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I tilt my head to the side. “What do you think it means?”
Her lips part like she’s about to start yelling, but I turn around and leave before she can. I can’t help but wonder why I sought her out in the first place.
Despite the fact that the reason is embedded in my heart, and I know why I always come back for more.
I stand at the altar at the front of a church that is filled to the brim with men and women, the families who have sworn their allegiance to me. They all sit still, waiting for the Don to get married to the woman of his dreams.
Or my nightmares. It can always go either way. Adrian is behind me, performing his self-elected duty as the best man.
The double doors at the front of the chapel open. When Aurora appears, my breath hitches. She might drive me insane half the time, but there’s no denying the fact that she’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. She looks perfect, magnificent even, as she walks down the aisle, arm in arm with Sebastian who’s the closest thing she has to a father.
Her wedding dress is a masterpiece. The bodice hugs her figure, intricate lace patterns trailing down her arms and across her chest. The skirt of her dress flows into a long train that follows her with each step she takes. The bouquet in her hands is a burst of white roses. She’s not wearing a veil because Aurora Maranzano always plays by her own rules.
Her eyes meet mine, and in that moment, everything else fades away. I can almost pretend we’re two people in love getting married instead of two people with a decade of hate and unspoken conversations between them.
When she reaches me, I take her hand in mine.
“You look beautiful,” I say in a soft whisper.
“Thanks. You don’t look too bad yourself,” she returns.
The chapel falls silent as we stand in front of each other. The preacher is a kind-faced, elderly man with a calm, steady voice. He’s also fake, unlicensed, with zero pastoral inclinations. Danny found him and paid him a lot of money to get him to officiate the wedding.
It’s a little blasphemous, considering we are still getting married in a church, but I’m sure Aurora’s Father in Heaven will forgive her, since she’s the one that wanted this.
The man clears his throat before starting to speak. He’s a good actor who remembers every single one of his lines. He turns to look at me when it’s time to say my vows.
“Nicolas, do you take Aurora to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold…” I tune the rest of it out and say the words, “I do”, at the right moment.
When it’s Aurora’s turn, she says her vows, looking into my eyes as she speaks. I wish she hadn’t, because now the weight of the vows are resting on my chest. I’ve never been a religious person. And I know this is all fake anyway.
But for some reason, it feels fucking real to me. She might not believe the words she’s saying. I’m not sure I do either. But I do make myself a promise that one day, we’ll get to the point where we’re both ready to start believing in them.
It’s something I’ve been keeping to myself all this while. The reason I’m going to all this trouble. Marrying her wasn’t my only option to get to this position. But it was the path I wanted to take in order to keep her close to me.
The preacher places his hands over ours and says, “By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride.”
I step closer to her and finally her expression flickers, doubt and fear intertwined in those golden-brown eyes. Words are easy, but this…this is something real. And she hates that, because it’ll pierce the armor she’s painstakingly put on. The world seems to hold its breath as I lean in, our faces inches apart.
“You and I both know how this ends,” I whisper, right before I claim her lips with mine.
A surge of passion rushes through me. Her lips are sweet and warm, tasting faintly of lemons. I feel her breath hitch as I pull her closer, my hands gently cradling her face. The kiss deepens, our mouths moving in perfect harmony, expressing everything neither of us have been able to say from the first moment we saw each other again. She kisses me back with just as much fervor, her hands clutching my arms.
She’s completely pliant in my hold. I kiss her as if I’ll never be able to stop doing so, and she kisses me like she wants to break this connection but can’t. The kiss is both a retribution and a promise. It awakens memories. It awakens every single thing I’ve tried so hard to bury. It tosses me right back into the past. Right back to that night.
CHAPTER 15
AURORA
Ten Years Ago
Age Eighteen
I’m staring at the white walls in the bedroom when the door opens. I don’t look up as the person enters but I do hear a soft, tired sigh.
“You can’t keep letting yourself in here, mi vida.”
I smile at the sound of his voice.
