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Mia
Icouldn't believethe words that had just fallen from my lips. I had agreed to marry Andrea.
"Good." His harsh, angry expression fell away, replaced by a mischievous, evil grin that reminded me of the Grinch. He slipped his gun back into the waistband of his pants and I breathed out a sigh of relief. “I'll have someone summon the priest now. Panic shot through me as the realization sank in. I was going to marry Andrea. I would essentially belong to him, and he was getting the priest. If I didn't do something, say something, it was going to happen that same night.
The idea of being that monster's wife, essentially his property in his mind, to know what he would expect on our wedding night, made me sick but if I had let that little girl lose her mother and take her place I wouldn't have been able to live with myself.
Andrea pulled me up from the floor to stand and started toward the cell door. “Wait,” I cried out desperately, not knowing what I was going to say but knowing that I had to come up with something to buy myself a little more time, to hold on to hope for just a little longer.
“What is it?” Andrea looked annoyed.
“Joining two families such as ours,” I scrambled for words, trying to think of something that I could say. “It should be a production, don't you agree? Our wedding is a symbol of the joining of our two families and your rise to power. Don't you think that it should be a bit more of a spectacle than a quick little ceremony?”
Andrea looked at me suspiciously, but I could see the wheels in his head turning. “You're right. Sneaking off to get married in the middle of the night is for immature teenagers and scandalous pregnancies.”
“I'll have everyone stay up all night preparing and tomorrow evening you will be my bride. For tonight, I'll have you sent to better accommodations so that you can prepare yourself for our wedding. I want you bathed, soaking in a warm tub with scented oils the way they used to in the olden days. I want you pampered so that you look radiant for everyone to see.”
“Tomorrow is still a little soon isn't it? I'll need a dress and we need flowers and decorations and to send out invitations.”
“I will command everyone to show up. My staff will work through the night to ensure that we have the best of everything. I'll send one of my servants to get you a dress, something more fitting than the modest dress you had planned to wear to marry Teo. My bride’s beauty should be on display, not hidden under so many layers of fabric.”
“You can do all that in one night?”
“You'd be amazed at all I can accomplish in one night. And you can quit trying to postpone this wedding. You've gained yourself one more night but don't push it.”
“Ciro, haveSignoraMonticelli taken to one of our guest rooms. Send in servants to bathe and tend to her. Have anything she would like to eat brought to her room and arrange for a visit from our masseuse as well. I would have her well fed and limbered up for our wedding night.”
My stomach dropped at the thought of what he was implying. I felt like breaking down and crying but I knew that I couldn't. I couldn't show any weakness, couldn't let myself feel anything or I would feel everything and that would be more than I could bear. I forced my mind and my emotions to go numb as the guard escorted me from the cell.
My body trembled and my muscles screamed as I was nearly dragged down the hall toward the room that would become my new cell.
I stumbled, weak from the lack of food and minimal water as well as from my tired, beaten body.
I glanced around the home that we were in, it was elegant like something from the past but there were no signs of any exits. I had no idea how I was going to escape.Even if I do have to marry Andrea, that’s not the end. I can still fight. I can still escape once his guard is down. The priests would see fit to annul our marriage once they understood that it was under extreme duress. As long as I was alive and breathing it wasn't over.I reminded myself.
The guard stopped in front of a large wooden door that was only partially closed. The large deadbolt on the outside gave me a little hope of escaping once I was inside. I struggled against his grasp trying to break free in a desperate attempt to avoid being locked in another, albeit elegant, cage.
Fighting in my state was of no use and he easily shoved me inside the room. "Stupid little,puttana."
I stumbled and tripped, sliding across the tile floor as my body hit the ground.
“Someone will be in soon to bathe you.” And with that he slammed the door shut. There was a loud clank as the lock slipped into place.
