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Chapter II

I hated the way person in the mirror looked. My hair as always were too puffy and messy. Brown waves reached all way to my belly button and it was impossible to tame them. If it wasn’t enough the green velvet dress was doing me no justice since my hand was still stuck in the sling. At least my mother didn’t force me to put on the ridiculous heels so I couldn’t make fool out of myself in front of all the people.

Soft knock on my doors and Catherine walked in without even waiting. She looked gorgeous in her black cocktail dress, shiny jewellery and four inch heels. She tough me many things about this whole ‘being perfect wife’ thing but she failed greatly when it came to my ability to make myself presentable.

“Are you ready?” She asked with a gentle smile, moving closer to me. Without another word she took a brush from vanity and started to run it through my hair. Suddenly I felt so nostalgic. She used to do it when I was a child and it was surely the last time she would do it.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course, sweetheart. What is it?” She couldn’t do as much as look me in the eyes lately and I wonder why it was. Because I left or because after all I was going to marry a stranger and she couldn’t do anything against it?

“I never had a chance to know how I got to the hospital. I thought someone called police but Alessandro said that he has been there in apartment.”

My mum let out a sight and was silent for a longer minute, making me think that she wouldn’t answer.

“I’m going to tell you this in secrecy. When you haven’t called or texted me this four days I was worried and your father wouldn’t send Roberto to check on you, let alone let me visit. So as I’ve been having tea with Salvatore’s mother…I asked him to check on you. I was certain that he would say no but he didn’t and I’m so grateful that he went to see you.” She blinked rapidly and I could saw tears in her eyes as she started pinning few strands of my hair in the back.

“I know you think I’m the worst mother in the world by letting you marry this man but I tried Christine. I tried to convince your father first to end his business and to stop his deals with Lombardys. But he never listened. I wanted something better for you because I never had courage to step against my own father when he arranged my marriage with Antonio. I grew to love him and so did he. I don’t complain but I just wish I’ve done more for you and now all I can do now is pray that he will be good for you.”

I turned around and hugged her tight, feeling hot tears running down my cheeks. It definitely wasn’t happy bride-to-be go-to face and ritual but I couldn’t care less.

“You did everything mum. And if it wasn’t for you I could be homeless now if not worse.” I whispered.

We stood like that for few minutes longer before finally we broke apart, wiping away the tears that escaped.

“You look so pretty sweetheart. Like a doll.” She smiled gently, caressing my cheek. “I’ll go downstairs and tell them you will be coming in five minutes, okay?”

I just nodded not able to say anything more and watched her walk away. Letting few more tears escape my eyes I’ve decided it was enough of this pity party. I went to the bathroom where I quickly wiped away the tears and decided to apply some mascara and lip gloss. After all tonight guest’s eyes would be on me so I could put minimal effort in my looks. Not that anyone would really care.

It took me few more moments as I stood at the doors with hand froze on the knob. Anxiety was filling my body but with ten deep breaths and positive thoughts I tried to push it away. This fear was still heavy in my chest. I didn’t exactly knew how many people has been invited but could imagine that a lot. Both our families were large and it was common to throw biggest events for special occasions.

Once I stepped back to my room it surprised me to see Salvatore standing at the head of my bed, old copy of ‘The Phantom of The Opera’, that I was currently re-reading, in his hands. He looked just like the last time when I saw him though his black shirt was now buttoned up and he had a tie. He just stood there, lazily going through pages.

I stopped a few feet away from him, feeling suddenly all unsure to make another step. Salvatore slowly lifted his eyes to me and as usual his face showed nothing.

“Finally.” He muttered closing the book before putting it back on the side table. He reached to the pocket in his pants and took a little velvet box out of it. As Salvatore was opening the box, he took few steps that was between us. He took my hand without a warning and next moment slip on the ring on my finger. It was an oval gold that laid against my fingers nicely with huge, smooth ruby. It looked a bit rusty but it only made me fall in love with it at the spot.

“I know it’s not fancy diamonds but it’s all you get.” Salvatore said killing almost non existing mood. He offered me his arm that I took. Without another word we walked downstairs.

There was way more people then I imagined. Many faces that I didn’t even know and some that I could recall as my cousins, aunts and uncles. My grip tightened around Salvatore’s – muscular – arm as I felt bigger anxiety building in me. It wasn’t because of him anymore. Idea of being in room filled with people and that their attention would focus on me was frightening more then anything. Past years I attended quite a few family parties but it was never like this. I always could’ve just disappear in the crowd and hide somewhere away from them.

“Are you alright?” Salvatore’s voice made my wild thoughts stop for a while and look up at him.

