He took a deep breath, his smile intact. “You look like you don’t want a wedding, so there won’t be one.”
A sigh of relief escaped her. It contrasted with how I felt. “What do you mean there will be no wedding?” I objected.
“Just that. It’s too dangerous like my wife said.”
Che cazzo? “If it’s security you’re worried about, the Lanzas can provide enough protection.”
“I can protect my own, Domenico. Stai attento,” he warned. “But a wedding should be a happy day. If my wife feels uncomfortable for any reason at all, I can’t let it happen.”
“But that’s not our deal. I don’t want to wait, and for the sake of Nicky’s honor, which means everything to both of us, she has to be my wife as fast as possible.”
Nicky mouthed afuck youat me.
As much as I wanted to keep Nicky’s little secret to myself, a little red ribbon to play with my kitten, if what I’d said wasn’t enough to change Tino’s mind, I’d have no choice but to spill the beans. No wedding wasn’t an answer I was willing to take.
“In that you’re absolutely correct,” he said. “That’s why, while there will be no wedding at the moment, you two can still get married…today.”
“What?!” Nicky snapped.
Blinking, I couldn’t stop the smile stretching on my face.
Tino, that crazy devious son of a bitch, smiled, too. I took it his little wife’s crocodile tears were too good for him to believe? “All we need is a City Hall clerk and an attorney to make it official. And before you say it’s the holidays, I can get the clerk from the Marriage Bureau right here along with my lawyer in a couple of hours. I’m sure Dom can do the same with his.
“We have a modest ceremony at the safety of our home to please my wife, you elope like you wanted, Nicole, but with dignity and honor, and Dom, you don’t have to wait any longer to get your bride.”
“But… You… This’s…” Nicky stuttered, her face red, her eyes blazing.
“Amazing, right? I bet you didn’t see that one coming. What did I tell you, Nicole? My solution does please everyone, especially you, figlia mia.”
CHAPTER 24
Nicky
In a matter of hours, the mansion turned into a bridal fashion show. A woman with an over exaggerated grin so wide it must have hurt her mouth had put a myriad of white dresses on exhibition in one of the lounges. She was infinitely and proudly babbling about the details of each dress, convincing me they were the best in town to choose formy wedding. A swarming hair and makeup team chased me across the mansion, yelling at each other—and sometimes at me—in Italian because there was so much to do and very little time to do it.
I hadn’t responded to any of them. It was as if I could see and hear everything happening around me but from a distance. Was that what an out-of-body experience felt like? In fact, I hadn’t said a word after all my hopes of freedom were crushed. My body and mind had entered a state of shock since the wolf caught me between his jaws.
It wasn’t like it mattered if I spoke, if I said no, if I fucking screamed it. All the choices had already been made for me. My miserable destiny had been sealed. My head had been served on a silver plate to the coyote.
In the span of a few minutes, I was going to marry my enemy.
No, Domenico Lanza wasn’t the enemy. He was just a hungry coyote on the hunt. He stalked his prey and succeeded to capture her. Could you really blame a beast for acting his nature?
My real enemy was the man who designed the traps, who closed the circle around me so I had nowhere to run. The monster that had robbed me of my family and my future. The wolf that devoured my sister and gave me as a gift to his coyote friend.
My real enemy was, had always been, Don Sebastiano Bellomo.
Lina ended up making all the decisions for the ceremony. I was fitted into a vintage, lace, long sleeve dress. So simple yet so elegant like my makeup. My hair was contained in a twisted updo garnished with a couple of braids and some purple flowers. The perfect attire for a happy, innocent and pure bride. Except I was none of that. A sacrificial lamb led to her slaughter was more like it.
“You look so beautiful,” Lina sobbed behind me as she stared at me in the mirror.
I spun and stared at her. How could she see beauty on a day such as this?
“Nicky…” she sobbed again.
“Don’t cry.” Her tears were waking up the numbness the shock had given me, and I didn’t like it.
Her lips quivered as she looked around my room. There was no one here but the two of us and Nick in his stroller. “I know you’re mad at me, and I’m sorry. I tried… I thought I’d have bought you some time… I didn’t know things would turn around…”
