Two Kings

Prologue

I stop at the doorway when I see my mother talking on the phone. 

"Yes, I'll tell her, Mr.'s Mancini. I will," My mother smiles. "Of course. Yes. I understand. Thank you--thank you so much."

As soon as she ends the call, I enter the room. "What was that about?" I ask.

Ma taps the seat beside her, and I walk to the sofa and sit. "Something happened, Lex. Something bad."

"What?" I ask in a sudden panic. "It's not my sisters?"

"No. God no! It's Grey Mancini. Something happened to him. They found him dead in his bed at 11am."

"Dead!" A wave of shock rolls through me.  "From what?"

"They suspect an overdose."

"Oh my God!" I take a moment to absorb the news that my arranged fiancé is dead. He was 26 years old and fit and healthy. How could something like this has happen so close to our wedding.

I gulp as another concern hits me.

What will happen to me, my family, without Grey's protection? Marrying him was our ticket to safety.

I turn to my mother and the words run from my mouth before I'm even aware I'm saying them. "If he's dead, what do you suppose that means for us now? Will they come for us? Or do we run first?"

She rests her hand over mine and taps it. "No, no, listen to me. We don't have to run."

A sudden silence falls between us.

"We don't?"

"No. Everything will remain the same, only you will now marry Grey's brother instead."

I feel the life drain from my face. "His brother," I frown. "Are you serious?"

"Yes, very. It's getting arranged now. And with Grey's passing, the marriage will come forward a week. And before you say anything, without this marriage, we're not safe."

"Just tell me it's not Rico?"

"Lex, we have no choice in who it is."

I shoot up from the chair in horror, tossing my arms out at my sides. "Then I refuse to marry him."

I could beg my mother to stop the marriage from going ahead, but she's just as vulnerable as me and would hardly go against the deal since it means saving all our lives.

"You refuse, and we no longer have protection and without protection, we're dead."

I pace around the coffee table, contemplating ways to get out of this.

"Alexis, sit, please. Let's talk this through."

I blow out a breath and sit, my foot tapping against the brown carpet, unable to believe that I'm even allowing a discussion to take place.

"Lex, it's just the same as marrying Grey."

"No," I shake my head. "It's not. I liked Grey. But Rico. He's crazy. Grey told me himself. He said anyone who gets in his way gets a bullet. A bullet ma. Not only that, but he has a girlfriend. And from what Grey said about her, she's extremely jealous of him. You think I wanna get between them?"

"Ok. All right. We'll call Mr.'s Mancini back and tell her it's off. You won't marry Rico."

As she grabs her phone from the coffee table, I consider my two younger sisters and how this will affect them; their lives would be ruined: their teenage years gone-- maybe even death if they weren't able to get away in time. 

Before ma presses redial, I snatch the phone from her hand. 

"What are you doing?"

"I'll do it. I'll marry Rico. But what if he's furious."

She lets out a deep sigh, as if that's what she was hoping I would say.

"His grandmother said she would smooth it over with him. She thinks he'll agree if she tells him what's at stake for us. And when news of Grey's passing is out, our time could be up sooner rather than later. Which is why the wedding will be tomorrow. They'll come here. And once you two are married no one would dare touch us then. No one. Not with Rico Mancini as your husband."