Better The Devil You Know

The Fine Art of Bullshitting

Electric blue eyes met with dark cold brown eyes as Aurora walked down the aisle.

Their eyes held contact, both with big plastered smiles painted on their faces.

Aurora's hands gripped her bouquet tightly, her legs moving forward even though her mind was telling her to leg it back down the aisle.

She would disappear without a trace, pop up in different countries with different names, different hair and different clothes. She would live life on the run from her father, feeling as free as a bird, forever in a cat and mouse chase.

She would miss Alessia's birthday. Birthdays. She would miss Andrea's appointing as mob leader. She would miss Angelina's wedding. She would miss seeing Angelo fall in love and settle down. She would never be an aunt. She would no longer be a sister. She would no longer be her mother's daughter.

She carried on walking.

Arriving at the altar, Antonio kissed Aurora's cheek and sat next to Valentina.

Nathanial held his hands out and Aurora took them, turning to face him. His face was chiselled, his jaw so sharp Aurora could see his jaw muscles. His eyes were dark, clouded over and matching his dark brown hair, only a couple of shades darker than hers. It was brushed back off his face, slicked with gel. His tux was matte black, the only colour being the one pink rose.

Aurora could see tattoos snaking down his neck and down his shirt. She didn't have any herself, but Andrea had loads.

The priest started talking and all of the bridesmaids and groomsmen sat down, Samantha, her maid of honour, taking Aurora's bouquet too.

Everything spun around Aurora. Her eyes filled with tears, and her head was pounding and she could feel her stomach churning. She couldn't do this.

She gulped, turning to look at her mum. She needed to get out of there.

She felt a tug of her hand. She turned to Nathanial and he gave her a warning glare.

His hands moved from her palms to her forearms, holding her up.

The priest begun a prayer and everyone closed their eyes.
'Look at me,' Nathanial muttered, 'breathe.'

Aurora looked at him through her tear-filled eyes. She released a breath she didn't know she was holding and gripped his wrists tightly.

She nodded at him and throughout the rest of the prayer the two stayed like that.
Holding on to one another and simply looking at each other. Their eyes were filled with undeniable sadness and sorrow, both knowing they were now each other's demise, forever the cause of their inescapable fate.

🖤

'Aurora Castillo, I give you this ring, wear it with love and joy. I choose you to be my wife: to have and to hold, from this day forward. For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer; in sickness and in health; to have and to cherish, as long as we both shall live. And hereto, I pledge you my faithfulness to show to you the same kind of love as Christ showed the Church when He died for her, and to love you as a part of myself because in His sight we shall be one.'

Nathanial placed a thin diamond ring on Aurora's ring finger, stroking it lovingly.

Aurora repeated the vows again to him, and placed a gold band on his ring finger.

'Do you, Nathanial Alessandro Romano, take this woman, Aurora Sofia Castillo to be your lawfully wedded wife?'

'I do.'

'And do you, Aurora Sofia Castillo, take this man, Nathanial Alessandro Romano to be your lawfully wedded husband?'

'I do.'