“No,” the words came out slowly but confidently. “I’ll do no such thing.”

“You’ve got no choice, Kiddo,” Leo straightened the files against the surface of his desk. “It’s either you get married to Whitney and put out the fire you’ve started, or you join your mother in her miserable existence.”

Xander’s throat burned, and he felt his teeth grinding with the rage that was seething through his body.

How could his father act so… callous?

He took quick steps forward, ...