Unholy Matrimony (Unedited)

21

N.

A week bled into two, then three and before I knew it an entire month slipped past. And I had spent each day in limbo, every morning I would be awoken for a lonely breakfast and then sent off to a shop or meeting to plan a wedding I wasnt even sure was still happening. Every night I stared at my phone, wondering if it would ring or if I should ring him but I'd just wonder on the thought until my eyes drooped.

I was to be married in two days now, I hadnt seen much of any of my father outside of checking on my progress in 'planning' this wedding- if you could call it that, I spent my days rushing to preset appointments with florist, caterers and seamstress although all the options already made for me. I was simply there for show.

Rene has fallen deep into her bitterness and has resorted to keep Isaac as far from me as she could for as long as she could. He'd be gone before I was shoved to the table to eat breakfast and he was never in his room at his usual bedtime, my heart felt like someone had plundered it and it hurt with each beat.

Selene, despite her mothers anger has seemed to gotten over the situation. Her cold glances no longer as menacing and she's slipped back into her routine of shopping and parading around the media, if not more than before, without a hitch.

Everyone around me was resuming their roles and I was expected of the same, even if my irritatingly arrogant groom has disappeared off the radar. "Be good, little dove." My brain involuntarily held onto the words, they plagued my mind like a brand and it set a flitter of flutters in my stomach that made me even more annoyed, the more I realized how much the words had affected me.

A dove- I scoffed out loud to myself. Graceful, poised and free, A few of many things I am not.

"Miss Nalani, your father needs you in his office." Bronco was my new shadow over the past month, Angelo being only a blur as he rushed in and out barely sparing me a glance. Although it didnt sting as much as I thought, I was the one who had snapped at him after all but If he was expecting an apology he wouldnt get one. His world wasnt the one imploding.

"Did he say what for?" I rise pushing my chair in, abandoning my cold plate of cream covered waffles, there wasnt room for food when my stomach was buzzing with nerves of the upcoming nuptials. my nuptials. I knew asking was futile, he wouldnt answer. No one would dare utter my fathers business without his presence, let alone to his daughters.

Bronco offers me a look that makes my spine straighten, my body slipping into flight or fight as he pushes the door open and I clench my hands before stretching them, hoping to release the budding tension but its useless.

"Lani." I pause, my eyebrows furrowing at Angelo's welcoming smile. A look I havent been graced with from him in weeks. My father stands behind his desk and Ricardo is twisted in the chair, offering me a polite nod that I return.

"You requested to see me." I square my shoulders, squeezing the back of my dress to keep from wringing my hands. My father nods, my body tensing a thousand times over as he moves from behind his desk. Cold hands make the hair on my arms stand on end as my father grips my shoulders, leaning to leave a wet kiss on my forehead.

"I should have never agreed to let you marry that Italian. You are my eldest daughter it would be wrong to let someone take you from your home." I pull back at his words, frowning.

"What do you mean?" Angelo shuffles slightly behind my father, Ricardo clears his throat as my father sighs, moving to the glass of what I know is tequila on his desk and tossing back the contents.

Angelo approaches me swiftly, almost erratically and I stumble back until my back hit the hard, cold oak of the door.

"This way the seat remains in the family, your brothers position within the family will be more secured and when we have children it will only strengthen the bloodline." He whispered the last part softly, almost endearingly as if these were sweet secretes past among lovers, the fan of his breath over my face makes me sway with rolling nausea and I jerk back, my head thudding against the door.

"Wha- what are you talking about?" I watched his face twist up in confusion and irritation, mouth dropping open as the vein in his neck throbbed.

"Are-"

"Angelo, Ricardo, I need a moment with my daughter. We will see you tomorrow at the church." My fathers words a deep and offer no room for argument as they wash over me like a cold shower. I shiver as Angelo gazes at me, slipping out the door behind his father until its just my father and I. Although I wasnt quite sure if i should refer to him as even such anymore, it was abundantly clear I was nothing more than a pawn in a game, an object of power even if I didnt have any of my own- no i was an instrument he would wield to orchestrate to his hearts content.

I blink past the stinging in my eyes.

"I need you to be the smart girl that I raised and know that this is for the better. Angelo will treat you well." He makes the vow as if it his to make. I grew up with Angelo, his path was something he had chose, a perfect replica of his father, a stunt double once Ricardo got to old for certain missions and he was already working for my father before he graduated high school.

Marriage to an already established don was different, yes the marriage is arranged in a gain of more power but marriage to an associate, a family member working to become a made man was dangerous. My marriage to Angelo would be like giving a child sugar for the first time.

I cant take my eyes off my father as he lights his cigar. Another man who had never had a taste of it was suddenly handed an entire empire, and when he married my mother secured his position- he buried her under it.