looking forward to this exact moment. When did that change?

“Sierra, sweetheart,” Grandma says in that sweet tone she reserves for my sisters-in-law and me. “Your engagement has been finalized.”

I take a deep breath and nod, my heart uneasy. “Who is it?” I ask, my voice trembling.

Grandma hesitates, which is entirely uncharacteristic of her. She looks down, and then she faces me head-on, her expression unyielding. “You’ll be marrying Xavier Kingston.”

My expression must convey my utter horror, because my brothers all chuckle at my expense, earning themselves glares from my sisters-in-law.

“Combining his real estate empire with ours would result in us jointly becoming the biggest real estate firm the world has ever seen,” she explains, and though it makes sense, I just can’t quite comprehend it. “It’ll be the biggest merger we’ve ever done as a family.”

I put down the cookie I was holding and shake my head. “Absolutely not,” I declare, pure hatred rushing through me. “I’m not marrying Xavier. Just disown me, Grandma. I’ll move out tomorrow. I can get my bags packed today.”

Not in a million years will I marry that rotten man. The only good thing about him is his looks, and I’ll be damned if I sleep with the devil, let alone marry him.

“You will,” Val says softly, much to my surprise. “You’ll marry him.” The betrayal stings — I’d expected all my sisters-in-law to be on my side.

“Over my dead body,” I snap.

“Well,” Grandma says, sighing. “As it turns out, it may well be over mine.”

Grandma grabs a set of papers from the kitchen counter and slides them toward me, her expression resigned. “I know you’re not ready, sweetheart,” she says. “I’ve waited for as long as I could, because I wanted to spend as much time as possible with my little girl. But Sierra, my time is up.”

My hands begin to shake as I unfold the documents, fearing what I’ll find. I’ve never seen Grandma look at me that way — with such regret and heartache. I read the words over and over, but no matter how badly I wish they would, they don’t change. I look up with tears in my eyes, my heart breaking. “Colon cancer?” I ask, my voice breaking. It can’t be. Is this a ruse, an attempt to convince me to marry Xavier?

“I accompanied her to the doctor this morning,” Val murmurs. “She brought me with her because she didn’t think any of us would believe her otherwise. It’s true, Sierra.”

Grandma’s gaze moves around the room, a sweet smile on her face. She looks at us like it’s the last time, like she wants to memorize every last detail about it, and it breaks my heart.

“How long have you known?” Lex asks, his voice hoarse, devoid of his usual lightheartedness.

“About a year. I’m old, Lex. I’ve accepted that my time has come, and I don’t want to spend the few months I have left becoming even sicker and frailer from chemotherapy. It’s okay, truly.”

She’s been sick for a year, and none of us knew? How much has she been through all by herself, suffering silently? I bite down on my lip in an attempt to hold back my tears, but they fall anyway. I was so young when a plane crash took our parents from us that I barely remember them. Grandma is the one who raised me, and I can’t lose her. She’s everything to me — my role model, my only parent figure, and my biggest supporter. I’m not sure who I even am without her cookies, her laughter, our weekly family dinners.

“I know you think you hate him,” Grandma says, her voice filled with understanding. “But he’ll love you like you deserve to be loved, Sierra. Xavier will protect you, and he’ll continue to be by your side when I’m no longer able to. I know you don’t want to marry him, but sweetheart… this is my last wish.”