AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Viktor chews his food slowly before answering. “Well, he came after me. I had no choice.”
“Whatever,” I mutter.
Sitting here in my bloody wedding dress, all I can think about is my family. Even though I never wanted to be married, I always assumed I’d have my family at the ceremony. Emilia in the front row, smiling at me. A lump hits the back of my throat, and I almost choke on the pancake in my mouth.
Franco is on his way home to my family, to my mom. I wonder what she’d think of all of this. Would she even care? My mom never really favored me. In fact, I was probably her least favorite kid, with all of my drama and theatrics.
A memory hits me.
It was soon after my dad died and Franco had moved in, uninvited, and Mom was in her room crying. Emilia was already married to Marco and not there, which wasn’t her fault, but I still blamed her slightly.
I only discovered my mom crying because I happened to walk by her door on my way to sulk in my room. Before she left for LA, Emilia had told me that I needed to step up and help out more. So, with those words in mind, I entered my mom’s room.
She was curled into a ball, crying her eyes out. She took Dad’s death the hardest, I think, out of any of us.
“Mom?”
She jerked, her head whipping to look at me. “Gemma?” She wiped at her eyes. “What are you doing in here?”
I sat down on the bed, tentatively. “I heard you crying. Do you … do you need a hug?” I was never the most touchy-feely person, but at that moment, I could have gone for a hug myself. Mom always leaned on Emilia for support, so I assumed she’d do the same for me.
But instead of reaching out to me, she turned away, curling back into a ball. “I don’t need you, Gemma. I just need your dad. I wish Emilia was still here. She’d know what to do.” She said the last bit so quietly, I wasn’t sure if she meant for me to hear or not. But either way, her words stung. It reminded me that I would never be as good as Emilia, as loved as Emilia, as respected as Emilia.
I stood up and walked away, feeling my heart shut down even further.
Now, sitting at the table, staring at my pancakes, tears sting my eyes. I haven’t cried since Viktor took me. Even though Emilia’s wedding was unconventional, she had all of us there at least.
But I was on my own today. I had no one. Not even Franco fought that hard for me. He left the moment he realized he was losing to Viktor. And the only reason he came in the first place was to make sure Viktor didn’t take any Moretti influence power by marrying me.
I’ve never felt more alone in my life than at this moment, despite gaining a husband.
Thinking about Franco reminds me of Marco. “Why didn’t Marco show up?” I ask, pushing my tears back before they can fall.
“Oh, I never sent him an invitation. He didn’t know where we were getting married.”
“Why didn’t you want Marco showing up?”
Viktor blinks. “Because he’s probably the only man who has the power to kill me. I knew Franco wouldn’t be able to do it. So, I thought I’d just embarrass him a little bit.” He gives me a cheeky grin as he pops a bite of pancake into his mouth.
Not going to lie, the thought of Franco being embarrassed and running away with his tail tucked between his legs makes me laugh. In a strange way, Viktor gave me a gift with that.
“I can just see him crying like a pussy,” I add, making Viktor chuckle.
He pushes his plate away, his eyes darkening. “Speaking of pussy, we still have a wedding night to get to.”
I snort. “You did not just say that.”
“I did.”
“I never agreed to sleep with you, Viktor.”
“Ok, Gemma. But maybe you’ll reconsider after this.”
“After what?”
Viktor stands up and walks over to me, cupping my face between his hands as he leans down to kiss me.
CHAPTER10
