Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 125243 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125243 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
I tear my gaze away from Hattie and look at Antonio. His smirk is triumphant and certain.
His cockiness sets my determination in concrete.
I will not break.
I will not falter.
I will not let him win.
When we reach the altar, my father releases my arm and steps back, his verbalization on the situation indecipherable.
With no time to waste, the priest begins the formalities. His voice reverberates in the chapel, but I barely hear him. My pulse is too loud, and my thoughts too chaotic. Even more so when the chapel door flies open, and a ripple of shock moves through the room.
I know who is there before I twist my neck to follow the attendees’ wide gazes.
Matteo stands in the entryway, breathless, wild-eyed, and drenched. Huh? His lips twist before a breathtaking smile lifts half his mouth.
“I object,” he says, confident that is all he needs to say to stop this wedding.
I have news for him.
The priest blinks. “We… ah… we haven’t reached that stage yet.”
Before I can react, my father’s voice booms over the shrill of my pulse. “His concerns also don’t matter. My daughter marries whom I say she marries.”
He turns toward the intruder—toward Matteo—and recognition flickers across his face. In a nanosecond, interest replaces his peeved expression.
“What is this about?” he asks, his curiosity unhidden in his high tone.
Matteo doesn’t look at my father or Antonio.
He doesn’t look at anyone except me.
“Can I speak with you?” he asks. “In private.”
“No.” My brain rattles against my skull from my quick headshake. “I’m marrying Antonio. He is my choice.” I say my lie sharply, hopeful it will scare Matteo away like it did last night. He needs to let me finish what I started, then, once that is done, he will learn the truth. But not before. It can’t happen before.
Matteo stares at me for a few nerve-racking moments before he shifts his eyes to my father. “There are things you don’t know that may have you reconsidering who you want to give your daughter’s hand to.”
“Such as?” my father asks, completely ignoring my immediate denial of his claim.
When Matteo gestures subtly with his head toward the priest’s chamber behind the altar, my father nods once before following him to it.
Just as fast, Antonio snatches up my wrist and drags me after them, his grip tight and possessive. I stumble but don’t resist. I need to hear whatever excuse Matteo comes up with so I can remind him of it when I make him pay for ruining everything just as it’s coming together.
Inside the office, Matteo turns to face Antonio, my father, and me.
“They can’t get married. She doesn’t love him,” he says, voice low but steady.
Don Adami’s scoff unnerves me. I hadn’t realized he had joined us. “Marriage isn’t about love.”
Matteo lifts his eyes to Don Adami, who barges his way into the room with no concern that Matteo’s family has more power in this realm than both him and my father combined. “It isn’t?”
“No. It’s about alliances and strengthening ties with our international comrades.”
Matteo’s disgust is as strong as mine when his focus shifts to my father, the person more concerned about alliances than his flesh and blood. “You’re going to let your daughter marry a monster for an alliance not worth the piece of paper her marriage certificate will be printed on. What the fuck is wrong with you?” Concern flickers through his eyes when he returns them to me. “His last wife died a week after they wed.”
“By suicide.” Antonio throws my earlier words in my face. “That’s no one’s fault.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that.” Matteo glares at my father before raking his eyes down his frame, his disgust unmissable. “I’m sure we could find someone to blame if we looked deep enough.”
My heart launches into my throat when my father steps closer to Matteo. I’ve seen him gun down men for less disrespect. It’s just fortunate that Matteo’s brothers and father joined the celebrations this morning, or I might have seen the man I can’t get out of my head murdered before my very eyes.
It wouldn’t be the first time my father killed someone I cared about.
“Unless you have a better alternative for my daughter, be a man and show yourself out.”
Matteo doesn’t get even three seconds to think before Don Adami orders the priest back to the altar. It pushes his desperation to a fever pitch.
Reaching into his jacket, he pulls out a folded document and throws it onto the desk. My heart stops beating. It’s the marriage contract that held his name for mere days, open on the non-penetration term of our agreement.
“A vital term of their marriage contract became void, rendering it invalid.” He collides his eyes with mine. His gaze is apologetic; however, his words are anything but. “We broke the non-penetration rule last night.”