Deception

Chapter 1 - The Beginning

Everything in sight reminds me how fast this is happening.

The "bride to be" badge tossed on the console of the car. My reflection against the glass, sat beside me in solitude knowing how most feel about the day that is to come.

The day when I'll be put in one mans care forever.

My chest rises to take a deep breath in hopes of it steadying me, but a dull voice shatters my thoughts.

"You ever read?"

Leone clicks on the indicator and switches lanes. There was no disinterest in his voice, but I couldn't shake off awkwardness of his small talk.  Is he interested in the question he asks? And more importantly, do I read?

"No." I lower my head and stare at my freshly manicured nails. All my Fiancé's learned about me in the past ten minutes is that I have no life. Nada.

The silence is liquid now. It starts to seep in through the cracks in our relationship, which merely began a month ago on our engagement. The day I first saw him and let him slide a ring on my finger promising an eternity together.

I was happier than any woman I knew, especially knowing I didn't settle for my Fiancé. Papa's taste was exquisite, and landed me a man worth fifty million dollars.

I'm set for life now in every practical aspect, but that didn't wash away the uncertainty in my stomach always seeming to rise. Its as intense as New Yorks skyscrapers floating past me.

I'm making the right decision. It's better I cry in a mansion than in a slum in Colombia.

Reaching into my purse, I pull out a pack of chips and tear it open in hopes of it distracting me from the nausea thats struck me. My Fiancé steals a glance at my pack and I tilt it towards him.

"Nah." He shakes his head. "I'm saving my appetite for brunch."

I nod in agreement and hit the radio, a smooth voice spilling into the silence.

"Reports of yet another body found in the Hudson River have alarmed authorities."

One. Two seconds pass. Neither of us are shocked, but the sudden tension in Leone's demeanour makes my stomach churn. There's that nausea again.

"The victim, who was in his mid-thirties is yet to be identified. An autopsy states he died of suffocation, but an X-marked wound found on his stomach was-"

He shuts the radio. I can just see see the tendrils of distress hovering over him as he lets out a stiff exhale, and it isn't one of annoyance, neither is it anger.

I know fear when I see it. Raw and exposed and too tender for a man like him, who's hands are stained with the blood of more people than I could count. The only man worse than my Fiancé in that sense, is his boss - Silas Cavallaro.

All underground crime in New York is controlled by him, Don to the mafia I'm marrying into.

Though Papa and Mama have no reservations, it makes me queasy knowing I'll be so close in relations to him. I don't know what kind of fetish he has with X's but just hearing about one of his victims makes me realise how real all of this is.