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I have a wedding to attend.
With a deep breath, I step outside my room. Since we’re near the tower, we’re on the top floor of the mansion. With every step I take, the floorboards creak. Mia walks with a purpose. I’m supposed to do the same, but I’ve never felt more lost.
We make our way downstairs. The more I walk through the house, the more memories that come back to me. Images of my mom and I playing hide and seek. The sound of my mom calling for me. The smell of her warm perfume whenever she pulled me in for a hug. It all comes back.
I stop dead in my tracks when I see the door Mia approaches. Inside is the large ballroom. Where my mother was murdered. I stood in that doorway and watched the life leave her eyes.
I grab Mia’s arm, and she sneers at me.I’m getting married in there?I sign.
She rolls her eyes and flings open the door. Inside, I see row upon row of people seated, waiting for a wedding. Near the front of the room, I see a younger man who’s skinny and tall. My father walks down the aisle and approaches me, but I take a step back.
“Pia, it’s time,” he says under his breath, practically hissing at me as he holds out his hand.
I look down at it, then back up at him. I can’t do this. I shake my head faster and faster.
He scoffs. “You’re doing this, Pia. Now take my hand. You don’t want me to have to punish you in front of all our guests, now, do you?”
My eyes flit back to the ballroom. People are starting to look in my direction. My breath comes out faster, like my lungs can’t fill up properly. I feel like I’m dying.
I bend forward and clutch at my chest. God, I’m dying.
“Pia.” My father grabs me roughly by the arms and shakes me. “You’re getting married even if I have to drag you down this aisle myself. Now, stop being difficult. You don’t want to end up like your mother, now, do you?”
This pulls me up short.
I force my breathing to get under control, and as I do, some of my lightheadedness goes away.
“Good. Now, let’s go.” He holds out his hand again. I’m surprised he’s giving me this option, but it’s not really an option. It’s coercion masquerading to be an option.
I stand up straight and meet his eyes.I hate you, I think. He quirks an eyebrow in challenge.
I don’t fight him.
I grab his hand.
His smile is ugly as he guides me into the ballroom, where the hundreds of people he said would be there are watching me. I could pass out. I might pass out. I think I’m going to pass out.
I grip my father’s hand tighter to steady myself. Even though I’m terrified, I don’t want to look like a fool. If I did that, my father would whip me in front of everyone.
I focus on taking one step after another until we reach the far end of the ballroom, where the skinny man stands with a priest next to him.
Lorenzo, I presume.
“Hello, Pia,” Lorenzo says, his voice soft and airy. “I’m Lorenzo Esposito. I will become your husband today.”
My father places my hand in Lorenzo’s. His palm is a lot softer than my father’s, but that doesn’t bring me any comfort. In fact, I feel even more afraid. This man is an unknown. I don’t know him, and I have no basis to know him. If I can’t even compare him to my father, then how am I supposed to manage him?
Lorenzo waits for me to speak. I guess that was something my father forgot to mention about me.
I just offer him a tight smile.
This seems to appease him enough because he turns to the priest and nods. “I think we’re ready.” The look Lorenzo gives me makes me shiver in a bad way. There’s a sudden look about him like he’s desperate to marry me, desperate to consume me, desperate to control me.
I’m tired of being controlled.
The priest begins the ceremony. Every word he says brings me closer to my marriage with Lorenzo. I want to scream at the priest to be quiet, to stop what he’s saying. But no words come out, as usual. I force my lips to move, but nothing happens. It’s like my vocal cords are stretched so thin that they can’t make a sound.
The next words the priest says catch my interest. “If anyone objects to this marriage, speak now or forever hold your peace.”
