𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐓 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒

pretty girl

I was crying. Crying on my wedding day. On a day that I was supposed to be the happiest.

"Carmen, please honey. Don't cry. You're going to make me emotional as well." Mama said while dabbing the white tissue under my eyes.

Her own brown eyes were getting glossier with each passing second. Her beautiful dark skin glowed under the lights and her braided black hair was tied back. Her yellow dress clanged to her slender figure like a second skin.

Mama was the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. The world has seen. She was a supermodel after all.

That's how she and Papa meet.

Their marriage caused a big scandal at that time because Papa was the son of a Don while Mama was just a regular girl. Well, a model. They were from two completely different worlds. While Mama was from South Sudan, Papa was Spanish.

They met during an event hosted by Chanel in the nineties. Their love in my eyes was epic. Papa fought for their marriage and till today they are happily married.

They loved each other with so much passion, it made me want that for myself as well.

But I was not going to get it. I was marrying a man I'd never even met before.

Dominic Ferrari.

A Don of the Ferrari family in Sicily.

He was thirty-seven years old. From what I heard he was married while he was in his twenties but he and his wife quickly got divorced. Also, they never had kids.

And now... now I was the one to marry him. At twenty-two I was getting married to the Don of a ruthless Mafia family.

I sat in front of the vanity mirror, looking at my reflection made me want to cry even more. I always dreamed of this day, being in the white dress. It was always a dream where I was marrying the man I love. Just like my parents felt on their wedding day.

Luck was never on my side though.

Mama withdrew her hand and straightened her back. She placed her palms on my shoulders. "You are so beautiful, my pretty girl. You know how much me and your Papa love you. We never wanted things to be like this." I did know.

Because of the cultural differences and Mama not being Spanish, our family was constantly on the radar. Every little mistake I made, we paid grandly for it.

This time it was with marriage.

Being a daughter of a Don was a hard job. In a sense, that people expected you to be the best. I was not supposed to be seen with a man before I marry and yet that is exactly what happened.

The only time I visited my friend, Samuel, at his house I had to be spotted by my Aunt, Rosa. My Papa's side of the family wasn't fond of Mama or me. They were not even trying to hide it.

So when Rosa saw me leaving his house, she made a big fuss out of it. Everyone found out about it. The only time I had to be there for him, this had to happen.

Samuel was my good friend. We met during high school and have been friends since then. Because he had a big fight with his boyfriend, he wanted someone to be there for him. And as his friend, of course, I was going to be there.