“Yes.”

“You look like scared little lamb.” He smirked and it was the first time I had seen him do something remotely close to smiling. “Now, smile. You’ll meet my parents.”

I felt as if oxygen left me. That was definitely the last position on my to-do list. Meeting The Head of Lombardy Family when I felt like a shaking mess on inside? No, thank you. This life was always about putting on the right face, smile when you wanted to cry and even though I was trying to master it over the years I wasn’t as good as others.

Back year ago I haven’t got too close to them beside greetings alongside my parents but seeing them now was somehow comforting. Riccardo didn’t look like a cold-blooded assassin like his son did. Instead he was a bit rounded, wearing grey suit and red tie, smiling sincerely. Eleanor on the other hand reminded me much of my mother. She had dark, curly hair and was almost as tall as her husband. She was a beautiful woman and that smile only added up to that. For a moment I thought that it was all for real. That I was meeting my loving fiance’s parents that were actually excited to meet me.

“It’s so nice to finally meet you, Christine.” Eleanor was the first to say and it stunned me when she gave me a warm hug, keeping caution over my bad arm. “I thought that we would never get Salvatore to marry and here we are. Engagement party.” She laughed gently and with a corner of my eye I could see black-haired man shaking his hand.

“Aren’t you a beautiful, like a princess that your father was always describing.” Riccardo commented making me blush heavily. Good to know that my father was trying to sell my appearance as if I was truly just some doll.

“Stop, Riccardo, you’re making girl uncomfortable.” Woman laughed genuinely. That was something I would never expect. It wasn’t all that common in family for couples to be this casual around each other, especially not during gatherings. To do with that had a fact that many of marriages were arranged and as women were treated like a nice trophy to show-off, they would never dare to speak up.

“We are going to get some champagne.” Salvatore announced and without another word he took his steps towards the table. I said polite ‘goodbye’ and smiled before following him. It was so different to what I imagined when it came to meeting his parents. They were so…nice. Something I would never expect.

Salvatore handed me a glass of champagne but I shook my head quickly.

“I’m on pain meds. I can’t drink.”

“Right.” He let out putting glass down.

We stood there in silence, Salvatore’s gaze fixed somewhere ahead of him. He seemed to be buried deep in his thoughts so I wouldn’t dare to be the one to interrupt.

I looked around the room for the first time and I felt even worse then before. Some women looked towards us, few of them with hatred – jealousy perhaps, others with indifference. And I could tell that their only subject was us. I never liked being judged and talked about but also knew that now it couldn’t be any different than that.

It must’ve been the hot subject in our circles. Capo was going to marry a prodigy daughter. In mentality of these people it shouldn’t take a place. I turned my back on Family, no matter if it was with our without their permission, and suddenly came back and despite this fact Salvatore was still going to marry me, something that his father permitted. It was unbelievable. Truth be told – even for me.

I didn’t know Salvatore too long and we only met occasionally but the way he acted towards me only made me question this all more. Was it his father’s choice? Did Riccardo himself ordered him to take me as his wife? But then on the other hand why would I be permitted to break the deal?

One thing I knew for sure was that I was burnt for everyone. No matter if I was Capo’s wife or Queen Elizabeth, they would always talk about it. I would always be somehow marked.

“Here you are.” A small, petite woman with short black hair came up to us, big smile on her pretty face. It hit me right away how similar to Salvatore she looked. “Oh, Christine, I’ve heard all about you. It’s so good to finally meet you.” She said wrapping arms around me in tight hug that made me wince in pain as she pressed on my wound.

“Bianca, watch out for her arm.” Salvatore snapped just as she was moving away with sorry smile on her face.

“Sorry, I totally forgot. Anyway, how are you? I’ve heard about…you know what.”

Her appearance led me into deep confusion. I didn’t notice her around earlier and now she just came out of nowhere being so…straight forward. And I didn’t knew her at all.

“First of all, you may introduce yourself instead of harassing her with your babbling.” Man beside me said with almost bored voice, downing his champagne before pushing himself away from the table. “Christine, this is my younger sister, Bianca.”

“Nice to meet you.” I said with a small smile. She was…unlike anyone I ever met. And I would never imagine her related to Salvatore. After meeting his closest family I had a certain feeling that he was adopted or something along this lines.

“I’m sorry, I have a tendency to just get carried away. Regardless, how about we send this young man off and get to know each other better?”

“If Salvatore don’t mind…” I shrugged my shoulder.

It definitely wasn’t the best moment to make new friends. I wanted to just get through this and dinner and be left alone so I could cry into my pillow.

