Page 50 of My Sunfall

Lucas grabs my arm again and unceremoniously drags me toward the large oak desk. “Is everything ready?” he snaps.

“All set,” Judge Calloway replies. “Let me call in the witnesses and we can start.” He stalks out of the office.

I freeze. Witnesses… No… No!

My breath catches in my throat when realization finally hits my numb brain like a freight train. “Lucas,” I whisper in a strangled voice, not really knowing what I want to say. All I know is that I want to run far away from all this, to live a life that is not this one.

“Shh, cara mia,” comes his low reply as his knuckles brush over my cheek. “Let me take care of this. I’ll take care of you, I won’t let anything happen to you.”

I’m about to protest when he cuts in, calculating and pressing. “Do this and we avoid a war. Think about Lily and Dante. Do you want your nephew growing up knowing that his aunt started a war that has cost the famiglia hundreds of innocent lives?”

My heart thunders in my chest and I am speechless.

“See it as our duty, if it makes it easier.” His voice cuts through my haze, cold and cruel.

Duty. War. Lily. Dante. The words whirl in my mind until my head spins. But he is right, I don’t want a war where the people I love could get hurt.

Damn him. I let out a defeated sob.

Ten minutes later, I scrawl my signature next to his on a sheet of paper I can barely see through the blur of tears, getting married in my mourning dress, the day of my father’s funeral.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Lucas

I watch her from the corner of my eye. She looks small and utterly breakable in the passenger seat, pale and barely breathing.

‘See it as our duty, if it makes it easier.’

I grit my teeth as I remember the colossal lie spewing out of my mouth. It never was about duty. It was about forcing her hand to give in, about making her accept the inevitable. But she doesn’t know this. She doesn’t need to know, as long as she signed herself over to me. Admittedly, this was not the marriage a woman might dream of, but for me it was perfect in its outcome—she is mine at last, in every way. I don’t care if it makes me the villain of the story.

She nervously twists the ring I’ve put on her finger. It was my grandmother’s ring. She was surprised when I produced the velvet box after we both signed the contract. Even now, she seems to wonder why I had this family heirloom on me. The truth is, not even I know why I have been keeping my grandmother’s wedding ring on me for the last month.

Liar, a voice in my head sneers. You know exactly why. The same reason you’ve sent Call all the documents the day you found her, so he could draft the document where only the date and two signatures were missing.

I push the thoughts away. There is still one last detail to be sorted.

“Where are we driving?” she asks, bolting upright in her seat.

Here we go. “You’re staying with me, you’re my wife.”

Her head whips around so fast that her bun disentangles and her golden hair falls in soft waves over her shoulders. Fuck, now I’m dying to drag my fingers through the strands while I plunder her mouth with mine.

“Absolutely not,” she protests, a crease forming between her brows. “This marriage is not real!”

It takes all my self-control not to slam on the brakes and pull over. “This marriage is as real as it gets, cara mia,” I grit out, willing my voice to sound civilized and non-threatening.

“I’m not staying in your bachelor pad until things blow over.” She scoffs.

“That remains to be seen.” I force my voice to stay calm, but my teeth are grinding so hard my jaw locks. Bachelor pad.

“We are married in name only, isn’t that enough?” she asks, with contempt. “We can quietly part ways and I’ll return to live above the café and go on with my life.”

“You’re not returning to live there,” I snap. “Besides, your position has already been filled.”

“What?” Her disbelieving shriek fills the car. “Wh-what do you mean?”

“You remember Emily from the women’s shelter, don’t you? The one with a little boy. You seemed close.” She looks at me with shock and I go on, willing her to understand that she won’t escape ever again. “She needed the fresh start, and I arranged for her to take over the job and apartment. Would you want to take that away from her after what she went through?” I know I sound like a cold bastard, but I’m beyond caring anymore.