Amira

Chapter 1

ESME

My fingers shook like leaves in the breeze as I raised them, my heartbeat hummingbird quick. Matteo's strong hand was firm and steady as he took mine and slipped the ring onto my finger.

White gold with twenty small diamonds.

What was meant as a sign of love and devotion for other couples was nothing but a testament of his ownership of me. 

A daily reminder of the golden cage I'd be trapped in for the rest of my life. Until death do us part wasn't an empty promise as with so many other couples that entered the holy bond of marriage.

There was no way out of this union for me. I was Matteo's until the bitter end. The last few words of the oath that men swore when they were inducted into the mafia could just as well have been the closing of my wedding vow

"I enter alive and I Leave dead."

I looked at Matteo who had a huge shark grin on his face. As he slipped the ring on my finger. His eyes were looking directly at me. With a clear message in them "I own you now,"

Huh, as if I'll ever be yours, I huff in my mind. this ring means nothing to me, you mean nothing to me. I might have to pretend to be happy and watch this whole façade go down but don't mistake my silence for weakness.

The lion inside me is sleeping not dead and now it's time that she woke up. I didn't have a say in any of this. If it were up to me, I would have never agreed to any of this.

 I am my own person, not some cow that you can just sell off to the highest bidder. If I could I would have punched Matteo right in the face and wiped that smug smile off his face.

"Smile for the cameras" I hear Matteo murmur in my ear as I look up to the photographer clicking pictures.

After we came down from the raised platforms all the women including my cousins, sisters, aunts came swarming around me. 

Telling me how good we both look together and how beautiful the ring looks. I could just barf at their words.

But I chose to stay quiet and nod politely while simultaneously tuning them out of my head. We shook hands with several other high-ranking made men.

 A few of Matteo's partners/ colleagues and then his family. Then I saw my mother approach. Oh god! Can this day just be over yet? Don't get me wrong here, I love my mother dearly but that woman needs to grow a damn spine! Despite all these thoughts, I put on a smile as I greeted her.

"Mom"

"Oh, Esme sweetie, I am so happy for you." my mother exclaimed as she hugged me "I thought I would never see that day when you would get married. Much less to a man like Matteo Vitello. You are so lucky to have him. You two look so good together. A perfect couple. A match made in heaven"