Salvatore just nodded, his eyes scanning the room before he left us. Bianca led me to the sofa that stood in the bit farer corner ‘so we would have more privacy’ as she stated.

She turned out to be lovely person, talkative one but at least that left me no room to speak for what I was grateful. Bianca was only 20 and married for seven months now. Her husband was Ataleo Caporale – Capo of another Family. At first I expected her to tell the story of how their fathers made up a deal to put a stop to bad blood between Families but instead it turned out they were on good terms so when Bianca announced she was to marry Ataleo, there was no objections.

Once again it surprised me what amazing parents they had – sure, I didn’t knew all that was going on there but just idea of having free choice as Bianca did was something wonderful. She wasn’t force to do anything as I was that moment. It led me into thinking that perhaps it was impossible for Salvatore to be bounded to me against his will. But then again, why would he chose out of all?

“Who is Salvatore talking with?” I asked all of the sudden, interrupting her mid-sentence. I didn’t even think this through, words just spilled. For last ten minutes my eyes kept wander to my fiancé and blonde model lady way too often and I was just curious creature.

“Oh, that’s our cousin Astrid. She’s twenty-six, living with her parents currently at the house next to father’s. Poor thing, her husband died recently.” She sighed shaking her head before taking another sip of red wine.

I tried my best to not make any assumptions. I barely knew Salvatore, let alone his good looking cousin. But something between them just didn’t feel right. I had many cousins and my dynamics with any of them never looked like theirs. Although it was just my silly, crazy imaginations. Nothing more.

Soon enough my father invited everyone for dinner to the dining-room and I was glad that this struggle was coming to an end.


Dinner passed by much smoother and it almost didn’t bother me to have Salvatore sitting next to my side with his heartless expression. What was even more wonderful was that some people started leaving afterwards. Bianca and her husband were first to do so and I found myself a bit sad that she wouldn’t be around. She was something different and some might call her annoying but I liked her and it felt a bit comforting to know that she would be my sister-in-law.

Father alongside Riccardo and few others – including Salvatore – left to his office as women started to clean after dinner. Luckily I didn’t have to put with them anymore and pretending to be engaged in conversation. Instead I made my way to the living room and sat at the sofa. There were still few kids around, mostly talking hidden in the corners of the room.

“Funny how things turn out sometimes.” Smooth voice said from behind me. I turned around rapidly to see Astrid. She really looked stunning in her high heels, tight black dress and natural-looking makeup that left her face flawless.

“I’m sorry?”

“Oh, nothing, sweetie. I was just wondering how in the world, little betraying whore like you ended up engaged to Salvatore.” Astrid said sweetly but her voice was nothing but venom.

My whole body tensed at her comment. Maybe it was because she was right or how nasty she was, maybe both, but I didn’t like it one bit. I lifted up from the couch with intention to leave to my room. I was never the one to argue, especially not with a strangers and not about subjects like this.

“Where are you going? I just wanted to talk about how you managed this because Salvatore don’t want to spoil. Come on, Christine.”

“I’d rather not.” I muttered quietly but as I was passing, she wrapped her fingers around my wrist with a little laugh. She gave me chills – and they were even worse then ones that Salvatore was giving me.

“Don’t be like this, just tell me. Did you do something? You must’ve. He’s Capo, he would never take such a dog.”

It felt like a smack across the face and I would probably like this better than such a harsh words. Was I really that bad because I wanted have a different life? I knew that Family was something different but was it too much to be a bit open minded?

I moved away from Astrid and pulled my hand out of her grip. Before I got a chance to decide between running away and sending the nice piece of names in her way, Salvatore came in followed by Alessandro.

The first man raised his eyebrows in a question, watching my face carefully. My cheeks were burning and eyes stung with tears so it must’ve truly be a view.

“What’s going on?” He asked harshly, looking at Astrid this time. She just send him that Hollywood smile.

“We were just having a little chat and I was congratulating Christine. And saying goodbye, because it’s getting late.”

And just like that she was gone, leaving me with fast beating heart and urge to cry like there was no tomorrow.

Salvatore stepped closer to me, his eyes fixed on my face but I looked away not able to stand the heat of his blues eyes.

“What did she say to you? Did she lay hand on you?”

I quickly shook my head, taking a deep breath before speaking as I was fearing it would break.

“She didn’t. Is there something you need from me? I want to lay down. My shoulder hurts.”

There was silence for a moment longer during which he was just watching me, as if he was considering weather to believe me or not.

“Alessandro will be staying here from now on until the wedding. He will be your bodyguard now.” He simply announced and I didn’t give it another thought as right now it was all too much for me.

“Good. Thank you.” I said simply, walking past him with a quiet ‘good night’.

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