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“I’m sure you will resist me, as you always do. But if she runs her mouth in your new home like she does here, it will be her head. Not mine.”
At her silence, Auntie pursed her lips in frustration. “I’m telling you this for your own good. Gio is an unforgiving man. He took back promises to our faction because he trusts no one here. Not even you,” she said, eyeing Ana meaningfully. “But he is our new Don, and what he says goes. We can only be grateful that he chose your hand in marriage, granting us some assurances. So, don’t. ruin. it.”
“I won’t.” Her voice was threadbare.
But calm.
Utterly calm.
Her fingers traced over each frill on her robe as Auntie went to fetch a maid for the dress fitting, leaving Ana alone again. Trapped with her thoughts. None of her aunt's warnings were new. She had lectured about Ana's impending marriage and its strategic importance to their family almost a thousand times now. But the wedding had felt so far away before. Now, there were only fifty-five minutes left.
A silent gong rang inside her chest.
11:05
11:20
Noon loomed over her like a storm she’d evaded for far too long. Did she really think she could avoid this forever? The Family did not deal in free will and self-determination. No, each and everyone’s fates here were etched in stone.
Help! Please…
The flash of the photographer’s camera blurred the past and present together, visions of blood in the moonlight dancing in front of her eyes.
“Bella! So lovely.”
She demurred as the photographer left her to change. Most other brides would have had a roomful of bridesmaids, laughing and playing around as they dressed up. But Ana had no one. The only person she could think to call to join her in the photos was Emma, but she’d already left to check on the wedding arrangements. Auntie was also preoccupied with other duties.
She didn't mind being alone. It was what she preferred. But today, she desperately wished for someone to hold her hand.
The only person around, however, was the maid helping her with the dress. She gave Ana a pitying look.
Sigh.
At least her dress was perfection. The grand ballgown shape truly made her feel like royalty, and maybe she was. She would be mafia royalty after today.
With that heavy thought on her mind, Ana was escorted out of the dressing room and around the back hallway until she stood in the church abbey with her aunt and maid.
It was a grand old church. Its gray, nineteenth-century architecture looked majestic and eerie all at once. From the right wall, a gothic statue of a saint peered down at her, assessing her. Almost as if it could sense her fear.
Ana shifted from heel to heel, waiting breathlessly in the wings as the sounds of the crowd grew louder and louder. In just a few moments, her cousin would arrive to escort her from the abbey to the main cathedral, where over a thousand guests would watch her wed.
Some in jubilation, others in scorn.
“What was your wedding like?” Ana whispered to her aunt.
“Grand.” Her chin raised high. “We had over 400 guests attend, including all the other Capos from each region.”
“And your wedding night?”
“Ana.”
She stared undeterred, her large brown eyes wide with anticipation.
Auntie glanced at the maid and then at her with a pinched look. “Painful. It was horrifically painful. Just be glad mafia men prefer their mistresses.”
“Are we going to a funeral or what?”
Ana felt the first genuine smile of the morning hit her lips at the sight of the familiar face, all the tension oozing out of her.
